Crocheting Friendship

Sometimes I dream about the shows I've been watching or the books I've been reading before I go to sleep. I've even been known to dream that I'm still working after coming home from a late shift, the beep of the drive thru permeating my soul. But I've never dreamed a crochet pattern before.

Last night I was trying to figure out a shell stitch for a mermaid tail I'm planning to make for a Christmas present for my daughter. I kept consulting the pattern, one of the first chart-style patterns I've ever used. Instead of writing out the words, the author of the pattern draws a picture. This is especially useful if you're planning on using a pattern from the other side of the Atlantic; a double crochet in the US is called a treble crochet in the UK, and a US single crochet is a UK double crochet. (Who knows what they call a single crochet over there... and where slip stitches come into it.) This particular pattern was from across the pond, so instead of trying to figure out as I read, I used the picture, with its ovals, plus signs, and Orthodox crosses.

As I worked, I feverishly tried to make sense of what I was seeing; to make the picture into a tangible thing with yarn. I had to understand the symbols on the page, translate them from "someone else"-ish into "me"-ish. I had to make the pattern my own. I worked hard at this until my eyes were drooping. I set the yarn and the three rows or so onto my bedside table.

And the pattern entered my dreams.

I was still seeing a crochet pattern, only I knew that it wasn't a pattern for a mermaid tail. It was a person. It was a person in crochet pattern form, and I was struggling to understand it. Why had it been written that particular way, and was there anything I could do to change it, to help it, to make it better? I tried to understand it while trying to remember that because it wasn't me that I shouldn't place the same expectations on it that I had for myself. It was a different person, with different experiences in life, and it didn't see the world the way I did. I wondered if we would understand each other better if there was a way for me to show it how I saw the world, so it could understand my point of view, and if I could see the reasons why it saw the world the way it did, if that would help me understand why it did the things it did.

It was a weird dream.

Maybe what I should take from it is that getting to know someone new is like trying to read a crochet pattern. First you have to figure out the style of writing used by the person who wrote it, and only then will the information it's trying to convey make sense. Like we don't realize that we're all speaking different languages. It sounds like the same words we speak, but we don't have the same experiences as the person speaking the words, so we can't know what those words really mean to them.

The statement "the dog died today" could mean many different things depending on who said it, who heard it, and the dog in question. Maybe both people hated the dog because it stole their dessert every day and then pooped on their beds. Maybe the dog was their best friend from childhood and had suffered a long illness. Maybe the dog had just turned up on their doorstep a day earlier smelling like it had been rolling in week-dead goose.

Every situation, every word, every interaction is different for every person participating in it. We have to translate if we want to understand. And sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. Sometimes we want to give up.

But if we don't try to understand, we'll never know. If we put in the effort, the time, if we're willing to learn and see the world through someone else's eyes, then we may end up with something beautiful.

A mermaid tail.

Or a friend.

Guiltcitement

It's always so exciting starting a new project, especially when you've breed given spousal dispensation to purchase new materials for it! Browsing yarn, abusing several color choices as ugly, and picking out brand new crochet hooks is always fun. Then there's the daydreaming or searching for patterns to decide what to make. Everything about it is fun.

Except…

I don't know about you, but in the middle of the revelry I always have to try to ignore the little voice of guilt inside that tells me that I could make something awesome with materials that I already have, and that way I wouldn't be spending any money.

But how am I supposed to craft something from yarn already in my stash if I'm constantly dwindling the stash? One cannot make a blue hat if one has no blue yarn.

So in times like these, I try to quiet that little guilty voice and just focus on the excitement.

Yay! New yarn! New project!

Make it Up

I’m making something for my sister-in-law. This is weird because, as my 4 year old put it, “she knows everything about yarn knitting!” But this isn’t yarn knitting, it’s plarn crocheting. Not that my amazing sister-in-law couldn’t manage it, she just knows I work with plarn and doesn’t have a ton of time to cut up plastic bags herself.

