Friday, November 21, 2008

crochet madness


lurkey, originally uploaded by cocomama1.

It's been a while since I have blogged here, and the reason is that I have been crocheting my fingers to the bone. Along with the holidays I also have my son and nephew's birthdays approaching, and all of these things call for HANDMADE GIFTS!

Before this summer I called myself a knitter. I taught myself to knit a few years ago and have made a handful of hats, bags, socks, wrist-warmers, baby items and critters. I was never all that confident in my knitting skills, though I got to the point where I could knit and watch tv, without staring at my hands.

This summer I really got into AMIGURUMI style of crochet. I bought a book, and taught myself the basics of Ami crochet and crochet in general. I am really loving it. I use the website RAVELRY a lot, it has tons of patterns and links to crochet/knit tutorials. The crochet projects use a lot more yarn than knitting, but they are much faster. I like the look of the critters also. I am just starting to stray from critters to wearable crochet: scarves, hats, etc... I figure adults will like wearable crochet items as gifts this Christmas rather than a stuffed critter. So if you are in my family, or you are one of my close friends, please let me know the color of your winter coat!

The other day I ran into my grandma at the craft store. She is a crocheter. She has been crocheting for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite memories is getting all kinds of hand crocheted Barbie clothes, as a kid. She would make use the coolest little clothes and accessories. It is nice to have another thing in common with my maternal grandmother, and also someone to call when I run into an unfamiliar stitch or pattern.

Happy Thanksgiving (almost everyone!) here is the link to the crochet pattern for the cute little ami turkey~ http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/gobble-gobble/

The above link has tons of great free crochet and knit patterns! I also made the Bitty Baby for my niece for Christmas!