You Mean You Only Need One of These Things?

     Way, way back, many years ago (I think we were still using quill pens to record our patterns), I was a crocherer. I made lots and lots of afgans (ripple, granny-square, you name it), baby blankets, scarves, even crib toys; everyone got an crocheted gift for Christmas or their birthday.

      I don't want to brag, but I may have been responsible for the growing number of joggers and/or runners in our town. (Sample conversation: "Do you think we can outrun her? You know that crocheted stuff is pretty light.") Just kidding, I loved the crochet years. I even remember carrying my precious son home from the hospital in a crocheted baby blanket. (I still have it, somewhere. I'll probably give it to him as a gift someday)
     However, over the years, I gave up the crochet hooks to move forward with other things like soccer mom assignments and, heaven help us, field trip duty. Sometimes I missed craft work, so I tried pottery (Mom, isn't it supposed to be round?) and embroidery (damn, those holes are tiny).
     Then about ten years ago, my boss (a woman) introduced me to knitting. I was sold. There was scarves, There were more scarves. There were even more.....well you get the picture. Again, I don't want to brag, I don't have any pictures of those really early scarves, however there are some very warm homeless people in our town. (They asked for donations; what was I to do?)

Here's a picture of a pretty early scarf

      This finally lead to the golden years. I became an accomplished knitter. Once scarves became an everyday (read: boring) thing, I fell down into a hole named SOCKS! I will have to expand on sock knitting at a  later date. (Too many stories, too may socks) I have knitted just about anything that I wanted to knit. I have even done some test knitting for knitting designers (again, stories to follow), but I decided that I wanted to go back and learn how to crochet again (you thought I'd forgotten my subject, didn't you?). And this time I wanted to learn it properly.

     When I learned to crochet, I learned from a right-handed person to didn't know how to teach left-handed one (me). So I learned "the wrong way."  So, last February, I took a class at Stitches West call How to Learn to Crochet Left Handed. Yay! 

Here is my second attempt at a crochet attempt at a project. Great book.

I haven't given up knitting, but I have made a promise to myself that every five (or so) projects will be a (properly done, or course) crocheted item.

Return to the world of yarn

 Wherein We are Covered in Fiber

Yes, I'm still out here in the world of yarn fiber and animal hair. (Actually they're the same thing aren't they; I just find one more annoying than the other) I remain the partner/resident sharer with several animal types and one human. Work continues reluctantly and knitting breaks sneak in wherever possible. (Any day ending with a "y" for example)

My Shawl that Jazz with Blue Moon yarn

Actually, now that I've retired, and my husband is still working away, knitting is working. I keep up with projects that I've promised to people to various charity projects, but most of my projects are of the fun variety, like the shawl pictured above and the cowl below:

This a cowl made with Canon Hand Dyes mini skeins. The neutral gray is a Plucky fingering.

Knitting and writing, that is the new me. (With the occasional heavy-duty cat-hair rolling in my spare time).
See you in the pet goods supply aisle.