Crochet... I'm hooked!

I know, I know - I am probably one of the last to jump on this particular bandwagon but a week or so ago I picked up a crochet hook and learned how to crochet. It's something I have been meaning to do for a while. I mean I have been knitting for years (well decades actually...) and I have had a go at pretty much everything - cabling, fancy stitches, colour, patterns, jumpers, jackets, socks, baby clothes...quite a lot of baby clothes come to think of it, more socks, bags etc etc. But for some reason the lure of the crochet hook has never attracted me that much.

Until now.

I blame this...

This - if you haven't seen it before - is a brand new magazine dedicated to handmade living. It's chocca full of wonderful ideas, inspiration, interviews, makes and general handmade loveliness. It is right up my alley and so refreshingly gorgeous it surely must be almost illegal.... (I am assured it isn't)

So, yes, I am absolutely in love with Mollie Makes. I dream that one day me or one of my makes might feature within it's beautiful matt paper covers. In the meantime I lust after dinky felties and crocheted flowers, scrummy interiors and to-die-for studio spaces (imagine a space totally dedicated to crafting...no toys, no teetering piles of bike magazines, no spending half an hour tidying up before I can get anything out and then having to put it all away again so the Little Man can do Play Doh... oh, a girl can dream),

You see it was the flowers that did it.My Other Half suffers really badly from hay fever so real flowers in the house are pretty much a no-no (I do manage to slip some in when he's not paying attention on very rare occasions...) I'm really not a fan of chintzy, floral fabrics, preferring more stylised designs. But when I saw that gorgeous cover and knew that I could have a house full of flowers I loved without making his nose twitch!

So I had to learn how to crochet!  With the help of this tutorial I got the basics together fairly quickly (although I feed the yarn like I knit, with my right hand not my left. I'm sure I will work it out eventually!) and this was my first flower attempt...

Not bad but far from perfect. So I kept at it. Last night I felt confident enough to try an ACTUAL PROJECT. Coincidentally (not that I believe in coincidence mind you!) one of my fave reads the Angel Eden blog posted a tutorial a few days ago that was absolutely perfect - a Crochet Jar Cover - I could make something pretty with my new found skill and find another use for an old jam jar!

Wanna see? Of course you do...

Now it's pretty safe to say I am hooked - I love it! The simplicity. The speed at which projects grow. Most of all I love the way crochet lends itself to itty bitty projects so much more than knitting! It is much easier to pick up and put down when the Little Man demands attention and SOOOO much easier to pick up the single stitch if the hook falls out. If you have ever tried picking up an entire row of knitting when the needle gets pulled out you'll know what I mean...

So thank you Mollie Makes for inspiring me where all others have failed, and Abi at Angel Eden for the great tutorial :)