The task began with a treasure hunt of sorts. After deciding on a specific lei style, the Pakalana lei courtesy of Joy of Crafting, I had to go find eyelash yarn of natural colors. This being the mainland, fat chance I had of finding anything particularly useful, other than the bright green color in the middle. Thankfully, Google came to the rescue and I stumbled upon the website for "Amazing Yarns" who I found out I could drive 5 minutes or so up the road to visit. While they didn't have exactly what I wanted in terms of eyelash yarn, the nice lady did scrounge up this reddish silk yarn and dark green yarn that just might do the trick. Side note: if you happen to be looking for some unique yarns, call on the friendly folks at Amazing Yarns!
The Youtube video made it look so easy, but I had never crocheted before. It took me FOREVER to get the hang of the chain stitch...
After about an hour or so, I only had a few inches of chain stitch to show for my efforts. Talk about frustrating! To boot, I began to worry that the red silk yarn overpowered the bright green eyelash. The dark green yarn, with its low profile, could barely be seen. Had I chosen wrong?!
On top of those doubts, I made the rookie mistake of tangling up the silk yarn. And then I had to stop the chain stitching to untangle the monstrous ball o'yarn.
This literally took hours. Slowly and painstakingly removing knot by knot and carefully laying it out so that I could keep it untangled.
With silk yarn untangled, I could resume the chain stitching. I think by this time, I finally began to settle into a rhythm. A slow, inconsistently-sized chain stitching rhythm. It didn't help very much that my fingers started to hurt too.
In the end, after hours upon hours of work, all the chain stitching finally came to an end and I could then loop and twist the full length together. I think it turned out pretty good given the materials I had available. In particular, I'm pleased by the color of the red which turned out to come through very nicely in a fairly natural looking floral way. Victory!
Anyhow, as amazing as it felt to finely complete the job (in the wee hours of the morning no less), I'm pretty sure I'll retire myself from the lei making business and leave it to the professionals. The combination of coordination, repetition and patience required just doesn't quite suit me. Now more than ever do I appreciate the craft that goes into making each of these leis. Mum, you amaze me. To all my friends out there, I hope none of you consider going back to grad school anytime soon! Congratulations to all the 2013 grads and, until next time, adieu!
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