This cape is very glittery and looks especially amazing in low light. The photo does NOT do it justice. Click image to embiggen.

Project Log: Half-Moon Cape

This weekend I finished a half-moon cape. This is the first project I’ve made which I intend to sell. I don’t have a store set up yet, but I will have once I have some more inventory. And I also am hoping to enter a few pieces (possibly including this one) in the art show at a Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention in May. I think it will look great with a corset!

I got the pattern for this from Joan in the Nebraska Knit & Crochet Guild. It’s super easy and I’ll put it here for you to use in a minute. The real trick is not the pattern but the yarn. Some patterns show off your skills and some just show off yarn – this is one of the later. Its fun because it gives you an opportunity to work with some yarns you usually don’t get to use very often. This is actually the second of these I made – the first was for my Mom for her birthday and was even more gorgeous (in my humble opinion).

Pattern: Start with by chaining 10 with an N hook. Hdc in 3rd ch from hook. Then hdc in each ch stitch across.  For the rest of the piece, hdc in each hdc across, adding 4 stitches every row (to ad st, 2 hdc in one st). Change colors when the mood takes you.

I find the easiest way is to always add one at the beginning & end and then randomly add 2 more over the course of the row. Its a very forgiving pattern, however. If you accidentally add 5 one row or 3 in another, it won’t make much of a difference.

I finished this particular piece with an I Cord knitted from some of the leftover Vanna’s Glamour (the only yarn I had left in any quantity – size 3 dpn used). I threaded it through the loops of one of the more open parts (which happened to also be in Vanna’s Glamour). This will allow the piece to be tied on. Although it can also be secured with a shawl pin or just left to hang on its own.

The extreme close up view of the cape shows the sparkly bits off to better effect.

Yarn:

1. Lion Brand Vanna’s Glamour – ruby red colorway
2. Lion Brand Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash – garnet colorway
3. Premier Yarns Fashion Jeweltones – red diamond colorway
4. Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair Yarn – red colorway
5. One other angel hair yarn (I can’t remember what it was – sorry)

Lessons Learned:

1. Colors don’t necessarily have to match exactly to be used. Even though this cape uses several shades of red, it works in the overall piece.
2. Texture is also a kind of sparkle. Not every yarn in this piece has sparkle to it, but the ones that don’t have an interesting texture (angle hair).
3. I Cords are addictive. And they are better than a long chain stitch for many things because they look good from all sides and the ends are a lot easier to weave in and hide.