The pattern she sent me is for a yarn holder (yes, a yarn holder made of plarn). Instead of punching a hole in the side of a Tupperware bin and putting your yarn in there, you can crochet one. I glanced over the pattern, took the advice for a back post crochet stitch when transitioning from the base to the sides, and then just took off on my own. I’ve worked with enough patterns of this kind to just kind of make it up as I go along.

The pattern ends up being a bowl-shaped thing with a hole in the side for yarn. “But,” I thought, “What if one of the kids knocks it off the table/couch/lap where it’s sitting? The yarn will go everywhere.” There was only one solution: it needed a lid, but the pattern didn’t have one. What could I do? Well, I could leave the finished product lidless and let my sister-in-law’s yarn escape, or I could do what people did before Ravelry existed.

I could make it up myself.

All patterns are made up patterns.

I think the yarn holder is going to be pretty cute once I’m finished with it, and it’s nice to be making something with plarn that doesn’t take me months and months. Of course, it’s not using as many plastic bags as a reusable Bag the Bag is, but that’s okay. It’s going to be nice to have a finished product that doesn’t make me hate working with plarn before I’m finished with it.

Maybe when I’m done, I’ll make something similar: a basket or something. And if I can’t find a pattern for it, I’m sure I’ll be fine just making it up as I go along.

The Great Pattern Search

“Hon, come here and look at this,” my mother said as we shopped at a children’s consignment sale last weekend. “What kind of stitch is this?” I looked at the blanket she was holding. There was no way I was going to pay the price they were asking for, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t try to figure out how it had been made.

“I don’t know,” I replied, poking at the pretty swooping shell shape of the pattern. It wasn’t like any pattern I’d seen before. Usually, crocheting shells means that there are tons of holes and your blanket is more a pretty thing to look at than an object that will keep you warm. But this pattern looked like it would actually be worth snuggling under. Warm and pretty? I looked at the price tag again.

Then I shrugged, thinking, If I wanted this, I could make it myself. Then we walked away from it, agreeing that we couldn’t identify the pattern, but that it was nice.

Later on in the week, I began to think about what kind of a pattern I will eventually use to finish the tiny owl blanket, and started to kick myself. “Why didn’t we take a picture of that blanket at the sale?” I asked my mom. I asked my Yarn Genius sister-in-law if she’d ever seen anything like it, explaining the pattern poorly and again lamenting that I hadn’t captured it on film to show her, or at least to compare it to other patterns when I went looking for it on the internet.

To the internet I went. I looked at several different shell-type patterns, and hiding in the middle of those was that cute cupcake pattern. That got me to wondering whether anyone had yet invented an owl pattern, but all I found were hats and adorable amigurumi owls and flat in-the-round type owls that I’ve already been making. One pattern was for a kid’s snuggly comfort item, with an amigurumi owl attached to a little blanket made with a granny stitch, its rows alternating blue and yellow.

Since the tiny owls are granny squares, I thought the blanket was pretty cute, and tried to follow the pattern. My only problem with it was that you can’t leave a loop of one color at the beginning of a row and pick it up at the other end. In the sample I made, I carried the yarn through each row, but if I actually decide to make it this way, I think I’ll use all one color, or cut the yarn, or have two skeins of the same color to use (one per side). Unless there’s something I’m missing on this pattern.

The reason I like it is that it’s got a little bit of room to see through, but not so much that you’re going to be losing warmth, just like the tiny owls. Not that I expect that this blanket will be the primary source of heat for anyone in the future, but if it needs to be used for that, it should be able to be something other than just a pretty thing laying around.

Fasten Fashion

All this time I've been blissfully tiny owl-ing along, not aware that a terrible crisis was looming. Friends, that moment of crisis has arrived: I'm almost out of buttons.
For this project I've been using buttons salvaged by my great grandmother off of my great grandfather's shirts. I went through my hoard early on in the project and found all the matching pairs that could be found, and all that was left in Great Grandma's jar were kazillions of white or ivory buttons and a few mismatched ones.
As I found out a couple of weeks ago, white yarn eyes with white button pupils are super creepy. If I want to use any of those kazillions of white/ivory buttons, I'm going to have to change the way these tiny owls have eyes.
But I figured that since I still have a handful of non-white buttons, I may as well use them. Mismatched owly eyes are bound to be a little cutem, right? Or creepy. I guess we'll see.

