I lost 95% of my scarves in the fire that destroyed my home; not grabbing more of them is one of my many regrets about things I didn’t think to save. Also, I read that handwork like knitting and crochet increases serotonin, so creating things to replace items lost will have a secondary benefit. Fortunately,…

Okay – so you may be aware that several wildfires have plagued the western United States. My house and pretty much all of my possessions were one of the casualties. Jack and I had about thirty minutes to load what we could into our cars and evacuate, which meant that I had to prioritize. I…

This is another case of the correct yarn making all the difference.  I’ve seen pictures of crocheted fedoras before, but they all seemed overly chunky, due to the yarn.  But then I found this pattern: Fedora Crochet Sun Hat – Free Pattern The secret – besides a good pattern – is, of course, the yarn. …

Other than hats and moccasin slippers, I haven’t gotten any requests from Jack for manly crocheted items.  So I was surprised when he requested a pair of tank slippers.  He had seen a picture of them somewhere and was intrigued.   I found the pattern here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tank-slippers I made a few modifications.  First, the amount of…

I can’t recall where I first saw this pattern – most likely on Facebook: Mermaid Market Bag The bag interested me; besides the Sakura bag that I mentioned in an earlier post, I hadn’t been so intrigued by a market bag design. (This post:  https://onthehook.home.blog/2020/01/01/market-bags-for-everyone/) Also, I wanted to make something useful for one of…

DROPS patterns are insidiously difficult to follow.  And oftentimes, they cannot be made as directed.  However, I really wanted to make this short jacket for a friend’s birthday: https://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=5275&cid=17 My first attempt was less-than-satisfactory.  I could tell that even though I was following the directions scrupulously, this jacket would be way too big.  So I…

Ammonite shell baskets, that is. A friend of mine posted this on Facebook: He and another close friend hinted that they liked them very much, so I got the hint and offered to make them a couple each.  Unfortunately, the video did not specify the actual yarn used, so after some thought, I ordered some…

This project seemed to take FOREVER.  And the jury’s still out on whether or not I actually like it.  The pattern I used is this: Zen Garden Shawl – Free Crochet Pattern This is indeed lovely, but there are two issues:  first, it’s much smaller than it appears in the picture.  For it to fit…

One of the most challenging lessons for me has been figuring out the right yarn to use for a project.  I’ve re-done far too many projects due to not liking the result I’ve gotten with a particular yarn.  So imagine my pleasure at making something that turned out exactly as I wanted it to.  That…

I really hope two particular friends don’t know about this blog (I’m pretty sure they don’t) because they’re about to get some gifts from me.  These are so overdue; I’ve been meaning to make them something for ages but couldn’t settle on what until I made a cowl for another friend with Lion Brand Scarfie…