crochet

so for the last couple weeks i have been toying with the idea of learning to crochet. obviously, we are lucky enough to have grandma jessie who will crochet us beautiful blankets / afghans / mittens and hats whenever we ask, but i still want to learn how to do this myself. personally, i think our generation is completely loosing our ability to make things from scratch or by hand: for the most part, we cook premade meals that come out of packages, only bake betty crocker cakes and are neglecting to know how to knit or crochet. instead of partaking in these "old fashioned" pass times we watch tv, surf facebook and tweet all our tedious thoughts. if we want or need something we simply run to walmart or superstore.

don't get me wrong, i love modern technology; obviously, i have and use facebook, i follow twitter and i pvr all my favourite shows but, i also know how to sew, cook, bake, clean and enjoy reading novels (yes, real books made of paper that i hold in my hands, not words off my kobo or electronic e-reader). personally, i am proud of the fact that i can sew on jesse's buttons and make him his favourite banana muffins from scratch just like jesse takes pride in his ability to change a tire, fix a leaky faucet and start a fire from scratch. yes, i am completely aware that i am sounding fairly sexist right now, gender typing our roles but so be it. unfortunately, very few of our friends posses the same abilities hence why i have come to the sad conclusion that for the most part, our generation is completely ignorant and unappreciative of the skills and pastimes of our previous generations. if we never learn how to do any of theses things we will be unable to pass them along to our future generations and the art will be completely lost - it is really sad to think about.

lucky for me, val knows how to crochet and is willing to teach me! so, last night i went out after work and got a set of crochet hooks and my first chunk of wool, headed over to val's attempted to master this "waffle" style pattern. honestly, i found it incredibly difficult (to my credit, apparently it is a harder pattern, but it is my favourite, so i really wanted to try it). while my fingers are incredibly agile on a keyboard, they seemed awkward with a crochet needle and wool. my stitches were either too tight or too loose or just plain wrong. after about a half hour of crocheting and recrocheting the same 6 inches over and over only to have to unravel the entire and start from scratch after val checked it, informing me that it was wrong, i was definitely read to quit. thankfully, val had faith in me and a good two hours later i finally got the hang of it and really started to enjoy myself.

unfortunately, i do not think i picked the prettiest wool. i chose this rainbow / multi colour wool since i thought it would be easiest to learn on; in my head, the multiple colours would make the stitches i had previously done / were about to do, more visible. while this theory was definitely a correct one, i am not sure how pretty it is going to look. it is either going to look colourfully kitchy or like a grade 6 art project when i am done but i think i am okay with that. i think i will just be happy that i finished an entire blanket(although i have gotten a good hold of the pattern, now i have to deal with emi who seems to think my spool of wool is a toy...). hopefully, my next one will be a bit more elegant. 

i think it may end up a scarf, i am running out of wool