Tuft Pile

There are a lot of stages to tiny owl production. There's the picking out yarn stage, the tiny owl making stage, the revisiting the pattern so I can remember how to make the square stage, the eye making stage, the button sewing stage, the attaching stage, and the tuft pile stage.
My least favorite stage in any project is the "fasten off; weave in ends" stage, because no matter what I do, the ends never stay weaved-in. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but any project I've ever gotten any use out of after I was finished with it (blankets, hoodies for the kids) has un-weaved its ends of its own volition, no matter how hard I tried to make sure that the stupid yarn stayed put.
I'm not really expecting any of the tiny owls to actually keep any of their many multiple ends tucked in, but it's fun to try, and always fun to watch the tuft pile grow when it's time to trim those many multiple ends.

Creepy Eyes

"Come on," my older daughter said to the younger as they snuggled down in their couch fort. "We need to stay safe from the owls; they're scary."
"Owls aren't scary, they're awesome!" I argued.
She gave me a gaze full of four year old wisdom and informed me sagely that "Owls eat people."
As I explained to her the nature of the diet of most nocturnal birds of prey, I realized that my tiny owl project was sitting on the table right next to her, and the most recent one to be blessed with eyes was a little creepy looking. It turns out that ivory buttons on white yarn don't look quite normal, whether you use purple thread to attach them or not.
The tiny owl didn't look like it was going to eat anyone. I haven't even given it a mouth yet. But maybe her surmises weren't that off-base. I don't know that I'd want those creepy owly eyes gazing at me from outside my couch fort.

Stash

I have been to many different yarn stores in my time. Some are meticulously clean and neat, with reams of yarn lovingly arranged by color or by the type of exotic animal that gave its excess fur to the Great Yarn Cause. Others are the retail equivalent of a barely contained post-severe weather cleanup.
And a crafter's private yarn stash has got to be the same. I know of some crafters who devote rooms to yarn storage, and stack every new acquisition in its own personal Tupperware container, complete with a label. And others let the yarn control them, allowing it to invade their bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.
I like to think I keep my yarn stash at a happy medium. My yarn doesn't have its own room, but it does have its own box, and the only time I allow it to escape is when I'm working on a project. It's not the best system, because any time I want a specific skein I have to go diving into the box, but at least I know where all of my crafting materials can be found.
And there's always hope for trimming down the size of the stash, especially when I have a project like Tiny Owl to use up odd bits of yarn that I never thought I would see the end of.

Tiny Owlssembly Line

My daughter said to me this morning, "Mommy, when will you be done with these owls? We want to play with them!" Hey, kid, you can have them when I'm done playing with them.
I like to amuse myself by picking out and matching the yarn for the tiny owls, and today I set out a bunch of different kinds and did a tiny owl assembly line. By the time I was finished, I had four brand new tiny owls!
Now I just have to find some motivation for the tiny eye assembly line, so my tiny owls will be able to see.

Tiltowl

I generally like to use patterns as a guideline instead of the actual rule. But most of the time it's important to make sure to follow the pattern, otherwise that sweater you're making may end up a halter top. With a short pattern like tiny owl, it's easy to go back and fix something when you realize you did it wrong... unless you decide that a slightly tipsy tiny owl is cute.

Crafting Awesome

“And is there anything specific, props-wise, that you want me to get for you?” I ask every single client, after talking about what time they want the photo booth to start, how much space I need, and the extra table that’s great to have to help their guests find the props they want to use.

“Uh, no, I think just the basic stuff will be fine,” they answer, because their wedding is approaching faster than they thought it would and this is just one more decision that they never dreamed they’d have to make. “As long as you’ve got, like, silly hats and glasses, and some mustaches, I think that would be okay.”

