Practice Makes...Well, Not Perfect!

Crocheters of the world, what is this:

I did it several days ago, so now I don't remember if it was single stitch or double half stitch. I've been working on both. I find that I like single stitch much better!

I'm not sure what happened here, though!

I'm pretty sure that in this sample below, I started in single stitch and then somewhere in the middle decided I would practice my half double stitch. I'm still using the tutorial from GoodKnit Kisses.

One of the things the tutorial cautioned about with the half double was making sure you added an extra stitch on the end so that you didn't end up with a wedge-shaped project. I thought I was following that directive, but...

...as you can see, I have a wedge-shaped project. So I abandoned that and went back to working on my single stitch. My daughter keeps asking me "what is it?" I think it's a dishrag or a potholder. Or as one of my students said, "It can be both!" One thing I need to find out about: can ordinary yarn even be used as a dishrag? That doesn't seem like it would work. What about as a hot pad? I feel like I've burnt my hands on a few hot pads that really didn't guard against the heat.

And there have been a couple of interesting developments: I think I might be allergic to yarn! My eyes get so itchy while I work, BUT I did just get new contacts, so I'm hoping it's just that. Either way, I'm not going to let it stop me! I just take out the contacts and wear my glasses when I work on this, but it's definitely an unforeseen (pun intended) obstacle. Honestly, just being horrible at this is enough of an obstacle. Not being able to see what I'm doing doesn't help!

Another interesting development is that Fiber Space happens to be this month and next month and I signed up to go next month. Fiber Space is an event that happens twice a year, usually in January and February, at a farm near where I live, so this is very convenient. It's a retreat where you can basically go work on either crochet, knitting, spinning or a loom, and you can get some expert help from one of the sisters there. I serve on the advisory council for the farm, so I'm happy to support it in any way I can, and it's just a double win that I can support my crocheting endeavor at the same time!  I managed to talk a friend into going with me, and I'm just so excited to have some dedicated time (about nine hours) to work on my new hobby away from the distractions of my life! I think it will be very good for both my friend and me.