Crochet is Relaxing?

Am I the only only crocheter who doesn’t think crochet is relaxing?

The very first time I heard someone say crochet was relaxing, I remember smiling and nodding but in my head I was all Huh? Relaxing? Really? You think so? I guess I had never thought of it that way. Fun, obsessive, inspiring, creative, compulsive, expressive, exciting, thrilling, artistic, enjoyable, addictive, stress-inducing,  soul-fulfilling, euphoric,
frustrating and possibly soothing (does NOT mean the same thing) but never relaxing. What’s so relaxing about obsessively working on a piece until my hands and wrists hurt? What’s so relaxing about looking at your piece and knowing you’re so far from being finished (I’m looking at you dragon cloak)? What’s so relaxing about planning and organizing and trying to learn new things and not always being successful? What’s so relaxing about obsessing over trying to finish a piece you can’t possibly finish in one sitting? What’s so relaxing about being pumped and excited to start a new project? Is it relaxing when I have to complete a gazillion pieces for the craft fair? And so many more things that aren’t that relaxing.

I don’t have time to relax! I’m crocheting!

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Freebie Friday – Crochet Jelly Fish

It’s official. I have become my mother.

My daughter tagged me on Facebook in a post about a crochet jellyfish. She wants one. More specifically, she wants ME to make her one. I looked at this thing and thought it was cute and super simple to make. I didn’t think I even needed to use the pattern to make it but I looked it over just in case.

I came to the conclusion that yes, it was pretty simple and she could probably make it herself with my guidance. About a year ago she had accompanied me to a craft fair and it was slow so she was open to letting me teach her how to crochet (she was bored :-)). She never showed much interest in crocheting herself. She always relied on me to make her things. She is so creative in so many areas that I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get her to crochet. So on this particular day, I had her undivided attention and so I was finally able to convince her to try it.

Imagine my surprise when she picked it up immediately. Like, she was crocheting rows in no time and going in the round a few minutes later! I don’t think I’ve taught anyone that picked it up that quickly. I felt duped! My daughter was a prodigy and she refused to learn. She could have been crocheting ages ago. That was the first and last time she picked up a hook.

Back to the Jelly. I responded to her post by saying I could guide her in making the jellyfish, knowing full well she wouldn’t do it. She countered with, and I quote,”What’s the point of having a mother with these skills if I can’t exploit them???” I was my mother. My mother made stuff for her children all the time. Stuff we never asked for. The moment we asked for something, we got the “You can make it” talk. She always offered to walk us through it. Sometimes I took her up on it but mostly I just wanted her to make it for me. Mother was wise. LOL And now I get to lob those words at my own daughter and now I understand both sides. 🙂

 

The free pattern can be found here.

 

I am not affiliated with any websites nor do I make any money from these sites. They are simply patterns I like or would like to try myself.
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Granny Square Mania Turned Purse

A child’s imagination is truly great and I get to experience it on a daily basis.

At home, I have been furiously and single-mindedly making granny squares (springtime flower granny square) for my future sweater/cardigan. I’ve tried as many color combinations as could with just grey and black and I’m almost half done with the 74 squares I need for the finished piece. I wanted to try the same square at work but with the brighter colors we have.

I used two strands of yarn and started playing with colors. The kids became instantly curious and peppered me with the usual questions. What is it? What are you making? Is it going in the prize box? Can I have it? This is always followed by suggestions. Use this color. Make it this or that. You should really give it to me. That kind of thing. 🙂

The squares work up quickly so I was able to make a few in a short time. Once done, the kids needed to know what my intentions were because they were pretty sure they wanted whatever it was I was making. I told them the squares hadn’t spoken to me yet on what they wanted to become (they didn’t even look at me strangely after I said that! lol). I had three different squares completed and they were voting on which ones they liked best.

New Crochet Doll

Now that the school year is coming to a close, I’ve stopped taking requests for making rag doll characters from my students (I don’t want that kind of pressure!). I still find myself itching to make something, as well as continuing to crochet to encourage them to continue crocheting. When they see me crochet, they almost always ask if they can crochet too.

I decided to make crochet doll that would represent our after school program (World Academy). I wasn’t sure if the doll was going to be a toy the kids could play with or a decoration for our room but the kids, mainly the girls, kept asking me if I was going to let them play with her.

I got to work figuring out what she would look like. I wanted her to represent all of us in the program and she was loosely based on me. The staff wears a World Academy t-shirt as part of our uniform. I have several colors but the one I was wearing that day is a bright pink and we had pink in our cupboard so pink was the choice for the shirt. I was going to give her blue pants (I’m always wearing jeans) but the kids wanted a skirt so she got a skirt. I gave the doll brown curls made out of spirals. The kids pointed out I had black and white hair, not brown! They didn’t even comment that my hair is definitely not curly.

Freebie Friday – Sweater progress

Today’s Freebie Friday includes links to the free patterns I used for reference on my WIP (work in progress).

The sweater I intended to make (Lionbrand Granny Square Cardigan) has morphed and is going in a completely different direction. It started with a granny square since that’s where I chose to start the pattern. I soon realized my squares were coming out way too large and most importantly, that I didn’t like them. I found a granny square I liked (springtime square) and made 12 of those. They were still too large but I believed I could compensate. I was happy with my new squares.

These are the ones I’ve made so far (there are way more than 12 now :-)). And I still don’t know what I’m going to make!

Mexican Mother’s Day

We always celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom on May 10th because that’s when she said it was really Mother’s Day. In Mexico, it always falls on May 10th. So today, I’m celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom in my heart. My mom passed away almost three years ago and my siblings and I went through her things and kept those items that were the most valuable to us sentimentally. With the recent passing of my oldest sister, her children did a similar thing and generously passed some things back to us. I was fortunate enough to get some of my mom’s finished crochet pieces.

Mom was pretty amazing and some of her best pieces are gone but here are two of my favorites.

Freebie Friday – Minecraft Villager

Recently I tackled a Minecraft Villager one of my student’s requested. I thought it was going to be an easy task. My student showed me what it looked like and my initial thought was ‘easy peasy.’

Once I actually did some research on the character, I found other pictures that showed a little more detail.

He had a large nose. Did I want to embroider a long nose or make a separate piece and sew it on? He obviously has a robe. Should I keep it simple with no robe or try for the robe? Arms crossed (in pictures of the game they seemed crossed) or hanging loose?

Off To The Renaissance Fair At Last

I finally went off to the Renaissance Faire! With my dragon cloak complete, all I had to do was find something to complement my cloak. I furiously tossed clothes out of my closet hunting for something that wouldn’t clash with the colors and would look Renaissancy. I tried on this and that and with the help of my hubby ended up going with a crochet dress I had recently acquired. My mom had made it years ago and it had holes in some places (mostly in the back) but the colors were complementary to my cloak so I went with it. Once duly adorned, we were off!

Lucky for me that this weekend turned out to be one of the cooler ones! Made wearing the cloak bearable 🙂