Oh Bums!

'Oh Bums!' is an expression of frustration which I don't mind the kids overhearing. When you have small people, you have to adopt new forms of verbal outburst appropriate to their delicate ears, and that has been one of mine eversince No.1 was teeny. I have been using it quite a lot lately, because something crafty just wouldn't go right.

Hopping through the Blogosphere (like you do) has shown me so many wonderful and inspiring creations from fellow crafty types. I have a folder in my favourites entitled 'Crafty Bits': Within that folder are - I've just counted - the links to 84 craft projects and tutorials which have caught my eye. I had no idea there were quite that many, I shall have to give them a judicious pruning at some point. The trouble is, I see the pictures and think 'oh wow - I want to make/have one of those!' Even though I've already got more than I'll ever have time to complete, I still wander sites such as One Pretty Thing, Craftzine, and Whip Up! every single day, saving anything that takes my fancy. A habit to break, perhaps?

Anyway, one of the things that has caught my eye over the past 'x' months are the scrumptious crocheted ripple afghans/blankets I've seen. This one from Mrs Moogs. This one from Lucy Locket-Pocket. This one from Gina, and many, many more. I'm not a very competent crochet-er/ist in fact I only know how to 'do' one stitch, but those blankets caught my eye. I thought it would be nice to have a little project to work on whilst watching tv, so I went out surfing the web for a tutorial I could actually understand. I found one at Crochetcabana.com and duly saved it to my 'Crafty Bits' folder.

Instead of just leaving it there, I attempted to actually 'do' it. I managed to find my 2 crochet hooks (one is big, one is small) and grabbed an old ball of hideous white acrylic stuff from my stash with which to practice. Eventually, after about 4 goes at it, I ended up with this:

Which looks like the manky bit of white crocheting it is. However, I felt I was going in the right direction. Next it was time to try some stripes of colour:

Hmmm, aside from the washed out colours, and the fact that the green yarn was 'fluffy' and therefore not at all the look I wanted, it's almost 'there'. (Blogger is doing that weird thing and turning my picture round again - it's so annoying). The stitches were a bit too 'open' looking for my liking, so I went and bought a middle-sized crochet hook, and then set to work with some slightly more respectable yarn (still not the posh stuff though - posh stuff is wasted on me):

I don't know precisely why but I just don't like it. I don't know if it's the colours I've used, or what, but ... it's not working for me. At all. So ... it's been frogged. The idea was to make a blanket for Mum - a long term project for me with an eye to next Christmas. Mum can sew, and she can knit, but she can't crochet, so I thought it'd be something she'd really like. I still think it's something she might like, so I guess I could still attempt a crocheted blanket of some sort, but it's not going to be a ripple. Doesn't always go according to plan in the crafting world, does it? *sigh* :-(

I feel a bit of a failure, but at least I tried something I haven't tried before, and I'm a teeny bit pleased that I even managed to work out how to do it. I've since been playing with some more crochet - I don't know how to read crochet-ese, so just make it up as I go along. Of all the little bits with which I've experimented, I think these aren't too bad:

Would lots and lots of them all sewn together be fairly funky? Or just old lady-ish? I shall ponder on it and see if I still like them in a weeks' time, but I fear I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I am not a crocheted blanket kind of girl. I may still do Mum some crocheted cushion covers or something, but for now I think I should probably concentrate on monkeys.

And I was so looking forward to being a hooker.

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