A peek into my crocheting foray

I have become obsessed with crochet.

Well, let's clarify, not obsessed. I mean, and Andrés would agree, I am not the obsessive type. I have never obsessed over anything. I don't have a one-track mind and pretty much go with the flow. I don't ever get involved in something and then go crazy and buy a bunch of stuff I later find I have no use for. Haven't done it with stamps or inks or stickers or rub ons or scrapbooking papers. So to say I am obsessed with crochet is a bit of an overstatement.

I just like to spend a couple of hours looking at crochet blogs and rereading patterns, imagining what it would be like to create the things I am seeing. I do like to read a pattern and try to see how it can come together into something - a bunch of garbled words that, let's face it, make no absolute sense at all. Charts that seem more complex than the anything I ever saw in science class.

I find it fascinating as I'm hooking (like my new "cool" word?) that a few twists and turns can create something. I watch the yarn get all knotty and can't believe that it is actually coming together before my eyes. It's amazing.

Yes, I said it - amazing. I know it is weird to make crochet into something mind-blowing, especially when I'm not the type of person at all to exaggerate something, but that's what it is - a life-changing, mind-blowing expereince. :)

So far I've made a few cowls and scarfs. A wrap or two. A bath puff and doilies. An ill-fated attempt at a sweater (I have NO idea what went wrong there. The pattern said Intermediate, I admit, but the motif came together perfectly, I had very few problems following the stitches, and my gauge was consistent throughout. I did make a Large, so maybe confused the sizes as I went? Although I checked after every few rows and thought I was being really careful. Anyhow, aside from the fact that I obviously didn't know how to stitch it together - the arms and shoulder were especially confusing - the sleeves are so long that I think I will keep the sweater around just to get a laugh now and then!)

I have also made a cool necklace - looks a bit hippyish but I still love it, but need to get a button on it.

My favorite new thing though is crocheting owls. I have patterns for an owl coffee cozy and an owl bag - but not the right yarn, so right now am stitching up these little cuties.

I could make these forever! No exaggeration! :) They come together really quickly - just a few hours - even though there are a lot of ends to weave in, the final result is worth it. I love all the colors, and the way the stitches overlap to get that effect throughout the rounds.

So, if you see any cute owlies that I can crochet - pass them along!

Project Life Weeks 18 and 19

Project Life, Week 18. This week I was working on the Cocoa Daisy online crop, so I decided to use the 6x6 inch slots and make four mini layouts. It was fun, but not sure I will do it again (I have to next week, though, since it is the other side of next week). Too much work. I love playing and everything but sometimes the simplest pages have turned out the nicest. I have gotten a little a way from writing down the little stories throughout the day (probably because of Week in the Life, then the Cocoa Daisy crop, then the Big Picture Creative Crop, now working on 31 Things - so lots of creating going on here).

The right side of Week 18. A little bag that came in the mail with my washi tape. Last week of swimming - Agustín perfecting his form on the backstroke. So cool that he can do this. I tried the crawl stroke last weekend at the beach and almost drowned!

Some play time with the kids, a Skype video call with the cousins and Aunts, soccer, soccer and more soccer.

 We spent Friday night with some friends. María Emilia is Agustín's age and even though they don't see each other much, these kids pick right up where they last left.

Week 19: reading on the stoop (actual conversation between Agustín and I: 

Agustín: "Mommy, do you like to read?" 

Me: "Yes, I do."

Agustín: "Me, too." He was reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. A little over his head culture wise but he LOVES it and won't let me read it to him or explain anything. As we read he kept looking up and telling me parts of the story.

A Mother's Day event at the kids' school (they were very secretive about it all - the highlight was the mariachis. Agustín, after lots of coaxing, finally took me out to dance. Nico didn't even think of me and danced with his little friends on the side of the dance floor. :) )

Another weekend at the beach. Love.

Lots of little love notes coming in from Nico as he gets better and more confident at his writing. He loves to try to write in English, but refuses to get help from anyone. Here his note says, "Mommy, can I play on the computer?" If you turn it over, it says, "Yes or no?"  Lots of those little notes this month. Many of them actually say, "Mommy, do you love me? Yes or no" and I am instructed to please circle my answer.

:)

I'll post more of Nico's "funnies" from the last couple of weeks tomorrow.

Lunch at Grandma's today (Kids had early release). Nice that we can walk there.

Another arts n' crafts morning

The kids were my guinea pigs for a demo class I was preparing for this afternoon, and in the book we were using, there was a section on decorating a box. They saw it and immediately it was, "We want to decorate a box! We want to decorate a box!" Out came the arts and crafts, and now I have two decorated boxes sitting around the house that I will never be able to throw away. (They become very attached to their crafts projects.)

Play-doh Island

It always amazes me when Agustín puts something together - a Lego dog or car or spaceship. The imagination on this kid is endless. Tonight he grabbed some plastilina (Ecuadorian play-doh) and proceeded to construct an entire "dinosaur" island - with iguana, volcano, stegosaurus, a tree with a large insect on it (for the stegosaurus to eat), a shark, a crocodile. After each little creation he would ask me if I thought it looked like such-and-such, and honestly, there was no doubt about it - it was what he said.


I love when the kids ask to do "obra de arte" (crafts). One of their favorite shows is Mr. Maker, a British show where a man, Mr. Maker, makes kids' crafts. They get so psyched after his show, and want to just sit down and create. They are a lot like their Mommy in this sense.