Yes, I’ve been sketching less in the past couple of weeks. I’m obsessed with crochet. The purchase of the wrong yarn and Youtube tutorials are to blame.
I learned to crochet when I was a child but I had not touched a crochet hook in many many years. I didn’t even remember how to start a foundation chain. A few weeks ago, I bought some linen yarn at my favorite art reuse store, Recreative, which I thought I could use for bookbinding. I discovered that it was not the right yarn to sew books, but since I was trying to organize my bookbinding supplies I decided to make a small basket to hold bookbinding threads and needles.
I used the linen thread and one crochet hook that I had in my sewing box. I was surprised to find out how quickly you can get your skills back. I found a tutorial on YouTube and I crochet this basket so tightly that for the next several days I lost any sensation in my right thumb.
It turns out that YouTube has all sorts of content and tutorials for crochet So in a few days, I had refreshed my knowledge of crochet stitches and learned many new ones. (Credits for the tutorials I used at the end of this post)
My second work was a hat, also made with yarn that I bought for other purposes and had not used. It was almost not enough, but I managed to adapt a tutorial and made this hat that I’m using all the times. I was starting to get (pun intended) hooked.
I was on my way to get addicted to the luxurious world of yarn. There are so many types of fibers and so many amazing colors. I realized that you can paint with yarn.
I made this sunflower tile that makes me happy every time I look at it. I thought I might use it for bookbinding.
I also found that my local yarn store has a sale rack, with very reasonable yarn prices and that got me started on two more projects in progress. The first is a scarf, which is a small and portable project.
The second, much more ambitious project, is a queen-sized blanket. It all started with some yarn on that sale rack I mentioned. I had this delusional idea that I could make a blanket with five skeins of yarn. Well, not even close. Many skeins over, I have more colors and lots of work ahead of me. This blanked uses the “corner to corner” crochet pattern.
So here you go. This is how I have been spending my days lately. I love to be immersed in color. I love to make stuff and see the thing growing under my eyes.
Tutorial credits
These are the tutorials that I used (and often modified) for my pieces. They are very easy to follow and they will make you look much more skilled than you think you are.
- Basket: My first encounter with the YouTube crochet tribe. I used a modified version of this multipurpose basket tutorial by Bag-o-day crochet.
- Hat: I looked at tons of tutorials and examples, and I landed on this one by B.hooked Crochet (which has also a written up version of the instructions).
- Sunflower tile: Another Bag-o-day crochet tutorial.
- Scarf: I used the Maureen Scarf Pattern by Lisa Cox by A Spoonful of Sugar
- Blanket: I used a combination of this tutorial by Jayda InStiches and this tutorial by Claudetta Crochet (mostly for the beautiful border).
- I also extensively used the magic knot when changing color yarn in the blanket, as described in this tutorial by Bella Coco