I love September. It is my absolute favorite month of the year. Not just because Captain’s birthday is that month, or our anniversary, or Cubby’s birthday. I just love the way it looks, smells, and feels. In September I can enjoy being outdoors without it being too hot or cold. September is when harvest is gearing up, both in the garden and in the fields. Captain is busy outside with machine repair and maintenance, so he is a happy camper which makes me a happy camper.
Mostly I like September because the humidity is finally low enough that I can get back to my crochet projects. Trust me when I tell you that crocheting in July and August is not comfortable!
Crochet is another one of those things I sort of stumbled onto years ago. I used to do counted cross stitch until my eyesight finally got bad enough that it was hard to read the patterns and/or see the fabric well enough to do good work. I moved on to crochet because I knew knitting was out. Tried that as a kid and failed miserably. My grandma tried to teach me to tat when I was a kid, and that was a complete disaster. I did do macrame for a 4-H project when I was a kid, but there just isn’t much call for macrame plant hangers anymore. That sort of went out in the 70s.
But who doesn’t like a cozy blanket to curl up with on cold Minnesota winter nights?!
Doing crochet occupies my time in the evenings when I am watching TV while letting me create homemade gifts for all those fun, fun milestone events like graduations, weddings, and babies. Plus, the best part is, if I make a mistake in the crochet pattern (and I do, invariably), no one is going to know unless I tell them because it is easy to mask by either adding or subtracting a stitch in the next row.
The first afghan I made was for our bed. The end result would have been the equivalent of a queen size comforter. I was maybe a dozen rows short of finishing it when, unfortunately, it went up in smoke when our house burned down. Tough luck. I have yet to make us a new blanket, now that I think about it. Huhn.
As you can see, I have oodles of resources for crochet stitches and patterns. However, being a creature of habit, I usually go to one of four of five favorite stitch patterns.
I like patterns that keep it interesting such as the climbing shells stitch shown here. If I don’t keep the pattern interesting, I will get bored with it about six rows in and rip it all out to start over.
My second most favorite go-to stitch pattern is the chevron stitch, also known as a ripple stitch. This stitch looks great in multi-color yarns, one solid color yarn, or three or four rows of several different solid colors.
I tend to stick with an I-size hook because it is comfortable for my hand, and makes a nice, loose stitch. However, if I want to use a different size hook, I can do that because when Mike’s Grandma Brogan passed on, I was given her collection of crochet hooks. It is nice to think that maybe some of his grandma’s talent is transferring to me through the hooks. Or at least she knows that someone is carrying on with the craft that she enjoyed so much.
I also have, as you can see, WAY too much yarn. I am at the point where I almost need to install those shelves like they have in the yarn section at Hobby Lobby! Or maybe invest in more clear totes and dedicate one or two colors to each tote. Who knows?!
I love, love, love multi-color yarns because it gives me a unique color palette without my having to switch colors every so many rows, which is a pain in the patoot. Sometimes I buy specific yarns for a particular recipient in mind and sometimes I buy yarn just because it calls to me at Hobby Lobby.
I only buy the Hobby Lobby store brand, I Love This Yarn after the Great Unravel Incident of 2013. When a nephew got married a few years back, I ordered an afghan kit online which included that store brand yarn. I spent six months making their afghan, a lovely pattern of dark and light purple, dark and light olive green, and cream in a ripple pattern.
I always wash the afghans I make before I give them because I have been known to spill coffee or food on a project. When I washed the afghan for our nephew, two separate areas of the afghan unraveled in the washer leaving two monster size holes. Panic! This was just two or three weeks before their wedding which did not give me much time to make a different blanket, but I got it done. Different colors and different pattern, but still. Captain took the unraveled blanket because he liked the fact it covered him up but he could stick his feet out the two holes and not get too hot. Never mind that I have made at least three different afghans specifically for him to curl up with that did not fall apart in the washer!
All I know is that with fall upon us, I am looking forward to several months of enjoyment wielding my crochet hook!
No comments:
Post a Comment