Hooked part 2

One of my resolutions, well, plans for 2011 was to learn how to crochet. Since the fabulous introduction to crocheting at Glasgow's sewing Cafe, thanks to tutor Carol Meldrum, I've managed to crochet exactly one flower. Life kind of took over. I'm quite pleased with this flower though, because it almost looks as it should, with just one minor mistake.

I did this ages ago and since then nothing. My pledge to make everything this year is still going, just that it has led in part to not making anything. This is not due to my slacking commitment, rather to a baby WHOWILLNOTSLEEPBYHERSELF syndrome. I'm not talking night time sleep, that one is pretty much on the worst case scenario side anyway, but that's ok. The thing that bugs me is the 9-11pm window. I spend hours each evening trying to settle her in bed, rocking, feeding to sleep to then sneak away. She usually lasts 10-30 minutes before procedure is repeated, with one of the following outcomes:
a) I repeat procedure and fall asleep
b) I repeat procedure, fail and take her downstairs
c) I repeat procedure, fail and dump her on hubby for 15 minutes to get the most superficial tidy of the house done
d) I repeat and succeed, which happens about once a week and gives me just enough time to get one step closer to having a birthday present for my big girl (a puppet theatre that I'm sewing, and though it's easy and I still have over 2 weeks to go, I worry I may not get the time to finish it off).

So not much making getting done, twins have been born and didn't even get one card made, nevermind two.

I also have a certain number of tabs constantly open on my computer, just in case I get around to pursuing lovely stuff that I found a bit further. To no avail so far. Going 3 days without even  blogging? Unheard of yet still happening. My mantra: this too shall pass and I know it will. Just sometimes exhasperation strikes.Can I spell big words? Not momentarily.

One of these tabs is Red Ted Art's guide to teaching yourself how to crochet and I do do do want to follow it up. Written by Vonnie from the Life Craft, and featuring the lovely blanket squares from Attic24, it's a gem and surely will get you all enthused about crocheting.

And thanks to Maggie of Red Ted Art, I was sent a lovely crochet book for review (disclaimer: received for free for this review): love crochet. I was rather pleased that when it arrived it turned out it was written by the very person who taught me how to crochet! She's a really good tutor, and what's better, her projects are easy - she maintains that after her class we all should be able to complete all the easy projects. About two thirds of the book are classed as easy, so it's ideal for the stage I'm at and I'm more than happy to review it.

Because of the babywhowillnotsleeponherown syndrom, I haven't actually managed to make any of the projects in the book. I know, what a rubbish start for a review. However, I've done a few of the patterns in the class, so I know that I could do it. What I like about it are the clear instructions, really great images showing you all the basics for crochet, a great reminder to get me started on any of the projects.

The range of projects is quite wide, so there's bound to be something of interest for most people. You could see that as an advantage or disadvantage, but for the beginner, it's definitely nice - a scarf here, a bag there, a belt or maybe something for the house, or how about a crochet project bag? The finished pieces are all photographed beautifully and really entice you to get going.

The vast majority of the book is taken up by easy projects, which is perfect for someone like me. Yet it also has the scope for moving on to intermediate and even difficult realms for good measure. Plenty to keep me busy for a while, to practice the basics I know and move on when I feel more comfortable and less like I'm holding one needle too few and the yarn in the wrong hand.

So a definite thumbs up for Carol Meldrum's love crochet.

PS if you buy the book through the link provided, I'll get a percentage of the sales price to no cost to yourself which allows me to feed my book habit.