Knittin' and Crochetin'

I have been doing some knitting on my looms lately. I made a pair of fingerless gloves (right) for myself and a pair for Tate. They were pretty easy and fairly quick to make. I plan to make some more, now that I'm getting the hang of it. The only things I had made on my knitting looms previously was hats and scarves- I'm having fun trying different things with them as a lot of people are putting up different patterns for the looms. Way easier than knitting with needles, which I have tried, but never mastered.

The past couple weeks, I have been busy teaching myself how to crochet. On the left are some samples of stitches I made while learning the basics. My grandma is a crocheter and tried to teach me when I was a kid, but I guess I just wasn't ready. I'm really having fun with it now, and once you get the basic motions down, it's very relaxing and enjoyable. My first project is a baby afghan for some friends who just had a baby. Usually people make baby things in pastels, I decided to go a different route and use brights. My babies always loved staring at bright things!

Here it is about 2/3 finished:

I have been working on it several hours a day for 3 days now. I hope to get it finished this weekend. Then I want to work on learning some new stitches, so I will be cruising the internet a lot looking for interesting stitches and patterns to try. I have some crochet booklets from my grandma to look through also. Now I just need to get the dogs to stop taking off with my skeins of yarn and unravelling them all throughout the house and I'll be doing good!

Another favorite craft I have picked up is making Aunt Philly's toothbrush rugs. They are rag rugs you make with an altered toothbrush or else you can buy the tool. On the right is the one I made my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas. You can find out more information on available patterns at http://www.auntphillys.com/. I bought the patterns at my local quilt shop and found them very easy to follow. No knitting or crocheting experience is necessary- anyone can do it! I have fabric to make myself one, but I seem to have this problem where I make stuff for others and never get around to making anything for myself. Oh, well, it's worth it when you see how much others appreciate a hand made gift. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have a bunch more crocheted projects finished to post pictures of, so keep checking back!