The Princess Bride signs that Vanessa
& Andrew's guests will love

I always try to make sure my clients know that their day is special to me, and that if there is anything I can do to make it even more awesome, all they have to do is let me know. “If you or your fiance can think of anything you’d like, some kind of inside joke or reference that I can put on a sign, just give me a call or text and I’ll make sure to have it, okay?”

Then we hang up, and I know I’m not going to get a call or text. Probably the bride or groom I just talked to isn’t even going to remember to ask their spouse-to-be about it, because their main feeling of the moment is relief that they don’t have to worry about any more planning for the photo booth, since it’s taken care of.

And that’s okay. Planning a wedding is so stressful, even if you have an awesome mom, cousin, personal attendant, or hired wedding planner (or even all of the above) to take some of the weight off your own shoulders.

BEARDS for Drew & Kate's
outdoorsy-themed reception

Guests will have fun with a photo booth no matter what, props or no props (at a wedding a couple of months ago, there was nothing on the props table except a few mustaches, and the guests still had a blast). That being said, I love it when a client gets as excited about the photo booth as I do.

This weekend, I have the privilege to make two amazing weddings more awesome. The greatest part is, I know my clients are really excited about the photo booth! I’ve never had a busier prop-making week before; what a great problem to have!

Hand-Me-Downs

I love secondhand yarn. My taste in colors is never the same as someone else's, and when I receive a big bag of yarn that I didn't pick out, it gives me the chance to work with materials and shades that I would never have chosen myself. I don't have the added stress of "I can't use this for a silly project, it cost $$$!!" because, hey, free yarn!
I'm seeing some interestingly plumed tiny owls in the future.

Redo

Isn't it the worst when you go back and look at a pattern and find out that a significant amount of the work you did was completely wrong? Don't you hate having to unravel and re-roll the yarn, watching all of the time and effort you put into the project just ripple away? And then, worst of all, knowing that you're going to have to do it all over again?
Redoing parts of a project is not my favorite thing. But as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes it's necessary. The finished product won't look right unless I've followed the pattern.
Some projects are more forgiving than others, though. If a tiny owl is just a little bit off, it might be considered extra-cute in spite of it!

Camowlflage

One of the best places to hide from the busy world is in a pile of yarn. If you're feeling overwhelmed with everything that's going on in your life, there's nothing quite so relaxing as an afternoon spent working on a project and watching a couple of movies. If nothing else, no one will be able to find you when you're buried under all that yarn.

Bequeath

I love how every one of these tiny owls has its own adorable personality. Each one is different and cute in its own way. It almost makes me a little nervous about putting them all together in one project. Will they be able to be admired when they're all squished into a small space?
Maybe I'll never finish the intended blanket and just go on making tiny owls until the end of my days and pass them all on to my children or my children's children someday.

RainbOwl

One of the things I do to amuse myself when working on tiny owls is to ponder what kind of yarn I'll use next. I haven't purchased any brand new yarn for this project, so I've been using bits and ends of old skeins. It's fun to try to match the different colors I've collected. I don't have to do it that way, but it makes it more challenging, which makes it more interesting to me. It also has the added bonus of making every single tiny owl unique.

Tiny Break

Sometimes it's nice to take an entire week off from crafting. You can spend time cleaning your house, running all over the place, or just veg out in front of the computer playing flash games. Taking a some time away from your projects recharges you for the next onslaught of crafting. It's always nice to have a tiny break.

Owlccasionally

The tiny owl project is not one that can be worked on 24/7 without going crazy. If all I did was sit around and crochet tiny owls, I'd go nuts. So instead, I work on it a little bit at a time (or, "owlccasionally," if you will).
One day I'll make twenty owly eyes. On another, I'll attach a zillion buttons, amusing myself by choosing crazy thread colors (like orange!). Yesterday, I spent the whole morning making brand new tiny owls and singing the tiny owl theme song (which is, of course, the Spiderman Theme with my own custom lyrics: "tiny owl, tiny owl, little, adorable tiny owl!").
Too much tiny owl would be too much of a good thing, so it's good that I spread out the love and work on it only owlccasionally.

