Are You Learning a Skill?

I know that many of you who will read this blog already are a handy bunch when it comes to crafting. I am even willing to bet that you used your skills to create some great gifts for giving last December. But Are you expanding your Arts?

What is it that you have promised yourself that you will learn to do but have yet to take the time? Are there knitting needles and crochet hooks sitting idle? What about that loom you bought, but there has been no time for? When making dinner do you look at the potatoes you cut and dream of the stamps they could become? Did you buy a kit to make a quilt top but have yet to think about it?

Now is the time. There are many tutorials online to choose from. Did you know that there are a large group of U Tube clips that teach individual knitting and crochet stitches? Learn about silk screening or making varnished floor coverings. You know that the your local library has books on step by step methods for cake decorating.

Many specialty shops will welcome you to learn a new skill. Knitting lessons are abundant. A smaller shop will be more apt to lend additional assistance after the classes are over too. I learned everything from braising meats to cake decorating in a kitchen supply store. Many recreational centers offer classes in stained glass art and quilting. County extension offices offer all sorts of classes from photography to gardening. Even the colleges have courses to improve your skills. Many are non-credit, but you just wanted to learn how to throw a pot right?

I need to get going. My neighbor wanted to teach me how to Tat Lace.

Dreary Winter Days

The Winter browns and grays leave a lot to the imagination for the beautiful Colorado that I have come to know. However, the dreary days can make it easier to stay inside and intently work on a project.

Right now some beautiful blue mittens have just been completed in crochet. They are soft, warm and fuzzy in a beautiful shade of dark blue. They are in acrylic yarn so that they will dry fast and hold their shape well. These have been adjusted since most mitten patterns are just too short for me!

A few rows added to the mitten box after the increase rows makes them much more comfortable. The thumb needed a few more rows too. I added them till it was a comfortable length. Only then, did I start the decreases since the pattern tapers faster than my thumb.

These mittens have a great cuff created by making a strip to go around my wrist. Only crochet in the back row each time. It creates a great rib. When the proper length is created slip stitch the the ends together. Then, off the edge of the ring, you start working the body of the mitten. I decided I liked the cuff as it was and did not need to change it. Lengthening it would have been easy by adding more stitches to each row.

There is more fiber around. I am not sure what I am going to create next....maybe not even something from the hook.