Saturday 25 January 2014

Wherein I get addicted to crochet


Fun matching hats!
I'm a little bit late with this week's blog, but in all fairness to me it has been a very busy second half of the week. More specifically, Wednesday was very busy, followed by sheer exhaustion on Thursday and a little less sheer exhaustion on Friday.

Wednesday, as I think I have mentioned before, is when my local knitting group gets together. This week I had a little added excitement in going. My housemate Katharina had decided she wanted to learn to crochet this past week, so I sat her down and went over the basics. I got as far as the (British) Treble stitch, and decided to set her to work on granny squares. She wanted to make a baby blanket, so was happy to get going on something that would be more than just going back and forth in a row. I was getting my things ready to take to the group, and she peeks her head in and starts asking me questions about yarn. One thing led to another and she came along with me! So I have gotten someone else hooked on yarncraft and I am very excited about it. I've been told I'm a very good teacher, so I've added teaching knitting and crochet classes to my list of considerations for the future. Once I'm back in America, I'll have a look at what local yarn stores offer and approach them with ideas.

After knitting group on Wednesday, we headed an hour south to the town of Brixham where I auditioned and Kat sat on the panel for Romeo and Juliet. This show is being put on by the South Devon Players, whom I have done shows with in the past, and will be set in the 1860s in Brixham. I went for the role of either Lady Montague or Lady Capulet, and got the former. It will be perfect, because I can sit in rehearsal and craft while the others are going their bits, then when I am needed (she appears 3 times in the show) I can toddle on and do a bit of acting. Best of both worlds.

After such a long day, I was too wiped out to do much but work on the newest project I have started. That's right, something new! I got a message from my friend Kieran, who recently had a baby daughter. He and his wife (also my friend) Krysh were wondering if I would be able to make a second baby blanket for them, and how much it would cost. I gave them a quote, and they gave me the go-ahead. Wednesday, I had a look to see if I could find yarn I wanted at the yarn shop, and found some. I bought it and started right away. I must have worked 4 hours on it Wednesday, and a further few hours Thursday. By late last night, I was getting near the end. I'm going to have to buy some more yarn soon.  I made the first one as a gift for their new baby, so I'm really quite thrilled to be able to make a second. It speaks volumes of what they think of my work and is a huge boost to my confidence. They asked for bold colours this time around; the first time I used pastels. I will make it to 3 feet square and then line it with fleece. I'll be seeing them at the beginning of February, so I have set myself that deadline so I can give it to them in person. I don't think getting it done in time is going to be a problem. I seem to be addicted to crochet at the moment.

Aside from that, I haven't been working on a lot else. I knitted quite a bit last weekend and early this week on my Marco pullover. I'm almost done with the body, and will do the arms and cowl neck during the Olympics. They will be part of my challenge for Ravelry's own version of the games. More on that once it's actually started.

 I did get my final hat washed and blocked for Halos of Hope, and sent those off on Wednesday as well. I'm sending a total of five hats, three of which will fit adults and two which I think will probably be too small. They do take hats for children though, so hopefully they will find heads that need hats. Three, the dark brown hats, are to the same pattern, the Sockhead Hat (Ravelry Link) which I altered to make them less slouchy, and two are simply hats I liked the pattern of.


Next Thursday is a show at Westpoint Arena (a local centre that does a lot of shows) called Crafts4Crafters, and I will be going with a small group. Depending on how tired I am afterward, I will write either that day or the next. There will be a lot of fabric vendors there, so I will be sourcing the fleece backing for the baby blanket. To see what else I get, tune in next week!

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