in love with crochet

It's so tempting not to post and just to read my bloglines and go to bed. But, as I uploaded all of my holiday pictures onto the computer and the more attractive/memorable ones on to flickr, I realize it would have been so much easier just to blog all along instead of getting to this one big "where have I been? Oh yeah, I've been crochetting" post.

But, here it is..

We've been in Chicago for a week & a half and even though I feel like I've done too much relaxing, looking through my pictures, I've actually done a lot of fun stuff. I didn't post in time to share all my Christmas-y finds (amazing handmade ornaments on both grandmothers' trees!) in a timely manner, but if you're curious, they're almost all over at flickr. My fantastic crochet book was waiting for me under the tree
And no sooner than the hook was in my hand, Uncle P showed me one of my great aunt's crochetted ornaments and we set out to make a few. He'd cut the cards and punch the holes, and I'd stitch them together. It was great and I whipped up a bunch in a few days, but then we got tired of punching all those holes with their antiquated hole puncher. I may make some more once I've got my comfy punch and more colors of thread. Of course, I'll need to remember in time too...

This crochet book has several different hat patterns, and I've wanted to make a hat for ages. The floppy one in the top photo was my test piece. In it, I learned that if you're working with thicker yarn and a bigger hook than the book suggests, you need to adjust the pattern. A lesson well learned. I wore that one to the family's New Years Eve party and got a lot of laughs. Yesterday I tried another pattern with the same yarn (it matches my coat & scarf, i was so determined...) and it fits better, but it's still not exactly what I was hoping for. The best by far was the one I did tonight. Last year when I was home, Lori, Tea & I tried to take up knitting. Ha. that didn't last long. Thankfully they both had their yarn left over. I got Lori's fluffy green chenille and this one practically flew off my fingers: I'll give it to her in the morning. I'd appologize for all the self-portraits, but by now I'm sure it's pretty apparent that I like pictures of me. Maybe I can get Lor to model tomorrow.

I also introduced my aunt to a local quilt shop-- she has just taken up quilting (and started on a pattern that I'm still too scared to attempt, half square triangles without sewing two lines down the diagonal of a square) and I hadn't been to any quilt shops around here. It was nice, I found Guttermann thread and got leads on guilds my aunt can join. It would be great if she stuck with quilting, but already I can sense that she'll be one of the "gotta get it done NOW" quilters. Hey, whatever makes her happy..

We leave on Thursday for our weekend downtown. It'll be sad to go, I have a feeling that a lot will change before I've got a chance to get back home.