I’ve been happily crocheting along continuing on my year of free crocheting, deciding to do whatever I want with few goals and it’s been blissful. The most enjoyable part is just trying out or combining different yarns that I already have. The stash down is still on, and for the most part, I haven’t bought much new yarn. It’s been fun! That’s the most important part, I am enjoying what I do. Something I have tried has been putting pom poms on hats which was always a recommendation by quality control A.K.A. my mother. I make a few hats with…

As I close out the third month of my free form maker year and using up yarn in my stash (well, mostly), I have been trying new things. I have this yarn that I purchased it is a bulky weight not too too bulky but still too bulky to use a 6 ½ mm hook. So, I tried using a 7 mm which was frustrating to use, then I choose a random wooden hook that I have with no size on it. I think I bought it at a thrift store because I don’t recall using it on a project…

The weather may have been gray in January but the crochet projects were not. I dabbled a bit with interweave crochet and a bit of mosaic. There are a few other patterns I want to try out. Also, I have been using the yarn that I have… other than one great sale on yarn that I like. I haven’t added any yarn to the stash, and have been using up what I have. This maker year has been freeing, if I want to make a hat because I don’t have enough yarn to make a set, so be it. If…

After purging yarn I don’t like, and wouldn’t use from my working stash, I decided that in 2024 I’m going to use up the yarn I have and make 2024 a free form creative crochet year. The only goal that I am making for myself is to make 12 red scarves for Foster Care to Success. Whatever I make will likely be for donations to different organizations, but I’m just going to go with the flow, use what I have, and experiment with new techniques to improve my skills. The final tally for 2023 was: 100 hat and scarf sets…

A little of this and a little of that… that phrase can be associated with recipes, or crafting. In my case, I’ve been matching up different oddballs to branch out from using a color with a neutral but by putting two colors together or two neutrals together. To kick off fall, I just started playing with color, which was also several rounds of yarn chicken since I had a limited amount of yarn to work with for the projects. There are things I could have done to get an estimate of how much yarn I had, but weighing or measuring…

It seems fitting that International Crochet Day and Mindfulness Day are on the same day – September 12, both are meant to offer relaxation. This is definitely a necessity for those who need to be quiet, and calm given that September 11 is still a difficult day for many in recent American history. I’ve been purging items from the craft room to make more room for other yarns – so it’s been a colorful summer – combining lots of oddballs with my favorite neutrals or even combining coordinating colors together. After playing ‘Yarn chicken” too many times, I discovered that…

Some people don’t like to crochet or knit during the summer months when it’s hot, or will switch to lighter weight yarns. What I’ve noticed just from looking at pictures of sets that I’ve made from the past few years, certain patterns or motifs are seasonal. Or, at times I become fixated on a pattern and try it out in different yarns. I make a few specific patterns during the summer months because I want to try something different and generally I will have reached the halfway point of my goal and don’t want to get bored. I’ll make something…