crocheted bits and bobs

as you know, at long last, i have learned to crochet. i actually made this little crocheted stone the very night i learned and it's only now that i managed to tuck in the ends and get it photographed.

the other side of the stone is a bit more freestyle and i think i like it even better. what did it take me, five years to get my act together and learn this? i do wonder what i was waiting for.

there's a freedom in crocheting that i don't feel in knitting. i like that freedom and yet the strange combination of order and randomness. i just free-styled these little pieces the other night and had intended to put them on stones as well, when another idea floated into my head. i'm going to felt some little bowls to go inside and they will be a cover of sorts for the bowl, to add texture to it.

and in a more orderly fashion, i'm also making granny squares with the goal of putting them together into a blanket. it will take a whole lot of squares, but i try to do a couple in the evenings while watching t.v., so eventually, i'll get there. it's so nice to finally begin to use the yarn i've had stashed for this purpose for several years. mostly because using up the yarn you have means you get to buy new yarn!

i'm trying to enjoy my last weekend before starting my new job, tho' today marks the beginning of my contract, so i'm officially employed as of today. what better way than to putter around, being creative while the laundry gets done. here's hoping you're having a relaxing, creative weekend as well.

when you are ready, the right teacher will come along

before our fabulous weekend away, i emailed the girls and asked if anyone could teach me how to crochet a granny square while we were there. i threw in some yarn and some crochet hooks, just in case. my dear friend elizabeth tried to teach me a couple of years ago, but i'll be the first to admit that i never really caught on.

but somehow, on saturday evening, it clicked for me and i made the granny square above. and i don't even have the feeling, which i had the first time around, that i would go completely blank if asked to make a second one. i took my early attempts along to show the girls and you can see them here, together with the blue and grey one that i made on saturday. as you can see, i have really learned it now, whereas some of the others ended up with two centers and weren't  even remotely square.

i learned something else about how totally free you can be when you crochet (way more so than with knitting). you can really just crochet in all directions. it was rather amusing because when i first started the square, i was sweating from the effort and had to take off my scarf and sweater (i don't think it was a hot flash, just the hard work of learning something new). i also forgot to breathe a couple of times, from the sheer concentrated effort. that wasn't so good, but it did make everyone laugh. but then, i relaxed and just crocheted. maybe it was because one of the others crocheted the white thing above and there was so much freedom in it - no sense of right and wrong, but just where the yarn takes you. i think it took realizing that for it to click for me.

i started crocheting a circle after my first square, just to give it a try. and it stayed flat and didn't become a nest (that has happened before) and i got into a kind of rhythm with it. and it felt somehow freeing. and tho' my effort wasn't nearly as free as christina's little white lichen? snowflake? seafoam? thing, i felt like i had learned it at last. and i will get more free with it and i'll undoubtedly show you the results right here.

check it out, i even managed to crochet a little jacket for a stone! funny how sometimes it just takes learning something at the right moment. i don't think i was ready to do granny squares before and now i am. just imagine what i'm going to do with all those pins on my must learn to crochet (or knit or whatever) board on pinterest....

snowstorm leads to thoughts of spring

most of today, it was like this outside:

i actually took this shot from safely INSIDE the house, tho' i did have to have the window open wide. but only briefly.  anyway, thanks to this, i stayed inside all day, drinking tea and pursuing all sorts of goodness on flickr. i love to make mosaics and see what it is that's catching my eye. as you can see, i'm a little bit in need of fresh, bright spring colors:

1. Allium Flora journal cover design, 2. Mum's quilt finished!, 3. Whit's Knits: Crocheted Stash Basket, 4. Florida Postcard, 5. Linen, 6. ~Sea Green~, 7. oh ... frost, 8. Garland, 9. Shallow Sea, 10. naturally dyed rug yarn, 11. Blossoms Series. (zoom in), 12. Drawing for tiny wee embroidery, 13. Monsters!, 14. pillowcase stack..., 15. felted rock, 16. favorite yarn supply sources..., 17. crochet trims on pillowcases..., 18. Raspberry Marmalade Quilt - rolled, 19. Eeeee! , 20. Hexagon WIP, 21. IMG_8987, 22. case sheep, 23. beautiful words, 24. 'The Carousel' (detail), 25. Journal

1. Purples and lilacs hand crocheted all natural fibre blanket. Available for order in your colour preferences. Can be couriered., 2. First Three Eggs Of Spring, 3. Almofadinhas pra cadeira, 4. my paint of choice., 5. the sea and herself , 6. new work, 7. night vision (2), 8. Untitled, 9. Babette blanket, 10. Placemats, 11. detail02, 12. Handspun☆Extremity pop V neck sweater!, 13. Nook., 14. embroidered and appliqued felt flowers, 15. Oh 1, 16. square dance, 17. Roundabout Quilt, 18. Robots, 19. handmaiden camelspin, 20. My Rainbow Scarflette, 21. All the colours of the rainbow, 22. robot family pictures, 23. Birds of a Feather, 24. Untitled, 25. 19:365

i also spent quite some time trying to use this tutorial (recommended by spud), to crochet a fancy granny square. my failure to do so is not a reflection of the tutorial. nor is it from a lack of really good yarn that is totally suitable for said granny squares:

but, tomorrow is another day and i shall eventually succeed. or else move on to something else that i actually am able to do. like spend hours and hours looking at beautiful things on flickr.