Friday, September 23, 2011

Friday Photos - I am trying

Before I post my Friday Photo for today, let me give a brief explanation for my blogging absence. It can pretty much be summed up by one word:

WORK.

I wish I can say that I have projects lined up which I will be posting soon. But the truth is, I've been too busy at work to think about doing anything much when I get home. When I get home, I just want to rest my mind and body. I'm just... tired. All the time. 

But...

I am trying to learn something new. 

This photo is not particularly beautiful. It just shows you what I'm hoping to try. I say 'hoping' because I joined the Crochet-Along at Maybe Matilda, and we're supposed to have 12 inches of our cowl by today... and well, my photo pretty much showed you what I have.

I'm hitting a lot of stumbling blocks lately.., with my project at work, and this one. I don't want to bore you all with my project at work, so let me share a little about my attempting-to-crochet-along project.

Rachel's first lesson for her crochet-along was choosing yarn. Stumbling Block number one. I tried to follow what her guest Sarah said. On the yarn available here... I couldn't find any indication as to their weight. I bought the only yarn available anyway and hope that will work. I am totally feeling Karen's issues with finding yarn here in Manila.

Stumbling block number two. My crochet hook. I pretty much took the sales person's recommendation on which hook to get based on the yarn I bought. It turned out to be too small. I can't even make a decent chain stitch with it. So I decided to get the biggest hook they have which they are calling a size 'Number 1'. Whatever. But it does work with the yarn I bought so all good now. 

Stumbling block number 3. How do I hold the yarn to keep it in place and to get the correct tension??? I tried Rachel's method but it keeps slipping. My sister crochets and she showed me how she does it. She told me it gets easier with practice. I hope she's right. 

In spite of all my issues... I WILL DO THIS! And I will have 12 inches of this cowl done before Friday ends in my time zone!!! 

- take deep breaths - 

Ok, let's look at how to do those chain stitches again.

3 comments:

Karen said...

Thanks for reading my post on yarn! I am now reminded to actually finish that blanket! Only 3 more squares to go!

Diane Writes said...

Hi Janelle! I used to do crochet. I can follow a pattern and make those huge doilies. Sadly I have lost that talent now. Your post reminded me of my younger days when I'm still good at crafts. I would love to see your final output.

Agy said...

I've tried to crochet and ended up giving up. BUT my friend told me about the Japanese patterns and it was a lot easier to follow. They use a code rather than the words like ch dch :-)