Since September 2019, thanks to my dear friend J., I have been learning Afghan Crochet, then traditional crochet… I made some socks (still in progress… oh those heels!), I made blankets, I made scarves and collars…
Then I started learning different stitches, and I have been working on making hexagons, after hexagons, after hexagons until each cotton ball has been finished. I am working on a blanket (you know it!) made of hexagons!!!
Each ball of yarn is a different colour, so that at the end, I can create colour transitions and have a multicolour cozy experience.
Since I am often in pain, I had embraced the crocheting which allows me to work with one single hand, and even in the most improbable positions, lying down, sitting sideways, sitting with my legs up… and even during the night, since I am making no sound at all, so the sleepless nights are now a bit more useful.
I used the African Flower pattern and for each ball of yarn I have been able to make 15 hexagons.
I am telling you about this endless hexagons adventure because this is pretty much how my love for the yarn, cotton and wool or blends.
As mentioned, I have been using cotton yarn, and I have been scouting the internet to find nice colours and good quality (considering also costs) yarn for this project. At the same time I joined few crochet enthusiasts groups on Facebook and learnt all about CALs (Crochet ALong) about KALs (Knit ALong) events (more on these events later) getting to know more online stores, and familiarize myself with yarns and fibers of different brands. Also understanding different people (also from different countries) approach to these old, traditional hobbies.
You know me, when I become interested in something I have to experience it and I have to learn as much as possible about
it. I need to see the whole picture of what happens to be that way, instead of the other way. Seen how is it done elsewhere, and how it is embraced from other passionate people helps me seeing how it could be if I were to learn and continue working on it. Repetition sometimes makes it perfect, sometimes it doesn’t, but surely it helps improving our own confidence and helps also spotting mistakes very quickly!
Here you see me taking a break from the crocheting, while ensuring my joints get stretched and put back in place.
I am never alone when I am crafting as you can see, my pack is always with me!
While reading forum posts about yarns, about projects, and about using different crochet hooks number, so to ensure the tension of the work is maintained throughout the project, I read feedback about some acrylic and woolen yarn, “splitting” quite often when hooked with the crochet making not only hard to work with, but also making it quite difficult to see the beauty of the stiches worked with it. Why does the yarn split? I asked myself, and tried to close this chapter with “it’s acrylic”, or also “it’s probably a cheap yarn”… and despite these attempts, I needed to know more. I needed to know what makes a good yarn, why blends often are better than single ingredients yarns, and so… I started from the beginning.
Welcome to my yarn journey, thank you J. you are always an inspiration to me.
I am absolutely hooked!!!