The Tiny Owl Saga Begins

A couple of months ago a crafty friend of mine from high school posted this pattern on facebook. She knits, so she asked her crocheting friends to try it out. I was in the middle of a Bag the Bag project, so I figured I’d take a break for a few hours and check it out.

The pattern is by Sarah of the Repeat Crafter Me blog, where she shares crafts, crochet patterns, and crock pot recipes. (If you’re not into granny squares, she’s also got some adorable patterns for owl hats!)

They work up pretty quick when you get going, and they’re super cute.

My first tiny owl!

A Tiny Owl Banner by Sarah of Repeat Crafter Me

If you’re like me and don’t enjoy sitting around stitching things to other things in order to finish your project, I don’t recommend this one. You have to make the eyes, sew buttons to the eyes (thank goodness for my stash of Great Grandma’s leftover shirt buttons!), sew the finished eyes to the owl, and then add feet and beak to each one. Then you have to figure out how to put them together. (There is a reason that the example shows them made into a banner: by the time you’re done with all the extra attaching and sewing, you’re too tired to do anything else!)

My idea is to eventually incorporate them all into a blanket, but I’m not looking forward to stitching them all together. My brilliant mother-in-law said, “Well, you know, you don’t have to put them right next to each other… you could always put a stripe in between.” OF COURSE I COULD, BRILLIANT MOTHER-IN-LAW!

And thus, the tiny owl saga begins.

Piano Scarf!

My beautiful cousin is a talented musician, and it’s cold here in Nebraska. For Christmas, I thought, what better gift than a practice keyboard that will keep her warm, too? A Piano Scarf.

This is not the first time I’ve disdained a pattern in favor of winging it, but it is the first time I’ve thought substantially about what I would do before I started. I thought about how to divide the keys. I thought about how to lift up the black keys. I thought about how much yarn it would take to crochet an 88 key piano, and what to embroider above middle C. I even crocheted some gauge swatches (that part was horrible).

ch 42.

Row 1: dc in 2nd ch from hook, dc across. 40 sts.Rows 2-3: ch 2, turn, dc across.

Row 4: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 5: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.Row 6: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 7: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 8: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 9: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 10: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 11: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 12: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 13: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 14: ch 1, turn, sc in next 5 sts, switch to white & sc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 10 sts.

Row 15: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 16: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 17: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 18: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 19: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 20: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 21: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 22: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 23: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 24: ch 1, turn, sc in next 5 sts, switch to white & sc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 10 sts.

Row 25: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 26: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 27: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 28: ch 1, turn, sc in next 5 sts, switch to white & sc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 10 sts.

Row 29: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Row 30: ch 1, turn, sc in next 25 sts, switch to white & sc in next 10 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Row 31: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 32: ch 1, turn, sc across.

Rows 33-42: Repeat Rows 10-19.

Rows 43-56: Repeat Rows 20-32.

Rows 57-177-: Repeat Rows 33-56 five times.

Row 178: ch 2, turn, dc in next 5 sts, switch to white & dc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & dc in final 10 sts.

Row 179: ch 1, turn, sc in next 10 sts, switch to white & sc in next 25 sts, switch back to black & sc in final 5 sts.

Rows 180-182: ch 2, turn, dc across.

Finishing: Sc all the way around edge. Switch to white, reverse sc around edge. Fasten off and weave in ends.

You can finish it however you want, but I just recently discovered the reverse single crochet and I think it’s very pretty. I also didn’t want any dangling tassels on this scarf. Those are a ton of work, and I wanted something around the edge to fancy it up a bit.

I used all of a black 7 ounce skein of Red Heart Super Saver yarn, and then some, in addition to about three fourths of a white skein of the same size and brand. Although since I worked the yarn through instead of cutting it off every time I switched colors, I probably used more than I could have. I’m not a huge fan of weaving in ends; they always find their way back out, no matter how hard I work to hide them.

I had a good time figuring out how to put the pattern together, and writing it all down. This is a good thing, since if my cousin likes it, I may be making another soon for my brother.