• crafting - Crochet

    Vote and Be Civil!

    November 2, 2020 - By 

    If you haven’t voted in the 2020 election already – there’s still time to vote on Election Day 2020. I prefer to vote on the day itself for sentimental reasons. Plus, there’s never a long wait and I live across the street from my current polling place.

    This has been a difficult year with the pandemic, economic downturn because of COVID restrictions and civil unrest.

    The world will not automatically change after the presidential election but what we can hope for is that people will be kind and civil to one another regardless of their skin color, beliefs or political party. Not everyone likes you and you don’t have to like everyone, but you can be civil to one another. In every aspect of life, racism has reared its ugly head and the 45th president of the United States made it possible for people to be unkind [to put it mildly] to others and even violent. If you don’t like someone – leave them alone.

    Even in the crafting world where you would think people have something in common to make it possible to share a craft they love, it’s not often so. The craft world is just a microcosm of the world at large and isn’t a place where people can just hide with their materials and create, as much as some people would like to think. Racism won’t go away on Nov 3, there is still a lot of work to be done as a nation.

    Crafting may console and soothe you, but to heal the world – act.

    Make a plan to vote. Be civil to one another.

    Actively participate in your community and care for those in need.

  • afghans - crafting - Crochet - stashbusting

    Ode to the Granny Square

    July 1, 2020 - By 

    The Granny Square is a utilitarian way of using up yarn. Generally, when many people think of a Granny Square afghan they think of lots of smaller motifs joined together in bright colors. The Granny Square, which is a simple shell or fan stitch – three double crochets with a chain stitch then three double crochets again with a few chain stitches at the corner can be used to make a block as large as you wish. This is a pattern that I can almost make in my sleep. It’s versatile.

    The best part about making one large Granny Square is that you can use up a little or a lot of yarn and make something unique and random or planned and bold. The reason that I make the Granny square so often is that I end up with a lot of small amounts of yarn from previous projects and I don’t like to waste yarn. Scrapghan patterns that have lots of colors are fun. Some people don’t like the unplanned, unmatched look. The bright colors don’t bother me as much as I really, really, really, REALLY do not like joining motifs. Joining colors is ok, especially since I found the craft life altering Russian Join so I don’t have to weave in ends.

    I like color. Lately, I have been playing with random colors that are complimentary or as I like to say, “sort of” go together and then are tied together with a neutral like gray to make the color changes in the Granny Square really stand out.

    Before looking down your nose at a Granny Square afghan consider that you can buy kits online that range from the tens to hundreds of dollars depending on the material and size of the finished afghan. A quick search online will yield lots of patterns for a Granny Square, and different variations – the Modern Granny, Rectangular Granny, Corner to Corner Granny, Granny Log Cabin and so on.

    What I like most about a Granny Square in addition to the ease of making it is that you can take a small amount of yarn to start and then continue changing colors for each round or doing multiple rounds of a color and you can make something beautiful. I have never seen a solid color Granny Afghan. It can be done but why. The beauty of the pattern is that it is so simple that the colors do make a statement. One, two or five rounds of the same color offers a nice symmetry. Even numbered rounds, odd number rounds or even a Fibonacci sequence can be used as a plan for a colorful afghan.

    Often when I start an afghan I don’t plan that far ahead of time, I gather what I think is enough to make an afghan, which is tricky when you have small oddballs of yarn. Remaining balls of yarn are great for Granny Afghans – because you can start with just a little bit of color and go from there. The negative comments about Granny Afghans makes me wonder why I make them. The simple answer is because I like them, they are warm, and I can use a bit of yarn to make something beautiful for someone else.

    Happy Crocheting!

  • crafting - Crochet - crochet motivation - Mystery balls

    Semi-motivated

    June 16, 2020 - By 

    The number of completed items grows weekly and I have tried a couple of new patterns. No difficulty sleeping, no difficulty crafting, just a lack of motivation to do a whole house purge that I thought I was going to do. It was ambitious, I admit. The slide show features three months’ worth of work from the first day I began working from home in March until today. There were other projects that were started before sheltering in place began not featured.

    I thought I would have a well organized and completely purged home by now, especially after three months of COVID-19, sheltering in place, plus the addition of black lives matter protests and a few days of curfew to quell looting. It has been exhausting. Weekdays, I work from home and it’s not so different than being in the office, except the dress code is more casual and the commute is shorter. After working the last thing I want to do is do any work.

    I have been doing a lot more cooking. Easter was the one time I did order delivery. I enjoy my cooking generally during an average week, I’m not home often to do it. Now I’m home all the time and my dishwasher hasn’t been used as consistently since I’ve moved in. I have sorted and tossed a few things, but I haven’t been motivated to do purging, especially since unless it’s garbage there is no where for it to do. My donation bags are filling up. Even the books I’ve borrowed from the library were automatically renewed… now I can return them.

    After working, making meals and cleaning up the kitchen because everything can’t go in the dishwasher… I am always motivated to do anything except watch movies and crochet. Crocheting helps me keep occupied. I have a sewing machine, but I don’t sew well and have no material, so mask making was out. I have lots of yarn. Part of the cleaning and purging process renewed the feeling that I have toward worsted weight yarn. I don’t really like many bulky weight yarns and dk or lighter are aggravating. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but those are on the heavier side of dk. Double stranding could work, but I’m not really a fan of that either.

