Hurray for Crochet

Crochet has become an obsession over the past year or so. I’d not had a hook in my hand for quite some time, so it felt good to revive an old love and now I’m finding so much inspiration online that I think it will stick with me for a good while longer. My mom taught me to do all the basic stitches way back in grade school. I remember the very first thing I made was a little triangle mesh shawl. That was followed by granny squares and motifs of all kinds, we sewed them all over everything back then. It’s fun to see them come back into popularity again, as they always seem to do. Over the years I’ve crocheted afghans, bags, pillow covers, and a multitude of dish cloths & scarves. Perhaps one day I’ll even try a sweater – never been brave enough for that.

One of my new fave blogs to visit is Attic 24. Written by Lucy, a young UK crochet artist with a passion for color, it is a real treat! I used her pattern for a granny stripe blanket to make the rainbow baby blanket on the right below:

And here’s a corner of it: (Sorry, but the colors are not quite right here. The camera flash is making muck of it all and I wasn’t able to edit these photos as well as I’d like.)

Draped over the back of the chair is a ‘circles in squares” blankie, and below that are four squares of a nine patch daisy granny baby blanket in progress. Again, colors aren’t as pretty as in real life, but you’ll get the general idea.

Little blankets are so much fun to make, I’ve been going crazy with them. I have a few ready to mail off to Project Linus, and perhaps I’ll attempt to sell some of the others.

I’ve got a pile of scarves done (I’ll have to take pictures outdoors when I get a chance – the colors are too beautiful to photographic inside.) And I’m teaching myself to do tapestry crochet. Here’s my first attempt at that, a little birdie basket:

I used inexpensive cotton yarn to make it and it’s fine, but a little bit floppy. I will try again with a thicker rug yarn and see if that will be sturdier. I modified a pattern by Carol Ventura from Crochet Bags on the Go for the birds. She is the guru for all things tapestry crochet and shares her knowledge freely.  Wonderful lady! I think I’ll try to graph out some gingko leaves (love the shape of them!) and use several colors for my next project. Stay tuned for that! ;-)

I have many more things to post, but I’m a little under the weather today, so will call it quits and be back tomorrow.

I am proud that I have made an entry for day two, ha ha!

Have a happy, crafty day!