More Crochet

Last summer, and on into the fall, I spent a great deal of time with yarn. I made a baby blanket, three scarves, several pairs of slippers, and a big afghan. By the time I had home-made gifts wrapped and sent out for Christmas, I was tired of it. Ready to put my crochet hooks away for a while.

I continued, though, to attend the weekly sewing group at the township hall. It’s a nice group of pleasant women. Sometimes one or more of us bring treats. It gets me out of the house for something besides work. And, it’s fun to see the variety of projects others have going. Though most are quilting, there are a few of us working with yarn. Nobody minds if I sit in and plug away at whatever thing I’m currently involved in. Often, the only progress I make on a given project in an entire week is what I get done in the two hours I spend there.

That is, until recently. Two weeks ago, Mary Rose – who is one of the most creative people I know, and whose art takes her in many directions – donated her stockpile of yarn, collected over many years, to the Island Treasures Resale Shop. Beautiful yarns! Glorious colors! An array of weights and textures! Though I had committed to avoiding unnecessary purchases, I could not pass this up. I brought home two full bags of assorted yarns.

Some were full skeins, but I also grabbed up the interesting bits and pieces, obviously left over from other projects: yarns with sequins and sparkles, pom-poms and fringe. Yarns with history.

Then, I started making hats. This is a tried-and-true pattern of mine, one that I devised for making hats for my young daughters. It has now been adjusted to be sized for adults, but still with warm flaps to cover the ears, and ties to keep them in place. I work with three strands of yarn, one 4-ply, and the others lighter, usually one or two ply. When I come to the end of a strand, I simply tie on another of similar weight and in a coordinating color.

I made about a hundred of these hats twenty-five years ago, as a means of getting rid of a mound of leftover yarns. As people saw what I was doing, I was gifted with other people’s leftovers, so I never had a shortage! I gave hats to family and friends, and sold them at the Christmas Bazaar. I kept a couple for myself, then sent a box of chunky hats to a homeless shelter in Chicago. And put that idea on the shelf. Until Mary Rose decided to give away her stockpile of yarn. Now, I’m back to crocheting funky hats!