Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Its all about the love bay-bee!!!

I may have joined the dark side.

Well kind of. I spent my weekend teaching myself to crochet. Here’s the thing. I love to crochet – its fast and satisfying. I can finish a dishcloth in under an hour.

Here’s the other thing – I still hate how crochet looks. To me it all looks like variations on Granny Squares. I may never progress past dishcloths since that seems to be the only thing these are good for.

Except Tunisian crochet which is very cool. Of course the fact that you can crochet a passable stocking stitch may be what makes it appealing. May as well just knit!

So thing to love #1: Crochet. Kind of.

Thing 2: my angel partner from SP10. With all the issues I had with my original pal (thanks again for the book, if you sent anything else I never got it!!), I was assigned an angel – and man! She’s good!

Lorena posted my parcel in mid-August and IT NEVER ARRIVED. Between the Board turfing, daughter’s bike being stolen from my carport and possible mail thievery I was ready to stick a for sale sign on my house and move to Wawa. Just when I had given up for good and told Lorena not to tell me what was in the parcel (I can only handle so much heartbreak at once), it arrived!

The box looked like it had travelled from Florida to Ottawa via Columbia but still – it was mostly intact! And what wonderful stuff indeed! Lorena totally “got” me. 100 calorie chocolately snacks, delicious yarn, Florida yummies (key lime!) and of course, yarn and roving. Here are the pics with more deets.

This photo is all about vices. If she had thrown in a pack of cigarettes it'd be complete. Thankfully I am nearly full time quit these days so its just food and coffee. From the left - key lime jelly, Newman's Own fair trade coffee, 100 calorie packs of little cookies, key lime chocolate bar and Crunch sticks (which may be gone already...ahem). So - tummy? Feeling the love.

Next a sideways picture of Burt's Bees healthy hands kit (has almond butter, cuticle cream, something else I can't remember and cotton gloves to help it all soak in), a very delicious lavender/mint bar of soap that has already become a favourite of mine and the kids, and two CDs of music. Unfortunately the green one got mangled...but Lorena has excellent taste in music. Hello! Barry White, Indigo Girls, great stuff I've never heard, Joni Mitchell - eclectic but it all works somehow. My Ipod is happy. So - senses of smell, hearing and touch? Feeling the love!

And of course I saved the best for last - 8oz (!) of merino/tencel blend roving, 4 balls of Plymouth Yarns Royal Bamboo in oranges and yellows that is begging to be knit into something but I don't know what (maybe time to jump on the Chevron scarf bandwagon?), some golden yellow dye (the one colour I was missing from my collection) and the blue skein is Jitterbug! So my wheel and needles? Love love love.

Thanks Lorena!!

Other knitting news - no new FOs but lots of stuff is moving along nicely. My hands are suffering from the crochet as I learn new motions and my muscles adapt. I find when I am learning I tend to be too tight and I start fighting with the yarn which probably doesn't help much. Its getting better as I loosen up the stitches a bit. I am finding that it has significantly improved my ability to let the yarn flow through on my left hand - a challenge for me since I knit by throwing with the right. I suspect my fair isle will be all the happier for it since I knit with both hands for colourwork.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice crochet dishclothes - I love how fast they go - and I need to make some for myself! I'm also trying to learn how to do it, but I can't ever see liking it more than knitting. Just seems wrong to only have one needle :-)

Very nice secret pal!

Five Ferns Fibreholic said...

I've got to get a secret pal. Wow!!!! Isn't it amazing how something like a few pressies (or in your case a lot of pressies) can brighten up your day.

I've been in Wawa once. It was during a gas and meal stop on our way out West. When we moved back, a gas station had been built along the highway so we didn't need to go into the city.

Keep up with the crochet. I've seen some gorgeous work by my friend's DH. He sticks to afghans but they have a wow factor.

Anonymous said...

You've made me want to learn to knit socks, you evil woman!

You sure have come a long way from scarves :)

Lorena said...

I can't believe how far behind I am in my blog reading. Here you are singing my praises and I'm so late in saying "hee hee hee, glad you enjoyed it all"...! Seriously, though, I was happy to spoil you. The more I snooped through your blog the more I thought that we have a lot in common. I'm glad you liked everything. :-) A replacement CD will get in the mail this week!