I have been on a bit of a crocheting kick recently. After all the sewing for kcwc I got rather sick of looking at my sewing machine. And I got sick of certain little people poo-pooing things I made for them. So I went to the yarn store and bought some beautiful, soft, and squishy yarn to make something just for me.

I’m not usually a fan of things trying desperately to be something they are not–think tofu dogs. Crochet is not knitting, even though they both use yarn. Crochet is its own art and has its own strengths that I try to showcase. But I wanted so badly to make the bandana cowl pattern by Purl Bee.  Looking at it was painful, because it is so perfect, but I can’t knit to save my life.

Thankfully someone made an equally awesome crochet bandana cowl–no tofu dogs in sight. The cowl is the same shape as the knitted version, but I think the stitches were chosen by someone who loves crochet and knows how to show of its strengths.  It worked up super fast in the gorgeous wool/silk blend yarn I bought. All the cowl details are on ravelry if you are interested.

ooo! looks like there’s a little crochet on crochet action going on in this last picture.

I know christmas is long gone, but I never got to show you all that I made, so just deal with it. It was indeed a very crochet christmas this year. I made earrings for all my crafty bitches (sorry, it’s just too tempting) I mean my friends from craft night. The first earring I made turned out waaaay too big, so I turned it into a necklace instead and liked it so much I made another. The other earrings worked up super quick and I think they are very pretty (and so did they, thankfully).  While I was in the jewelry making mood I crocheted a bow tie choker with some leftover alpaca I had. I thought it’d be a sassy accessory for new year’s eve, but they weren’t buying it, so I think some little boy has a new sunday tie. The alpaca was from another christmas gift I crocheted–that slouchy hat up there–for my brother in law. I think I did every single stitch wrong in the hat, but they are all wrong in the same way so it turned out. The used chunky alpaca for the black cowl (the pattern is called the the black hole cowl) and it’s so awesomely soft. If you don’t knit or crochet you should learn just because of alpaca. The last two scarves up there were for my mother-in-law and father-in-law–I’m sure you can tell which is which. The fancy one is made with the broomstick stitch, which is a super cool stitch that you actually use a broomstick for, or in my case a wrapping paper tube, and it’s made out of 100 percent cashmere (on sale) so it’s crazy soft. The one I’m peeking out from is just a quick, easy, man scarf, one I’m sure I will make again.  All the specs for all these project are on my ravelry page (you need an account to see them) and hey while you are there be my friend! I’m lonely over there on ravelry all by myself. There were two more crocheted presents and I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of either: I made 2 moustache hats for my brother in law and his girlfriend. The moustaches were a little droopy, but otherwise they were well recieved–and worn!  So yeah, I crocheted a lot for christmas. How about you? what did you make?

I’ve tried to knit many times, but I get so tense while I’m knitting (is this right?? is it working?) that my stitches get so ridiculously tight I can’t shove  the   damn    needle    under   the      yarn.  And even if I do loosen up, it takes me forever and I just don’t have the patience. I’ve always wanted to learn to crochet because I know it is faster than knitting and I want to be part of the yarn kids click too.  I’m just so nervous when it comes to working with yarn–you can’t really half ass it, like you can with sewing. So I checked out Kids Crochet by Kelli Ronci and Lena Corwin because I figured if they can teach kids they can teach me.

It’s a beautiful book and the projects are awesome, but I still didn’t really get how to crochet.  You tube to the rescue! I watched a 3 minute video on single crochet and a few hours later I had a scarf.  It helped immensely that the yarn was super bulky and the hook super bulky too (a size P).  I was originally going to make the shorter neck wrap on the cover for my daughter, but I enjoyed the actual crocheting so much I just kept going until I used up the whole ball (skein? I know no yarn lingo) and now the scarf is mine. I have plans to make more projects from the book (like all of them) but I need to learn more than just single crochet for that.

Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t mentioned this sooner (October is flying by!) but I was asked by the lovely ladies of Habit to be a contributor for the month. Habit is a photographic collection of the little bits of life from both Emily and Molly and the women they ask to participate. It’s been extremely enjoyable and a good excuse to try to take more–and possibly better–pictures. So go check it out.