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Merry Christmas, hope you have a wonderful day celebrating with loved ones. Invite someone to celebrate with you and spread some cheer.

Happy Crocheting! Whip up something nice for yourself or someone else…

I’m already planning my next mystery ball. I like working two stranded but I think I may use a sport weight for the solid color next time, so that the afghan will have more drape.

I do have two mystery balls of yarn all ready to go. I have some navy sport weight yarn that has been waiting to be used that I acquired from the estate of a lady who owned a yarn shop. The yarn is a fine acrylic, not too soft, but sturdy and navy is a neutral color. So, why not give it a go? I think I might like the drape of the sport weight with the worsted mystery ball together, but what is most challenging is that I may or may not have enough to make a very large center portion of the afghan if I do a granny square or rectangle. Since this yarn is already in my working stash, I won’t have to worry about buying something I may or may not like.

Another project that is in the works is small batches or odd lots of shades of gray. Though this would not be a mystery ball because it is more like small batches of odd lots of yarn and longer color runs.

The most compelling and interesting blend would be to use up some of the reds. Matching shades or coordinating blue, grays and browns are not as challenging as matching or coordinating shades of red. Though I have been thinking about and planning my next mystery balls, I have finished up a couple of afghans this weekend and a scarf that I had been working on. I have a new scarf that I started Saturday and three other afghans in the works, but in the meantime, I’ll share the ones I have finished and when I make more progress on my mystery balls, I’ll share pictures of those too.

Happy Labor Day!

After three “sittings” a.k.a, summer events in the park, my afghan is now too large to be considered portable. I started this granny square afghan last week, during a movie and then worked on it Monday and Tuesday. Since I was seated outside, with the work on my lap as I turned it so it wouldn’t get dirty, I made good progress. After three outings, this is no longer a portable project. This is now homebound and I should be able to finish it during a movie or two this weekend.

The questions becomes, when is a project too big to be portable? If you are taking a project and you will be relatively stationary with a bit of space – like on a road trip (as a passenger) or on a lengthy train ride you may be able to take a larger project than say a daily commute or a plane ride. A plane ride make offer a lot of time to crochet or knit, but there are space constraints.

When a project too big? Whenever you don’t feel like toting it around anymore… It’s a person’s preference, but for me, after three “outings” this afghan has grown too large to fit in a reasonably sized bag to carry on public transportation and will now be finished at home.

Crochet on, good people!

The excitement, the fun, the thrill of unboxing yarn from a yarn of the month club.

I have always been interested in the yarn of the month clubs. They always look so great. I’ve also been interested in wine of the month clubs, but the things that stops me from subscribing to either is the choice. Someone else make a choice of yarn or wine for me. Whenever I get the itch to do that, I would rather just go to a yarn shop (or wine) and pick out something new or different. If it’s yarn, maybe a color that I’ve never tried before or a blend

I was watching a couple of videos last night of a yarn blogger who was excitedly opening different subscription boxes and I got caught up in the excitement. So I checked out the sites of the boxes and was like wow, That’s cool… but I could go patronize a local yarn shop by purchasing a enough of a yarn I’ve never tried to make a hat, scarf or shawlette. It wouldn’t be the same as having a mystery package arriving at your house. I was always that kid who loved grab bags at different stores when we went on vacation. The thrill of the mystery bag was always more exciting than what found when I opened it. The same goes for wine of the month clubs. Even those curated for your preferences – red, vs, white, dry vs. sweet, etc. always seemed to fall short. My friends who tried them, were never over the moon about what they received.

Instead of $30 a month, I think I might try spending a similar amount on an unfamiliar yarn, even if I don’t spend the entire amount, it would be nice to try new yarns.

Several hours later…

I found an online Jo-Ann coupon for and I decided to use the 25% off coupon to buy some yarns that I had never tried before. A couple of yams I had seen or felt but there were only limited color ways in the store. I maximized my coupon by buying things that were already on sale and even though I had to “gasp” pay for shipping, the sale price and the coupon made up for it. In a week or so I will have several new yarns to try. Now I wait. It may not be as much fun as a mystery box of yarn showing up at your house, but since I’ve never used any of the ones I purchased, it will still be a surprise to me.

Now I wait…

In the meantime, I have more than enough yarn and projects to keep me busy, like the one below [my current lunch project].

I like this scarf, I like this yarn and the one remaining ball that I have from the project is going directly into the donation bag. This is a tape like linen yarn which changes from a flattish cotton tape to a sleek satiny section and changes colors throughout. The colors are fabulous and this made a wonderful scarf with incredible drape. Since I choose a shell pattern, it will be warm but I wouldn’t want to use this for an afghan.

I purchased the yarn in a sale online which I just decided to try because the “price was right” as my father says about a deal that is too good to pass up. The yarn which is cotton and viscose and a #3 could possibly be used for a shell or a light sweater.

There are several projects that I am working on now. One afghan I keep at work to crochet during lunch, another that I started because everything else in the works was too large or not enough to work on during my knitting meetup group and a scarf that is the perfect purse sized project. Unless I really don’t like the yarn, I finish the project, and end up finishing several things all about the same time. My current count is 5 afghans in progress and one scarf since I finished the other that I was working on. When projects become too unwieldy to carry every day, I just have a larger project that I can leave in one place. During lunch, I can complete three hats or a scarf a week. Since I donate afghans as well, I figured, why not just keep a larger project, that I don’t have to transport as often.

