A knit Pickin' Weekend

Mr. B with little turtle

Hi, bloggy folks! This is June here, the daughter of the bunch. We've been having a fun weekend here, and I offered to step in for blogging duties this week.

Something you should know about me is that I'm the most domestic person in the family. I tend to approach everything with a sort of single-minded intensity, and that especially applies to cooking and crafting. My grandmother was the same; she taught me to knit when I was three years old, though I admit that I didn't pursue it really seriously until I got into my teens. When I did, however, I.... got a little excessive.

Lace work with MooMoo the Cow, lifelong companion.

Yeah.

Now, this farm-wife streak has, so far, eluded my mom
completely. In a typical scene from my teenage years, I would be sitting at the kitchen table in a prairie skirt, demurely knitting a lace shawl and waiting for my souffle to rise. At some point, mom would invariably burst in, in overalls, and demand to know where her sawzall was.

I did suffer to be taught how to use power tools, but it never was more than an unpleasant chore for me. Similarly, mom does know how to knit. She just... hates it. Hates it so much. The last scarf she made was permeated with so much rage and frustration that it actually burns whoever wears it. The only real problem with this is that she also loves hand knit clothes, and I just can't keep up with demand.

So, with an eye to quick results and easy learning, we decided to learn to crochet this weekend. I've always had a serious deficiency in the crochet department, but I thought it might fit mom's style better than it did mine. With that in mind, I went to the Great How-To Authority, Klutz, and purchased.... a kids' guide to crochet.

It worked! This is my handiwork from last night. I'm turning a failed sweater attempt into a sort of beginner's afghan.

 

And how did my knitting-allergic mom fare?

Great! She's never had so much fun working on a scarf. The yarn that came with the kit is pretty good, but we took a little trip down to the yarn store today, and she's got a lovely little setup now for a very cute scarf with applique. I can't wait to see it!

And now, we're going to spend the next little while learning about all the possibilities.