I know my coffee cup looks indisputably like a product placement shot, but I promise you, it was out of pure caffeine necessity. Starbucks must have an exclusivity contract with the Seattle Center or something because even amongst the dozens of food carts that lined the festival grounds, there was astonishingly not a single other coffee vendor to speak of.
Fortunately, by the second day I discovered that the vendor hospitality tent was willing to deposit free Stumptown coffee directly into my travel mug, and the weekend got immensely better from there.
I had started crocheting these motifs the week before, loosely based on the what I was doing with the Manon Crochet Top, but I wanted a square that would look more distinctly like a flower, and worked up in a bigger gauge.
So I wound up some of this gorgeous bamboo/cotton/rayon blend, in a sportweight, and started cranking them out.
I had finished one and a half by the time I left for Seattle last Thursday morning, and by the end of the first day had easily finished four, and crocheted them together along the sides (these were 15-hour work days, mind you).
I knew four panels wouldn't be enough to fit all the way around my waist, but I'm kind of going for that open-back look with this one, so it was enough. Once joined, they formed a perfectly straight ridge on top, into which I added some rows of double and triple crochet, to give the body some length.
Then I put this piece down for the time being, split a ludicrously large bag of Kettle Corn with my UCU colleague Kristen, and got started on the bra pieces. These were super easy because I had just figured out my ideal pattern for these a few weeks ago, and replicated them exactly in this new yarn.
I love the simple edging that gives the chest part of the top a finished, lacy look.
Aligned precisely above the two middle flower panels, these were a snap to join to the body with slip stitches all the way across. I tried it on just to make sure everything was looking good lengthwise, and then added some tie straps to the sides, just some simple long chains and a row of single crochet in each.
Granted, there are still a lot of ends to weave in, and then some blocking to get all the crimps out, but if this weekend's forecast is any indication, I could actually be wearing this sometime soon.
Thankfully, after 54 cumulative hours spent behind a booth, I drove back to Oregon Tuesday morning and was treated to a wilderness date -- a fabulous 3,000 foot climb up Dog Mountain, a physical workout that my body had been craving for days.
Though we got momentarily lost in the woods on the way back down and ended up exiting our makeshift trail about 2 miles from where we had left our car, we were rewarded with a sunset walk along the Columbia River while we polished off the remains from the last two UCU vendor goodie bags I had decided to throw in our day pack at the last minute. Luna bars and Ritz crackers have never tasted so good.
