Madre's Missives

Madre has a "girly" hobby.  She crochets. 

Now that cold weather is coming, I break out the piles of books and surf the web for even more patterns.  I have skeins upon skeins of yarn left over from other (sometimes finished!) projects.  I even have at least two books of patterns for using scraps.  A couple times a year I make an afghan as a present for a friend or family member.

Crochet has not taken off with nearly the popularity that knitting has in recent years.  You don't hear about celebrity crocheters like you do knitters who make sweaters for the crews in between takes on movie sets.  Crochet also has a bad rap, some truly unattractive things have been made with crochet patterns in the past.  But I truly believe that crochet can be done tastefully even today, and so I pore over pattern books for those gems.

In the last couple of weeks I've splurged on a book of "accessories" patterns (scarves, hats, bags, shawls, ponchos).  What's unique about these patterns is that they use some of the funky (and yes, expensive) yarns that are coming out now. 

The one I'm working on now is a scarf made with a "yarn" that is kind of like a ribbon, but imagine a ladder and alternating holes and veriegated color spots.  It makes for a gorgeous fabric that doesn't get stripey like regular veriegated yarns do in similar projects.

Today, I went to Borders to try and find a religious book. (Interesting note: What used to be the "Christian" book section has now been completely replaced by things called "Spirituality" and "Eastern Thought" and Christianity occupies a space about 25% of what it once was in the same store.)  Even more than yarn, I love books.  Going TO a bookstore is a very dangerous and usually time-consuming and expensive errand for me.  I can easily spend hours browsing around and spend far more money than I ever intended getting books I don't really need.  I didn't find what I went there for, but upon walking past a display of knitting* books I decided to track down the craft area and see if they had anything good in crochet books.  I picked up the great book of mix and match squares at the bottom of this post.

Now to decide which ones to make!

*Knitting.  I really really wish I could knit.  I've tried.  But I never could get the hang of it.  My stitches are too tight.  Maybe I'll take a class at Michael's sometime or someone can teach me at Symposia or The Feast (hint hint Cynthia....)

I am reading 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans : Crochet Squares to Mix and Match Release Date: 28 September, 2004