Why are we here...

My homeschool blog is leaving me feeling incomplete. Homeschooling these days pretty much handles itself. My girls are wonderful. They are blossoming like sweet petunias... or they might be more like the muddy spring afternoon after a good solid rain. That picture is just as lovely to me, probably more so than my flowers. 

But what I really love, what I spend much of my time on, what I cannot seem to get enough of these days is yarn. Socks and scarves, sweaters and hats, cowls, mitts, books, hooks, needles, scissors. So I wanted to dedicate my time to where my free time is going.

When I was young, maybe 8 or 9, my mom taught me the basic crochet stitch. So I knew how to go back and forth with my yarn and crochet needle, with what I suppose it the basic single crochet stitch?? **This surprises me, because both of my older girls rejected my teachings of crochet, but they took to knitting real quickly.** I made my first crocheted zig zag blanket at 19 years old when my first son was born. It fits a full sized bed and we still use it. In my 20's I moved in with my sister for a small stint. She taught me the double crochet stitch and I made my second blanket. My husband and I curl up with that thing at night still. It is his favorite.  in my 20's, I packed up my crochet needle and took out my sewing machine, where I, with little teaching, began sewing quilts, baby clothes, curtains, napkins, table runners, aprons, anything else I could get my hands to figure out with minimal pattern knowledge I had.

Turning 30, my mom had occasion to teach me the basics of knitting. Again I could go back and forth with the basic knit. She taught me to decrease and increase and that expanded my knowledge from scarves to wash cloths and dish towels. One day, sitting at my daughter's soccer practice I met Vikki. And Vikki was knitting a sock. She coppied her pattern for me, showed me how to read it, and introduced me to the amazing world of self-striping sock yarn. I revised that sock pattern to be useful in making hand mitts to match my cool socks, which my daughters all stole from me. That is how I came to read and understand those crazy patterns that previously looked strikingly similar to foreign writing.

Then one day, my oldest daughter's Girl Scout troop was collecting books as a service project and we ended up with an entire book dedicated to granny squares. Granny square hats, sweaters, shawls, afghans, wall hangings... Now I have had a soft spot for granny squares for years. They remind me of these crocheted pillows that my Granma by Ollie used to have on her couch. So that got me back to crocheting again. And here I am now. Not an expert knitter, or crocheter, or quilter, or any of those fab things I love to do. I just love to create and so I do when I have time. I haven't done anything really with this blog yet. And maybe I won't except keep my fun records. We will have to wait and see. :)