I'm a hooker now!

I finally learned to crochet! Friends have tried in vain to teach me before but, this time it actually stuck! Now I find myself wanting to crochet everything instead of knit.

One wonderful thing is that my hands don't hurt me like they do when I knit. Even when I loosen my grip while knitting, my left hand falls asleep, and my right arm just aches. I'll never be pain free, ever - that's just not how my body is these days. But with crochet, it seems I can make good progress on a project and feel like I'm accomplishing something, without all the stopping, shaking out the limbs, and massaging my hands.

I really do love knitting, and the look of knitted garments though. I'll be back soon, my Chiagoos, Hiya Hiyas, and KP circs. Promise.

As for my knitting...I've cast off a few smallish knitted projects recently.

a Malabrigo Neck Thingie for me

and a very cute Keyhole Scarf for Bird

Both projects used the same Malabrigo worsted in "watergreen".

For my first hooking project ... other than all the swatches, that is .... a Faux Square Scarf. I love these because you work a rectangle, then slip stitch it together (in the case of crochet), or my favorite for knitting, a kitchener stitch.

A little peek of it so far ...

I've got a lot farther since this pic was taken earlier today. I'm just about done with the first hank of two I'll be using, of Lion Brand Heartland in "Olympic"... a lovely blue, perfect for the Winter Games coming up. I really am impressed with this acrylic! I cant lie - I'm a yarn snob. Normally I turn my nose up at acrylic. For a long time unless it was Dark Horse Fantasy, I refused to work with it. This yarn however is amazingly soft and really easy to work with. It's also nice to know I don't have to worry about felting :)

If you've got this far, thank you for reading my post! I'm here and there, and sometimes missing all together but, I always mean to get back to my blogging ;)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend - and stay warm!

melting snow ...

"Even in winter an isolated patch of snow has a special quality."

Andy Goldsworthy

It's been a few weeks since the last snow fell. Here and there around town there are still patches on hillsides, road sides, street corners, and front lawns. 

It's barely an entire month into Winter ... I want moar snow!

Pardon me, while I dab away the dribble of yummo soup that's running down my chin as I type this ;)

It's been farkin cold here in northeast Kansas lately! Perhaps you've heard of the "arctic vortex" weather phenomenon? We felt it pretty good last week - but thankfully, not nearly as bad as the folks up in Wisconsin and New York though. I hope everyone is warming up and melting down a bit by now!

So, today is a day off for me! (Insert riotous applause...even thought it's just me here) Working at a fabric store is wonderful but, I do love my down time - especially when there's still plenty of snow on the ground and it's hard to stay warm inside without the heater clicking on every 10 minutes.

I've got my husband's army issued blanket - those guys really know how to keep a solider warm when they want to. My Macbook is rolling thru a Criminal Minds marathon. And my current WIP, a simple cowl. I went with this project because I needed to make something, ANYTHING, so I could knit up this hank of Malabrigo worsted in the color "water green", that I've been squooshing now and again, trying to think of what it wanted to be.

my nook

Earl Grey with honey and soup for lunch

Thus far my Malabrigo Neck Thingie is coming along great - it would be better if I could my more slippery needles to use but, I'm using what I can find right now. While searching for my size 8, 16 inch Chiagoo Reds, I figured out that I really, really need to pull all the projects off needles that have been languishing in cast-on fever crazy land, and let's face it, I'll never finish! If I did that, I'd have a whole new set of knitting needles in every size and circular length! Oh, and I never found my Chiagoos. For now I will continue with my bamboo needles and rub them occasionally with wax paper for added slippiness. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I made up a word just then.

my "thingie" so far

It's about time to get back to Criminal Minds, and get this cowl done. My 6 year old has requested a cowl or scarf for herself using my other hank of the same Malabrigo as my own so, I'll be busy here for a bit.

Till next post, be good, be safe, and love one another xo