Feeling Crafty

It must be the cold. I'm feeling crafty. I've always loved trying new craft projects, especially if their easy and inexpensive. I've done counted cross-stitch, made knotted friendship bracelets, made decorative soap, dabbled in beading, and even taken a stab (quite literally) at knitting.

I'm almost finished reading "The Friday Night Knitting Club." It's a great read, by the way. If you need a chick-lit book to cleanse your mental palate like I did (I read 3 really heavy books right in a row), I highly recommend it. It's not all light-hearted... there are some serious parts. But I'm enjoying it. At the end of this book are directions for how to knit a scarf. I've now got it in my head that I need to knit a scarf.

My dad's mom knitted and crocheted. She made us blankets, afghans, slippers, hats... she even made me legwarmers in the second grade! She was a whiz. When I was in about seventh grade, I begged her to show me how to knit. So she did, and I learned the basics. I can cast on, I can knit and purl, I think I remember how to bind the edges, and I may even have learned how to increase stitches. The directions for the scarf looked pretty easy. I understood most of the terms used. There's even a website for the fictional yarn shop that is the setting for the book that has the instructions for this scarf. It's supposed to be instructions that even the worst knitter can muddle through.

I've also been wanting to try my hand at jewelry making again. I've made a few pairs of earrings and bracelets. But I just bought a Lia Sophia necklace (that I love) which I'm convinced I could have made myself for about a third of the price. So I dug out the beads I keep buying with the intention of making something to see if I might need more. I decided, of course, that I needed more stuff to make a piece of jewelry or two.

I loaded Alex into the car, went to church, and then we headed to Michael's crafts. I picked up some yarn and giant knitting needles (the instructions say the bigger the needles, the faster your project will go) and I grabbed some beading stuff to try to finish a few beading projects.

As soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going to whip up a pot of chili, then I'm going to start crafting something more than just words. I just hope Alex take a nice LONG nap!