I'm a Happy Hooker!!!

Hehehehehehe :-D

Okay, so as well of my love for all things cross-stitch, I've decided to get into crochet!  I first picked up hook and yarn a few years back and tried, with varying degrees of success, to have a go.  I stopped crochet last year but recently I have been encouraged to take it up again.  I really have to thank my fiancé's 87-year-old aunt, who has just taught me how to make a granny square!!!

She goes to a "Stitch and Chat" club on a Monday afternoon and for the past few weeks I have been going with her.  At the class, she showed me how to make a granny square.  When I got home, I decided I felt confident to have a go myself, and this was the end result:

My first (wonky) Granny Square!!!

It's far from perfect, the hook I used was the wrong size for the yarn, and I've had a few mis-counts, but as a first attempt goes it's not bad.

The pattern came from a book called Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques.  The chart is listed as symbols which I actually find easier to read than lines of abberviated code.  I managed to find a pattern on the internet with a similair chart that you can download HERE (that's if you'd like to have a go yourself!!)

One thing to remember with crochet is that the terminology is different in the UK and US (the pattern linked to is in US terminology).  It makes it confusing when reading lines of code, but less so with symbols.

For anyone who's interested in getting into crochet, I plan to post conversion charts for abbreviations/terminology and hook sizes in due course!

Oh, and speaking of hooks, a few years ago I treated myself to some Hamanaka double-ended crochet hooks:

For those who can't navigate webpages in Japanese, these gorgeous hooks can be purchased through eBay, but they are expensive!!!  Definitely worth the investment though because they're so nice to work with, and double-ended hooks take up less room in my hook roll...LOL!!!

I would recommend crochet to anyone!  I find it a lot easier than knitting, and once you've learnt the basics you can make pretty much anything!

Well that's me done for today, I'm off now to do some more stitching on my halloween projects!

Till next time ... Keep Kalm and Cross-stitch! xx