Evicted Idiots

Gratitude #73 - Evicted Idiots.

Somewhere along my yarny journey, I started listening to a chorus of woolie-minded idiots that had taken up residence inside my head. They had me quite convinced that crocheting was less-than, and would never-EVER be as good/lovely/brilliant as knitting. If you want to be GOOD with yarn, you simply MUST knit. Crochet is so... remedial!!!! One hook or two needles? Come on, Girl! Grow up!, they would scoff! Pick up those sticks and get on with your knitting! I believed that lie. I bought it. I stuck to my knitting and cast aside my crochet hooks...only to be picked up when necessary to help fix a wee knitting blunder.

Okay, well... I guess it's time for me to be honest with myself... at the very least. And since you're here, too, you may as well hear me say it. It's confession time! And I can't BELIEVE I'm saying this. I was so convinced! I never would have thought, but...

I LOVE CROCHETING!!! I am smitten with it.  LOVE it. I adore it! SO-MUCH-FUN!!!! 

How I got to this point is a long story. ;-) Fasten your seat belt! Lots of pictures and hot-links ahead!

(If you run your cursor over a hot-link, the words change colors and then, if you click on it, it will take you to a website that I'm talking about. Look for them! ;-) Kinda like "Where's Waldo", ya know? LOL!)

A long while back, years ago, Kristin Nicholas caught my eye. I don't know what I saw first, it was so long ago...was it her blog, knitted patterns and color style that caught my attention? I don't remember. But Kristin is relatively well-known in the knitting world. She creates the most delightful, colorful knitted things. I love knitting and color and... I adore Kristin Nicholas! I have her books, she and her patterns are in my favs list on Ravelry. I am a Kristen groupy! I follow this woman!!! AND, if that wasn't enough, already even... her story... well, I was sunk clear in up to my nose.

And THAN, she went and did it. Darn her! Kristin CROCHETED a most glorious granny square blanket.

It caught my eye and heart and I was so completely goners! I think what did it was the dark brown block border, instead of the usual black. SWOON!!!! I started collecting a happy stash of wooly goodness so that I, too, could make a my very own glorious granny square blanket (GGSB)...
 

(*ONLY* in my dreams is my Cascade 220 stash this abundant! Serious salivation!)

So, that was the beginning.

I collected the yarn, worked on my GGSB diligently and with fervor... 

It was coming along really well, until I realized I'd made a GRIEVOUS error in the construction. Eeerrrch! I stopped, set the entire project aside, and thought long and hard about how I could fix the problem. In the end, I knew I couldn't. There was NO WAY!!! There was nothing I could do except for start all over and I just didn't have the heart. I had gone too far. WAHHH!!!! I set it all aside and moved on to other projects.

Years pass. I finally decided to frog (rip-it, rip-it!) the little mountain of granny blocks. SAD! And start in on a different knitted blanket. Different designer, different mode. Different. This would do.
 

But... I just didn't LOVE it. My heart wasn't it in and once again, it was set aside and I went on knitting other lovelies.

And than I came across Lucy. OHMYWORD!!! What Kristin started, Lucy finished. She put the nails in the coffin of that great crowd of crochet hating ding-a-lings.

I LOVE CROCHET!!!!! LOVELOVELOVE!!! You can machine reproduce hand-knitting. But you can't do it with crochet. If it's crocheted, someone, somewhere picked up a hook and string and set to work. I love crochet.

And I LOVE Lucy of Attic24, I love her hooky ways, her happy colors, her blog! It is her color style (a heap like Kristin's! LOL!)  and patterns. Lucy got me back into crocheting, albeit resentfully. LOL!

Let's see... what all have I crocheted that was inspired by Lucy?

I made one of these in greens, blues and yellows (no pic yet, sorry) SO fun! 

I made one of these...  Lucy's "Neat Ripple"... 

 

but my colors were different... I like Lucy's ever-so-much better. I started this one as a "charity" project, to be given to a local cause...used the least expensive yarn I could find...Ugh! But it turned out really nice. And it ended up being a twin sized bed throw...So, instead of giving it to the cause, I gave it to one of my dear sisters. ;-) She was there when I started that first row of purple and then peach. ;-)

There is one of these "Summer Garden Granny Square" blankets in the works...that one WILL go to the local cause. For sure. Totally. I think. LOL!

And then... I'm working on Lucy's "Granny Stripe" blanket right now. I like the colors I'm working with this time! And the yarn...using a MUCH better yarn!

I'm getting closer to being done with this blanket... a VERY good thing because I want to give it to an other sister for her birthday...SOON!!

And last night, I began dreaming of my next "Lucy" project. HA!!! This one will be a baby blanket for a young friend who is about to have her first babe. HAPPYhappy! I can't wait to show you as this latest comes together. SO MUCH FUN!

You know that free-loading, chorus of idiots in my head that had me convinced that crocheting was STUPID? Well, they've been EVICTED!!! I helped them pack their bags and than called in the moving truck. Those ding-a-lings are gone. I'm GRATEFUL!!! Because...

I love knitting AND I love crocheting. Hooking or playing with sticks? Either one works for me!

OHHHH!!!! Remember that GLORIOUS GRANNY SQUARE BLANKET back at the beginning!?! Well... I'm working on it again! It'll be a bit Kristin, a bit Lucy and a whole LOT me! SSSSWWWWOOOOOONNNN!!!!  Pics? ;-D Another time!