Crochet Part 2

Last week I shared with you my attempt at making a scarf that turned into, well I dont know what it tuned into, but you can see that here.  This past weekend my friend Geri, who is a crochet master, showed me the double stitch.  The double stitch (is that the right word, it doesnt seem like it but I could be wrong) is in my opinion better than the single stitch because you get done faster, which is always a good thing in my book.  I dont quite know how to explain this yet, but you can check out a tutorial here.  The tutorial is from Lion Brand yarn, which I have said before is a GREAT resource for all things crochet/knitting so if you want to learn some great stitches go check them out.  So do you want to see what I made over the weekend?!  Well I guess it doesnt matter because here is the picture : )

This is from yarn remnants that Geri had so its not very big, but big enough to practice turning and the stitch itself.  Also, big enough for a pot holder yay!  I made something that I can use!!  So you can see its not totally even but Geri counted my stitches and there are the same amount of stitches at the top and the bottom so its just me pulling too tight at the bottom and not at the top, which I will work on.  Geri did give me a great tip though if I wanted to make this a perfect square.  Pin the project down to a perfect square, put a little water on it and it will form to a square.  Who knew water would be so helpful with crochet!  So what do you think?  Did I do better this time?  I need to go buy some more fat yarn so I can practice, all I have at home is the thin stuff and I dont think Im good enough yet to work with it.

Where are my fellow crochet-ers?  You guys have any aweomse projects you made that you want to share?!

Project Housewife Out!

I DID IT!

Happy Monday everyone!!  Today's post isnt really a project I can teach you (yet) but its a project I have been working on for a while.  I dont know when it started but it seems that the crochet trend is back by popular demand.  I love crocet hats and scarves and decided I wanted to learn as well.  I bought some supplies and had my mom and Geri teach me the basic single stitch.

This is what I started with but Geri quickly told me to get started I needed a bright color yarn and a thicker guage so that it is easier to see what you are doing.

So after getting super frustrated with this teal piece, I moved on to bright yellow and a pretty thick yard.  Mom and Geri helped me for a while but then I went home and was on my own.  I thought I was doing pretty well, set my work down and realized I was not.  I was doing something wrong on the turn but didnt know how to fix it.  So I set it down and picked it back up the next day, tried a different tecnique and that seemed to work so I finished my ball of yarn and was just happy to have a finished product.

I realize its not much of anything really but I was happy to have something to show for all the work I did.  I am great at the single stitch now but still need to work on the turn.  My next attempt will be with the teal yarn and with the double stitch...stay tuned to see how that adventure turns out.  One day I will have a pretty hat to show you but it seems like that day is a little further off than I thought.

I did want to share a really great website with you, Lion Brand Yarn has a great website with videos and print outs, free patterns and of course yarn and supplies.  I love that this company has all these free resources to show you how to crocet.  I watched the video to figure out the beginning slip knot but needed someone to actually sit with me and show me the chain, Im really not a great visual learner but I caught on eventually.  If you are interested in learning how to crochet go check out Lion Brand Yarn, see their resources and buy some of their yarn (I really like martha stewart styles) and get started. 

I did realize though that this may be a hard project for me, my joints get really stiff when I do this and that may just be because I am just learning and my fingers are a little too tense but I have to take frequent breaks to let my hands rest.  So just be patient and keep with it dont give up keep plugging along.  I cant wait to share more crochet adventrues with you!

Any of you out there crochet?  I would love to hear some tips you have or your favorite pattern, share with us!

Project Housewife Out!