Yup - hasn't even been a whole month and already I'm... well... it's not broken per se. More like bent. There I was, trying (for the umteenth time) to help my daughter learn how to crochet (see the Emergency Knitting post a few posts back on why I knit). There I was with some cheap acrylic in a shimmery cream (I'm thinking this was something slightly nicer than the [Color] [Organ] brand) and a pretty purple crochet hook. And a generous friend's borrowed ginormous book of crochet stitches that has really good pictures in the front showing you the basics (ooh! I need that book!).
So, I showed her how to make a chain and we worked together for a little bit - she on her shimmery purple acrylic and turquoise hook and me in the cream acrylic and purple hook. Long enough that I ended up with a 9" chain - perfect for a Warm Up America square (9" x 7"). And there was this perfect little stitch that used nothing I wasn't at least a little familiar with in crochet. So far, it's 9" x 3.5" and lovely.
... No, I did not first finish two of the many projects I already had on the needles... It's crochet!! It's not on the needles! It doesn't count! Mostly. Besides, it's for a Good Cause. And it's not like I ran out and bought more yarn for this one. In fact, I'm doing even more good by using up some of that Gawdawful acrylic that's taking up room in my stash (did I mention my resolution to not buy any more cheap acrylic? At least not for many, many years. Maybe someday when I need to crank out an afghan or something.).
On a brighter (read: less guilt-ridden) note, I discovered free podcasts. There are oodles of them! There are ones from NPR (Ooh! Science Friday!) and American Public Media (Ooh! The Writer's Almanac!) and even on knitting (Ooh! Pointy Sticks!)!
Not tooooo terribly long ago, I was introduced by a good friend to the TED Talks. From what I can tell, it's an annual conference in Monterey, CA (WHY?!? did I not know about this when I was there?!?) the premise of which seems to be, "Let's get some really smart people to talk about some stuff." My introduction to these was via YouTube - a talk by a chick who definitely pegs the geekometer. And guess what? There's a PodCast of that, too!! Oh, joyous day!
Oh, you've given me a whole list of new things to investigate - and my crochet hooks are starting to hum and glow, so I may be breaking them out soon!
ReplyDeleteWhat a bad influence you are on your auntie...
Charity knitting doesn't count as a WIP.
ReplyDeleteFound you! I know, it's reaching the point of cyber-stalking... On a more related note, I've been knitting a scarf (the same scarf) for so long that one of my eighth graders recognized it as "the same one from last year Miss? Really?" Yeah, well, if I didn't spend so much time designing labs for y'all...
ReplyDeleteBest of the best new year.
-Megan
A) There is nothing negatively influential about a yarn habit! I got hooked (get it? Hooked?) on knitting through Warm Up America. Who doesn't have time and cheap acrylic enough for a lousy 9" x 7" square?
ReplyDeleteB) No, charity knitting really doesn't. :) Thanks for that reminder.
C) Yay!! So glad you found me! I had no idea you knitted! Do you Ravel?
I'm going to go with no on the raveling, since I'm pulling out a dictionary to look it up in just a moment... I've been knitting on and off for years-- mostly off though, especially here because it's way too hot, and when I was doing massage it made my fingers cramp-- and nothing as ambitious as your projects are. I'm way impressed :p
ReplyDelete