Some of the things that I have in progress are shown below. Generally, on the first day, I get a good burst of crocheting energy and lots gets done, then the items get added to the rotation and finished in good time. “Good time” depends on how excited I am or interested in the project which makes me want to work on it more frequently.

Even though I have several projects in the works, I am always looking to see what my next project will be and which yarns from other projects can be combined to make an afghan or a scarf. I had some yarn in a couple of bags in different places and then realized that I could combine the colors with some bridge solids to make something interesting. I haven’t decided how the afghan will start, but these colors are a good start for something new.

Mother’s Day was a few days ago and some of the ads that I saw for craft stores and supplies were targeting mothers. Seeing those always makes me laugh because though my mother has always supported me in crocheting and other crafts that I have pursued, she never crocheted.

When I was eight and decided that I wanted to crochet, my mother asked my aunt (my uncle’s wife) what I needed, then took me to the store to let me choose the yarn I wanted. She has always supported me and still supports me in my pursuits. She critiques my work (color choices) and tells other people about my crocheting and other projects.

Later, after I began to show some talent for crochet, she was added to crochet magazine, book and yarn lists because she would buy gifts for me. Since buying my first materials, she bought my first full crochet hook set (which I still own), yarn basket and other accessories over the years. She will tell people that I can read patterns and charts and that I’m really good at crocheting, but she would rather play bridge. She has no desire to learn to crochet and said that when she was in college, a lady at the company she worked for (one of the owners) tried to teach her to knit on company time. She tried, but never took to it. Just because she couldn’t knit (or crochet) didn’t mean that she didn’t appreciate others’ work, it just wasn’t the work she chose or liked to do.

Not every mom is creative or even supportive, so I am glad that my mother has always supported me and encouraged me in my pursuits. Mother’s Day is only one day in which we celebrate mothers but we should also celebrate the mothers (and step-moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc.) who are also our greatest cheerleaders every day, not only the second Sunday in May when we celebrate them.

Everyone talks about and shows what they are currently working on, but what about those items that you have put in “time out” or have tried to forget about because they were so painful? I’m not talking about those first projects when you were first getting the hang of crocheting or knitting, but the ones that you had high hopes for and ambitiously thought… this will be great. Facebook, Pinterest and scores of sites on the internet are filled with beautiful work crafted by skilled crocheters. Even the trials and tests of patterns weren’t perfect the first time.

What happens to those? Last time, I mentioned that I was giving up on a project because the yarn was too splitty. There is also some yarn that I purchased from a thrift store and I think the donor had unraveled the yarn from a project that had several color changes, because what I thought was a small ball of yarn with one long strand, was really a ball of strings wound together. I used some in a project and then I just put the rest in the donation bag.

When projects don’t work out, many people don’t often talk about them. I think that the mistakes and foibles should be on display so that other people see that all crafters don’t have superpowers they are people who struggle and get frustrated in their craft as well. As long as you keep crafting and moving forward, that is all that matters.

Saturday, April 21, is the first Local Yarn Store Day.

Go out and support your local yarn shop! It’s not about need or greed, it’s about shopping local. There is always more space in your yarn stash. For those who have a yarn store in their neighborhood… treasure it and patronize it. I’m still scouting out a new LYS closer to my home, since my favorite closed a couple of years ago, and I always encourage people to support their local businesses.

Go to the TNNA (The National Needlearts Association) site for a list of participating shops.

Yarn and a hook are possibilities.

There are 10, 080 minutes in a day. How many of them do we spend doing things we don’t necessarily want to do? Like waiting for something or traveling to a place? Reading while on a bus works for some, unless you get motion sickness.

Of the 1440 minutes in a day, I spend 45-60 of those crocheting. Some days more and some less but every day I make time to crochet. During my lunch break at work and also during talks or large group seminars where there is a crowd and I’m just listening are opportune times to get a few rows done. When I watch television, I’m generally working on a project. In a group setting, especially with my regular knitting and crocheting group I can be more social if I am crocheting than if I’m reading a book. It is more open than being closed off with a book. Weekdays, I may crochet less and weekends more but several hours a week, there’s a hook in my hand.

For me, it takes about four hours to make a scarf if the stitch pattern isn’t too complicated. Over the course of a week I can make a scarf. A baby hat can be completed in one sitting. Of course life and other obligations sometimes interfere and some weeks I’m more productive, but as long as there’s some progress, it’s not an issues, especially since it’s not a race and any day where I have crocheted, I have been productive. I’m sure I’m like other crafters and the only thing that seems to cooperated and work out is your craft.

People often ask – “where do you find the time?” I have the same amount of time that everyone else does, I just choose to use some of that time to crochet.

The shower gift was a big hit. Here is a picture of the baby blanket and hat. The blanket is to use now and is a 38 inch square in a washable white yarn in a shell stitch. The hat is  for later – sized for a 3-6 month old child so it can be used in the fall.

The two color scarf made it to a strong finish. I decided to do a border, so that the future wearer won’t snag the yarn on the side where the colors were changed. I didn’t have enough of either color left to do a complete border, so I did one half of it in one color and the other in the other color, which works well together and isn’t obtrusive. This two color scarf is a good option for random balls of odd skeins I see and want to work with in the future.