Granny Squares are Great!

I'm still a noob when it comes to crochet.  I've been steadily working my way up to more complicated projects.  I had always looked at a granny square and thought "That looks hard!  I better wait to try that till I'm a little better at crochet in the round..."  But really it has been quite easy, and I regret postponing my attempts.

One day at the store, I was looking at acrylic yarns and thought "Screw it, I'm going to start a blanket."  I picked out a color palate I felt was pleasing to the eye and bought some yarn to start.  I went with Caron Simply Soft yarns, in Pagoda, Persimmon, and Heather Grey.  I can't seem to capture the true colors with my camera.  The pagoda is much more green than it looks, and the persimmon is much more orange/coral than it looks in the photos.  I need a better camera!

It's much easier to do a granny square than I previously assumed, especially when you get in a groove.  It takes me a little longer sometimes because I frequently attempt to watch a show while I'm crocheting.  There's lots of eye movement from my hands to the screen, and it slows me down quite a bit!  9 squares completed, only about 90 more to go!

I originally thought I would keep my first blanket attempt, since I knew there would be some measure of trial and error.  I've made some mistakes.  The first two squares were more difficult while trying to figure out the pattern and what worked best with tying off and changing colors, etc.  And in one spot, I have 4 double crochets instead of 3...I didn't catch it until I had tied everything off....oh well!  When I picked out the colors, I was thinking that my mother would love them...and sure enough, I asked her if she wanted this one and she was thrilled.  So my mom will get the first blanket ever made by her first daughter! 

Since I still haven't had any progress on getting a client started up again with my counseling, I continue to not be working at all.  I'm up to 2 months, where I'm technically employed but do not have a client to work with.  This has been stressful, but I'm trying to keep my mind off of it by crafting, cleaning my house, and cooking awesome dinners.  I don't have much space to craft, so the dining room table gets overrun.  This is what it has looked like for at least a month:

I'm finishing up quite a few video game related pieces.  During this last month, I lost some steam...I've been slacking on putting the final touches on some of the items, but hopefully I'll be finished up by the end of the week.  I also get sidetracked by crochet projects which are easier in a lot of ways...they are often less steps, less cleanup, and more instant gratification.  Completing one project before starting another, should really be a goal of mine!  

Enough chit chat, back to crafting!  Hope to have some more pictures up soon!

Ravelry and the death of my free time.

I am proud of myself for making a "to do" list for today, and getting some items checked off that list.

Since starting to teach myself crochet, I've learned a great deal through watching videos on YouTube and checking for tips through Google.  How to Crochet - For Dummies has come in handy many times.  But in the midst of getting things done yesterday and today, I've found a new way to procrastinate in Ravelry.com.  My user name is Porkyporkerton, if anyone reading this is on there. I could spend hours browsing patterns for projects.  It seems like it has opened a new world of possibilities for community and project planning.  The site even allows you to keep track of your hooks and yarn stash!  Come check it out if you haven't already!

This is what I'll be working on first:  Waffle Dishcloth!  I've come a long way from being stuck on single crochet and simple square coasters (see pic).  I look forward to working on a granny square afghan sometime soon!

Procrastination and Surprises

I have been doing everything in my power over the last few days, to not complete the tasks I need to for work and crafting.  Yesterday and today I killed some time by tending my garden plants in their tiny, overcrowded beds there over to the right.  (Poor planning for a first time vegetable grower.)

                                        

Yesterday, I was pleased to notice a present (of sorts) for me in the lawn.  I knew what it was from my research on mushrooms for crafting purposes, and I also knew that if my nose wasn't perpetually clogged, I should have been able to smell it from a mile away.  The legendary "stinkhorn" mushroom.  This is a real thing...and it looks like someone has been playing "hide the sausage" in a naughty place.   

(THESE ARE NOT MY PHOTOS:  I FOUND THEM ON THE GOOGLES)  Sadly, I did not have time to snap a photo myself, and when I came back today, it was gone.  I never thought I would get to experience a stinkhorn first hand, but the universe never fails to surprise me.  Next time I see one, I'll be sure to breathe through my mouth and take a picture.  

Crafting Rage

I have been busy at work with counselor stuff (yeah, that's a technical term), but I have also experienced a bump in sales over at Etsy lately.  These butter earrings have surpassed every other item in my shop as the best seller.  I'm certainly not complaining, but at this point, I'd love to add an extra day each week to get stuff done.  

Lately I am starting to think, if I could spend every day crafting, I might actually be able to make a career out of it.  But getting started on that would involve quitting my job, and that would be extremely scary.  Also, I always wonder if I might start to hate crafting if it was my job.  Once, a long time ago, in a land far, far away, I was an art major in college.  During the course of that year, I started to hate doing art.  Producing work on demand, and to the specifications requested by someone else, can be stressful to say the least.  I was so miserable with performing like a painting monkey, that I didn't create anything for a while after I dropped out.  Right now I enjoy crafting/painting when I can, and there's part of me that is afraid I will ruin it if I try too hard.  

The other layer to this crap cake is that I feel scattered (I am certain I'm not alone in this).  However, I feel like I could be happy doing so many different things in life, that I get stagnant in making choices or moving on from a bad situation.  I have never been super happy in my current job, but none of the other options have felt right to me.  That fact has kept me in an unhappy employment situation for 1 1/2 years now.  I guess the biggest lesson I've learned lately is that making any choice is better than getting stuck in the waiting for something to happen! I may or may not be on the precipice of a big change, but I guess time will tell.   

For now, I will keep releasing frustrations by pushing this button throughout the day.  Enjoy!