What to Do with One Hank of Artyarns Beaded Silk Light?

Artyarns Beaded Silk Light in special Mother’s Day 2013 colorway “Wildflowers”

I have one hank of Artyarns Beaded Silk Light that was part of a Mother’s Day yarn bouquet I got last year. It’s a beautiful yarn–ridiculously soft, luminescent, and containing lovely hues. A pattern was created for each yarn in the bouquet, but I don’t really like the shawl pattern that was created for the Beaded Silk Light. So ever since last May I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a pattern suited to this yarn.

The pattern needs to be for a small project, since I only have one hank in this colorway. And it needs to suit such a delicate yarn both in design (to showcase the beautiful yarn) and in usage (I’m not going to wear beaded silk socks). I have been thinking that a long, thin scarf would be a good use for this yarn, but I hadn’t come across a pattern that made me shout, “Yes! That’s the one!”

The highly colorful “Wildflowers” colorway

Fast forward to December. I received Kristin Omdahl’s “Crochet So Fine” as a Christmas present, which had been on my “wish list” for quite some time. I don’t crochet nearly as much as I knit, but I do dabble in crochet from time to time, and I think Kristin Omdahl creates the most interesting, creative, and refined crochet patterns out there. She’s one of the few crochet designers who has inspired me to crochet things other than toys or home decor items.

What a difference winding makes–look at all those colors jumbled together

In Kristin’s “Crochet So Fine,” there’s a pattern for a skinny flower scarf using DK-weight yarn. I thought this may be the perfect pattern for my Beaded Silk Light–it’s a long, thin scarf, with a floral motif, and it only uses one skein of DK-weight yarn. Since Artyarns Beaded Silk Light is also a DK-weight yarn, I thought it might substitute without too many problems, which would be welcome since my crocheting skills are not nearly what my knitting skills are.

Kristin’s Skinny Flower Scarf is made with 100% mercerized cotton yarn in a single color. To see how the pattern would work with my 100% silk, highly-variegated yarn, I crocheted a small swatch (just two floral motifs). I knew the drape would be different since 100% cotton drapes much differently than 100% silk, but I wasn’t sure how defined the motif would turn out or if it would look nice with variegated yarn.

My swatch for Kristin Omdahl’s Skinny Flower Scarf from “Crochet So Fine”

The results were okay. With blocking, I could probably coax more definition out of the motif. But I really didn’t care for how it looked with so many colors mixed together. It just looked too “busy” for my eye, and both the motif and the loveliness of the beads and silk were lost.

So I went and got Kristen Omdahl’s “Seamless Crochet” from my home library. I seemed to remember a pattern for another long, thin scarf in that book.

Kristin’s Radiance Scarf is a long, skinny, delicate scarf, with another floral motif. Kristin made hers with a single-colored sparkly and beaded laceweight yarn, but used a larger hook (G/6 or 4 mm) to create a motif that would really open up when blocked. I thought this pattern might be better for my Beaded Silk Light–a larger, more open, flower might better showcase all those vibrant colors in my yarn.

My swatch for Kristin Omdahl’s Radiance Scarf from “Seamless Crochet” using a 5.0 mm hook

I ended up crocheting two swatches using Kristin’s Radiance Scarf pattern, both times using larger hooks than recommended for the yarn1. For the first swatch, I used a 5 mm hook, and while I liked the overall look of the two motifs, I wondered if they would look even better if they were larger, so I crocheted another swatch of two motifs using a 5.5 mm hook.

I didn’t prefer my second swatch with the 5.5 mm hook–the flowers were too loose and somewhat messy,2 and while a larger motif may be more “block-able” generally, I wasn’t sure if the silk yarn would really keep its shape even after blocked.

My swatch of Kristin Omdahl’s Radiance Scarf from “Seamless Crochet” using a 5.5 mm hook

So after all this searching, I think I’ve finally found the pattern for my one hank of Artyarns Beaded Silk Light–Kristin Omdahl’s Radiance Scarf from her “Seamless Crochet” book. I’m going to use the 5.0 mm hook and block my scarf when finished to (hopefully) open up the floral motifs so you’re able to see and fully appreciate the pattern and beautiful yarn. Now I just have to figure out how many motifs I can make with the amount of yarn I have.

One of the best things about Kristin’s patterns, especially in “Seamless Crochet,” is that they are just that–seamless. You join motifs as you go, however with most of her patterns you create only part of each motif before moving onto the next motif, and the next, until you get to the last motif. So you’ll have this long strip of almost-finished motifs that you’ve made by crocheting them one after the other, left to right. Then, you crochet back along the top of those motifs to finish them off, starting with the right-most one and moving left, ending at the very first motif you made.

It is a very clever design by Kristin and very convenient for the crocheter, who just has to weave in a few ends to finish the piece. However, if you’re substituting yarn, it takes some calculation so you won’t run out of yarn midway down your strip when finishing the motifs. Thankfully I have a yarn scale, so I’m going to do a little math (I’ll weigh the two completed motifs, weigh the entire ball of yarn, and divide) and estimate how many motifs I should be able to make for my scarf. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

1. The recommended size is US 6 (4 mm). [↩]
2. Which, no doubt, is mainly due to my crochet skills, but the fact that the yarn is 100% silk also contributed. [↩]