This morning I found a really nice tutorial on UTube and started following along. I tried first on my left over Sheep(ish) yarn from my KAL Cowl, but quickly decided it wasn't working and grabbed a ball of Sugar 'n Cream cotton instead. (Probably not the best choice for a beginner in crochet as the yarn is splitty - but I have knit about a bajillion wash clothes in the last 10 years - so I am pretty comfortable with this yarn.) I chained 21 stitches on my Size H hook and started trucking. A few short hours later and I have my very first finished crochet project!
I discovered a few things when I made this:
1. Crochet is soooooo fast! My knit wash clothes take days for me to make. This was my first one and I finished in hours. Wow!
2. Counting is important. I have a tendency toward confusing where the hook should go in, so I sometimes increase or decrease unintentionally. So I methodically counted every row until I had several inches done and that seemed to help.
3. Using variegated yarn is SUCH a great idea! The yarn I was working was always a different color from the stitch I was attaching too. It really helped me keep things straight in my head and I think I will stick to variegated yarns while I learn.
4. Ripping back is easy. I had to get over my "fear of frogging" but once I found out how easy it was to clean up a mistake I was ripping back all the time. It was great!
I am very pleased with my first crochet and I am going to keep working at it. I really want to be both a crocheter and a knitter. I think the two lend well to each other (crochet edges on knit items are awesome. Crocheting my knit squares together rather than hand stitching??? Um. Heck yeah!) and I would love to wear both crowns with pride.
Today is Saturday and Yes, even though I was on vacation all week and even thought today is my 40th Birthday, I weighed in. I don't know what diet God or Goddess was watching over me, but I somehow managed to lose weight again this week! I lost 1.8 lbs this week which puts my Weight Watchers total at -18.3 and my overall at -33.3 lbs. I also got the excitement of buying smaller clothes this week! Smaller underwear, smaller jeans, smaller tops. It's so exciting! I feel so good! And to go into a dressing room with jeans a size smaller than I was wearing into the store and have them fit like a dream? Yeah. I almost got emotional in the dressing room. (Meaning - I had a moment of Holy Shit! and then a moment of proud tears and then I threw open the door and strutted around the area to show off my awesomeness to my husband.)
I am so proud of myself for losing this weight. I am excited to continue on my journey, and I can't wait to see where I end up!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
6 comments:
OMG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Life begins at 40 and you are now 40 and fabulous so enjoy every minute of it. Congrats on the weight loss too, it must of been that crazy hike! You are so dedicated, I really should pull finger and follow suite :) Enjoy the rest of your day. xx
Happy Birthday to you! Here's to 40 hope it's great.
Also well done on the weight loss. I'm also doing WW, so I know how hard you must be working - although I have to convert lbs to kgs as I am in Australia!
I had a goal to be fit and fab for forty, so I understand your motivation. Keep going. I didn't make it as I got sick, but I have just turned 44 and am now on my way to becoming fit and fab for forty five!
Have a great year ahead, and here's to further weight loss!
Happy birthday. I recently joined the 40+ club too and so far so good :)
I always hid from crochet as I kind of believed the old myth that you could only be good at either knitting or crochet, never both. So I taught myself from an old 60's crochet bookjlet about 3 years ago and now love to hooky. I'm pretty sure I do it all wrong, I don't hook the yarn, instead I wrap it, it's the lifelong knitter in me, so it's not as fast as I know it should be, but it works. Like you I love that ripping back is super easy, definitely rids the fear of making mistakes.
xx
@Knitting Nix Thank you so much!I AM Forty and Fabulous! It feels good! And yeah - I assume the weight loss was from my crazy Hike - I didn't do much else that week to warrent weight loss and I ate out a few times which is always higher Calorie and Fat than I should be eating - but I think I burned a lot in my hike. :) I might have to do that more often! LOL! Thank you for all the well wishes! I think this will be a wonderful year!
@Becoming Dr Doc Thank you so much for the Birthday Wishes! I am expecting 40 to be wonderful and look forward to great adventures in my next 40 years.
I didn't know you were doing WW too! I have been on a lot of diets in my years and this one is working really well for me. I think it helps that I am older and my perspective on life is better. Weight loss is all about a journey toward health now rather than wanting to show off my butt in a pair of jeans. (Not that that isn't awesome too!) But I really am trying to achieve physical, spiritual and emotional health. I think a lot of my weight is emotional baggage, ya know?
I love that you are working toward a better you too. Maybe it's not Fabulous Forty - it's The Fabulous Forties! We awesome 40+ Women will ROCK this era OUT! ;)
Thanks for the kind words and ROCK ON friend!
@Becks Thank you for the Birthday Wishes! 40 is pretty great so far!
I can see that crochet is going to get me hooked! I knocked out three wash clothes yesterday! It's so fast to do it just blows my mind! I am pretty sure I hold it wrong as well. I throw with my knitting - so I am sure I am hooking backwards or something - but I get results so Meh? Who cares! ;)
Thanks for stopping in and the Birthday Wishes! I really enjoy your Blog!
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