    Trying new things and combining different colors to use up the yarn that I had was definitely a way of purging and adding to the donation bin. Out of all the things in my home, there’s still a lot of yarn, but it’s probably the most organized, because I also didn’t want to buy any yarn until I used up what I have or at least more of what I have.

    Not wanting to throw anything away or be wasteful especially with food or yarn are traits that have intensified during the past few months. I can always use up the last bit of something in another dish or add the yarn to a mystery ball. Reading on the way to and from work was a regular part of my day, now I have to make time to read and even then it needs to be something interesting otherwise, I lose interest. Crocheting is something I do everyday: it’s calming, relaxing and I set goals for items to give away. It would seem that setting the goals would be more stressful, it isn’t, I crochet fast. I set goals for reading and I’m a fast reader if I’m interested in the book. Besides, if I don’t meet my reading goal I’ve only disappointed myself.

    Happy crocheting!

  • afghans - crafting - Crochet - pandemic crafting

    Waiting and crocheting

    May 31, 2020 - By 

    March 13 when we left the office, we thought it was only for two weeks. Then we were told to shelter in place. Two weeks has become more than two months and we are still working remotely with no clear end date. Being able to continue to work  remotely and receive a paycheck is a blessing.

    I had met with a new friend who gave me some yarn the day before the initial two week working from home period began. We had coffee and talked about what was going to happen. There was a lot of speculation but we didn’t know and weren’t too worried after all it was only for a couple of weeks. Restaurants hadn’t been closed yet, things were still open, it was surreal.

    Two and a half months later, we are ending still sheltering in place in Chicago for a few more days and while restrictions have been lifted in other parts of Illinois. Now we have a mandatory curfew because of protests that became riots over the killing of George Floyd. Now we wait.

    The virus is still here, racial injustice is still here, people who still have a need for warm items when the weather gets colder are still here.

    Between all of the posts, articles and ads regarding COVID-19, protecting yourself, and other affects – joblessness, emotional issues etc., there are still posts and pleas from organizations. These groups are expressing a need for items because unlike sewn items, crochet and knit items take longer to make. Scarves, hats, gloves, and other items will still be needed when the weather turns cold, the need hasn’t gone away, it’s just that the other requests have become louder in the short term. Several organizations that offer warm items to people are asking because the need hasn’t gone away, and some people have time to make things.

    Unrest, stir crazy, insecure, anxious – many words could express what is happening now and has been happening. Not just to me, but to other people. There is a rush to get back to normal for people. Should we? What will normal be like? Yes, I miss seeing friends and family. I miss going for an impromptu coffee or meal. I miss walking along the lakefront. I miss getting together with my knitting/crocheting group and chatting about everything and nothing. I miss going outside without wearing a face covering. I miss going to church, the symphony, museums and concerts.

    Those are some of the things that I want to return – not the hatred, inequality and injustice that has been an unspoken part of our society.

    Crocheting and knitting can be more than just an escape, it can be political and emotional: remember the Pussyhats/Women’s March or Ravelry taking a stand to ban speech supporting the Trump administration, hate speech and white supremacy? The resurgence of crafting in the past couple of months hasn’t been about politics or race, they have always been there. Just as people with a need have always been there – just not in the forefront. Crafting during the pandemic has made a way for people to quell anxiety, be productive, escape and survive. In other words say maintain sanity.

    Whenever we are able to get out and freely move about unmasked – literally and figuratively, remember there are those who are still in need of things beyond the basics of food, shelter, employment, but justice and fairness.

    Be safe and happy crocheting!

  • afghans - crafting - Crochet - crochet motivation - Donations

    New year, new goals

    January 9, 2020 - By 

    Yes, it’s the second week of January, well, the first FULL week of January and I’ve finally set my 2020 crochet goals.

    This year, I am committing to making 15 afghans, 15 hat and scarf sets and 40 scarves.

    I really missed making afghans.

    What I missed most about working on afghans is that when you work on them in the winter and they are large enough to cover your lap, your legs are warm. In the summer you can put and afghan off to the side or use it to block the breeze from the fan or ac, but in the winter it is a definite bonus. Without a goal in mind, I already started 3 afghans and a scarf.

    Though an outlier in the year’s goals is baby items: I might make some baby items, I might not. Another goal that I can’t measure is to use up yarn that I have or get rid of yarn that I don’t want from my working stash. Last night, I was looking for yarn to combine with some skeins that I was using to work on an afghan. I found some yarn to use, but in my search, I rediscovered yarn to make a couple of scarves. Surprise yarn is always great to find. As I was finishing my last scarf of 2019, I found some yarn that I didn’t like using, it was too bulky and I put it in the donation bag right away. I plan to do more of that this year. Someone else may like using it.

    There will be some colorful afghans made this year, because I am committed to using up what I have and not buying more. Not quite crazy quilt type, think neutral with pops of color. Getting rid of yarn that is taking up space is definitely on the agenda. I have purchased some yarns that I’ve liked from thrift stores probably from people like myself who didn’t like working with a project and just threw the whole thing into a bag to be donated or maybe a family was donating a deceased crafter’s unfinished projects. If you have the option, work with what you like and can afford. Life is too short to work with materials that you don’t like. I’m still going to experiment, try new yarns and also try to get to a non-big box, local yarn shop. I will definitely crochet (almost) daily in 2020, crocheting is like breathing and not even a goal.