Freebie Friday – Left handed crochet

I often try using my left hand instead of my right hand for various things (writing, tennis, racquet ball, baseball) just to challenge myself. I’ve read articles that state that switching hands creates neurons in the brain. Here’s an article stating just that! I’m all for creating neurons in the brain! What better way to make my brain stronger than with left-handed crochet! I had never tried to do this until…

Day 1:

Today, I was trying to teach someone how to crochet left-handed. I am a right-handed crocheter. It was hard. I got frustrated. I got aggravated. I almost gave up. I was the student and I was a tough student.

I have been crocheting ever since I can remember. How is it possible that my left hand (LH) is acting like it has never seen a hook!? It’s been working with my right hand (RH) all along! I had to keep switching the hook to my right hand to see how it holds the hook and yarn. It’s just always been automatic. When I switched to my left hand, I had no clue what I was doing.

What I thought was going to happen when I tried using my left hand ended up being different from what actually happened. I thought using my left hand was going to feel

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Reading Glasses Clip

My eyes are getting old. I need reading glasses. I hate to admit it. I don’t want to believe it. But alas, there it is. Pulling things I need to focus on further and further from my face isn’t working anymore. I look ridiculous scrunching my eyes while simultaneously holding the offending object I am trying to read in my outstretched hand as far as it will extend…and still not being able to focus. If my son is at hand, say we’re shopping and I need to read the ingredients list of something, he’s gotten very used to me handing him something and saying, “Read that to me. Is there any wheat in that?”

But then, I don a pair of reading glasses and it’s all crystal clear. It makes me feel better that the magnification I need is still relatively low. That means my eyes aren’t that bad, right? I don’t need glasses for seeing in the distance so that’s good too, right? Anybody with me? I used to be able to get away with all that arm stretching but now I’m resolved to stashing reading glasses all over the place (my sisters do too so at least I’m in good company :-)). Oh lovely reading glasses, let me count the ways: the bathroom, the kitchen, my bedroom, my purse, my office, at work, and my crochet bag. I even have one of those large magnifying glasses that my kids loved to play with as children. It sits right next to my computer and I use it when I don’t want to put on the glasses. The family always pauses to look at me when I’m looking at something through the thing. No, I don’t look silly at all trying to avoid putting on the glasses.

Saddest of all, having all these strategically placed glasses in every nook and cranny is no longer good enough. Before, when I needed a little extra seeing help, I could reach for a pair. Now, I need that little push more often. I need a more permanent solution to keep a set ON me. I attempted to crochet a cute cord/necklace thing to do just that but I didn’t like it. I found myself looking for a better solution. I went internet browsing and came across some cute solutions.

I discovered magnetic eyeglasses clips/holders.

Freebie Friday – Fresh Mesh Top

What a cool top this is! Looks like a winner to me. Found it over at Yarnspirations. They have many nice patterns to choose from. I don’t like the colors to their Fresh Mesh Top but I do like the look of it. I might go with a royal purple and black instead of that green.

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.

 

Freebie Friday – Stitch Fiddle

I am so excited! So excited, in fact, I needed to share my discovery. There is a free website where you can create crochet diagrams for your projects. It’s called Stitch Fiddle and I’m having a fun time trying to figure it out. I wanted the ability to make a diagram for the crochet tooth I made. I ended up using graph paper but I just knew there had to be something out there that would allow me to do it on my computer. My frugal self was even willing to pay for it. I kept finding things that only worked on other platforms I couldn’t use (I’m an Apple user) but this one works straight from the web (no need to download anything) which was perfect. The only problem I’m having is that I don’t see any tutorials. It’s supposed to be intuitive and easy but ‘easy’ is subjective. The Help section directs you to a forum but what I really want is a tutorial. Even YouTube let me down on this one. So for now, I’m going to play with it and try to figure it out on my own. It’s seems easy enough that I think with some trial and error, I’ll get better at it. 🙂 In the mean time, I hope you enjoy it too.

Here is a sample of what I’ve created so far with the program. It’s rows 1-9 of the small tooth. It’s not great but it’s helping me learn the program.

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.