At the NSW Knitters Guild Fibrefest in 2022 I came across a retailer new to me – Fancy Yarns Australia. They specialise in fun and fancy yarns, and they had things I’d not seen before. What piqued my interest the most was yarn made from recycled denim! I love the idea of making crocheted garments from things that would have otherwise gone to landfill and for that garment not to be obviously ‘recycled’. I grabbed 4 balls of Queensland Collection Dungarees Rainbow Tweed in colour 3008 Rosehip thinking I’d need about 400 grams for a top.
For my design I settled on a basic T shaped top made top-down with a cabled hook and connecting stitches to join the Rows to Rounds. I started with a basic yet effective lace pattern around the top of the yoke which became Tunisian simple stitch from the bust down so the top didn’t need a modesty top worn underneath.
I made a lot of my Enid Tee when I was travelling last year – quite a lot of it was made in an aeroplane and in a hotel room in the heart of Bangkok! So my progress pictures are a bit more ad-hoc than usual!
Using the recycled denim yarn for this project surpassed my expectations. It drapes like cotton, is machine washable and is less hot than wearing wool. However, it’s denser than wearing a standard crocheted cotton tee because Tunisian stitches are more dense. Enid is a perfect mid-season tee for all occasions. What's more, the meterage used on my tee was way less than I expected - my Enid Tee used only 220g of my yarn. I've actually got enough left to make a mini version for my daughter (if I can ever convince her to wear crochet!) I did however, convince her to be my official photographer. I think she did pretty well! See below.
I would never recommend a beginner start with making a garment as their first Tunisian crochet project but with Enid, if you can make Tunisian simple stitch (tss), do increases and decreases and can follow some YouTube videos for a couple of trickier bits like the connecting stitch, than you can make an Enid Tee. You will need a hook with a cable and stopper at the end.
Enid Tee is due for release on Saturday 22 April 2023. Stay tuned for some fantastic tester makes in my next blog post!
