Dear Friend and Fellow Maker,
The “sedges” are coming along nicely, albeit slowly and tucked into snatches of time here and there around the edges of so much going on in “the pond” of life. 😄 I now have about an 18” x 18” square and I’m needing to weave in the ends of the last scarf-like rectangle and seam it together with the previous sections. I’m using a type of modified mattress stitch to seam the edges together as this allows for a fairly seamless appearance on both sides of the crocheted fabric and it holds the edges snuggly to each other really well.
I continue to enjoy the Sedge Stitch as it is so lovely back and front, and seems to really show off the fingering to sport weight hand spun yarns I have. I will likely need to wind more hand spun into cakes as this lot of leftovers is dwindling and I’m super excited to once again be working with these lovely yarns that brought such delight when I spun them. In most cases, I remember when they were each spun, what was happening in my life, and where the wool came from, even the specific dyer. There are only a few I do not recall from whom I purchased the wool.
A few of these yarns border on DK weight and I am still using the size F hook that works so well with the fingering weight yarns. When the yarn seems a bit bulky for the hook as well as the width of the crocheted rectangle, I will simply omit the half-double crochet stitch and just work sc, and dc into the next sc on the row. This allows the edges of the rectangle to be a bit more regular and even. And therefore the seaming is a bit more straightforward as well.
One of the things I’m tumbling over and over in my mind as I crochet, is how I might add in a bit of the inflorescence that sedges often have. In the article I found about Sedges, (the link to which you can access in my previous Substack post), they often have inflorescence, which means that there are flowers present either along a stalk or stem, or blooming out the top of the stem. These two different types of inflorescence are of course in keeping with the particular kind of Sedge plant and they likely bloom in certain seasons. I’m toying with adding small crochet flowers after it is done. Or maybe switching up a stitch pattern to one that hearkens to flowers for a few rows or something. I may give it up altogether in the end and simply allow the pinks and purples, the pale blues and oranges to suggest the inflorescence of the sedges.
I have a few fellow Sedge Garden Blanket comrades! I am super happy to hear of these folks crocheting a small or large blanket in this stitch! I would love to see your version if you are working on one, and you can feel free to send me a photo, post it here in the comments, or share it on Instagram where I will use the hashtag #sedgegardenblanket for anyone else who might wish to tag their work on IG so we can all see the lovely creations.💖
Until next time, keep crocheting, or knitting, or weaving … or whatever it is you enjoy creating. These are the Sedges we need in our lives to keep ourselves grounded, resist erosion, and bring a spot or two of beauty to the edges of our pond.
With gratitude,
Jennifer
P.S. I visit with my mom every weekend up in the mountains of NC. My sister and I are working hard to figure out what is going on with her medications as it seems excessive and unnecessary especially after we had already given hospice the thumbs up on limiting her meds. This has been the most trying and difficult aspect of Memory Care…dealing with the red tape, the disorganization, the lack of communication and so much more I’ll not go into here. I have to find pockets of rest and rejuvenation. This Sedge Garden Blanket is providing that for me. And I am so very grateful to have hands and a mind that can work the stitches and enjoy the hand spun yarns! As makers we have SO much to be grateful for! 🐑🧶🙏💚
Your Sedge Garden Blanket is looking beautiful! So good that you can find rest and rejuvenation when crocheting.