Me and the Hook

My sweet Mama is left handed.  I am right handed.  And the only thing that I couldn't learn from her was how to knit.  It's never been a major regret because as you may well know, I'm relatively impatient when it comes to crafts..I like to see the result forming before my very eyes.  And of course, I'm rubbish about learning.  I just want to be good at it straight away.  

So I find myself in my late forties.  My eyes need help for cutting and small print and I haven't trusted my colour matching in non-daylight hours for a good few years, so I tend not to do paper crafts in the evening.  Besides, I rather like to pass an evening in the company of my husband.  There's no better indication of our vibrant and successful marriage than sitting through his choice of TV programme whilst he snores gently on the sofa, clutching the remote as if it were the money for the ferryman.

When I got my iPad, I thought it would banish this sort of boredom; I would inform myself, keep in touch more readily and stay caught up with the blogs I like to visit.  It's not iPad's fault, but this is not the case.  After a day of using the computer for work and contact, it's not always what I want to do.  Even joining and browsing Pinterest hasn't worked really - I have that nagging feeling of wasting time.  

So guess what.  I have often marvelled at the selection and availability of yarns and the potential for them.  I've been jealous of the ability to knit - without the slightest intention of wanting to put myself out and learn.  So I thought I'd have a bash at crochet.  I bought a hook, a ball of chunky, and with help from Pinterest and lots of tutorials, I've started.  I've made two wearable and decent cowl type scarves.  I've made lots of large squares which are destined to be a bedcover.  At some stage.  I'm not in a hurry with this.  Because, I can make a square and a half in an evening without any effort now.  The stitch routine is embedded in my head and I can look up and even talk whilst doing it.  It's the production of the square that I like.  If I had to do the blanket as a whole, it wouldn't happen.  

I think leaving the yarn thing until I'm this age has it's advantage -I definitely know myself well enough to know which projects are worth setting out on and which will fail because of my inherent need for gratifyingly 'fast' results.

What I hadn't expected was the 'hook' actually hooking me in.  I'm really enjoying it.  I've bought more yarn and am even experimenting with different weights and makes before I choose what to do with them - the green above for example, I really like it, but it's much thinner and I'll have to adapt the pattern and use a bigger hook to make squares that will fit the blanket pattern.  But I know I can. And I don't feel I've wasted an evening if I opt against using it or undo it, this is a refreshing first for me.  I haven't gone completely over the top in the purchasing stakes.  But I could.  Nor have I experienced the toil of joining squares together - that is very much on the cards (see the previous post if you're vaguely interested).  

I'm enjoying the learning; it's so much easier with tutorials - so a big up to all the people who don't mind the sound of their own voices on YouTube and also for the many great photo tutes that I've used.  Learning visually is so much easier.  

I have applied one house rule to all this though.  No crochet work until after supper each day, unless I'm the 'assistant' on a delivery van round.  It could swallow up hours.