Crafting odd balls and happily hooking....

Is it just me, or does anyone else's crafting activity come in bursts?  I hadn't done any knitting for almost a year when I bumped into a lady (whom I now know as Dot) knitting in my local cafe in July.  Having just moved house in June, all my knitting needles and yarns were still boxed up in a closet feeling rather sorry for themselves.  Like many a knitter before me I'm sure, seeing a fellow knitter ignited my dormant passion and I rushed upstairs the minute I got home to free my yarns from their cardboard dungeon.  I was however rather disappointed to find that all I had was a rather sorry collection of odd balls, many of which were missing their ball band.  Anyone who has a little girl will know that it can be so satisfying knitting pretty little cardis and dresses for their little darling, and I certainly am no exception.  My 1/2m cube box however simply did not contain enough of any one yarn for me to be able to create any such masterpiece.  I resolved to work through the hodge podge box before buying anything new.

I decided to try my hand at making toys, and after numerous web searches for free patterns, all the patterns that caught my eye involved DPNs (anyone who doesn't know what they are, they're double pointed needles that can be used in fours for knitting in the round) and I am NOT a fan....  Not least because I like to carry my projects about with me and knit whilst watching the children in the soft play or at home tormenting one another.  DPNs just don't afford one that luxury because they like to out-fox you by slipping out as soon as you put your work down!!! 

I then stumbled across a few adorable amigurumi patterns.  I had taught myself to crochet as a teenager but was not keen on it because I just never seemed to be able to keep on top of where my rows began and ended and so my work would have rows of varying widths! I absolutely love the concept of amigurumi; making toys by crocheting in continuous rounds of double crochet (single crochet if you're in the US) but wanted to make something a bit bigger and more substantial because most of the patterns were for little toys that fit into the palm of the hand.  And so began my love of hooking.  All of the toys I have made so far used less than 100 grams of yarn, indeed I made 3 angry birds from approx 75 grams of yarn.

As this is my first ever blog post (Jan 2012) and I started my recent crochet craze in August 2011, I have quite a backlog of projects so will post more pictures and patterns in separate posts....  Watch this space!!!

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