Skip to main content

Crochet as Therapy

Future me here. Last week I spent one entire night crocheting, as my trigger finger was acting up again and I just needed to do something that makes me happy. I also took pics, so come along with me into the last-week time machine.

First I tried swatching another throw pattern, the Rolling Waves Blanket by NickisHomemadeCrafts.com, and this one I actually liked a lot. The stitches are interesting and the ocean theme is of course my thing entirely. The only issue is that I'm just not sure if I have enough of the Sweet Roll yarn to make it, so I have to do some math.

For my next small project I decided to make a winter hat out of some of the gorgeous mystery yarn I got from Etsy seller StringstooStitches (more on that in a couple days.) Winter is over now, but we still get a few chilly days, and I love this pattern (alas, my head is so big I have to use a men's design.)

I had to wind the hank into a ball, for which I use my yarn winders: the back of a chair and my hands! Ha. Yes, I know about yarn winders, but I actually like doing this the old fashioned way. It's good therapy for my hands, and gives me a chance to inspect the yarn and remove any debris that might be clinging to the fibers (a holdover habit from my Juniper Moon Farm co-op days.)

The yarn is so beautiful it's a pleasure just to look at it, too.

Here's the finished ball in my yarn bowl.

I've made this pattern about a dozen times, so all I need to do is keep track of the rows. For the first time I'm not going to do that on paper but instead use this handy little row counter I got in that crochet hook set I thrifted. This saves paper and the little counter actually loosened up a bit after I used it the first time, so I don't have any problem turning the dials now.


This is how much of the hat I crocheted in the two hours before I went to bed. My evening of crochet therapy left me with more flexible fingers, too, which makes me very happy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

On the Beach

Last week my guy and I went to walk Daytona Beach, which was mostly (and eerily) deserted. This is what our beaches used to look like when I was a kid. It was a beautiful day, cold and breezy but calm. It feels like 2026 is getting off to the right start.

Eight Plus Numbers

When I was looking up the retail on the small lot of yarn plus a tapestry kit I got a lot of surprises. This Red Heart Roll with It Sparkle skein in "Diamonds" was actually a cake that sells $10.99 on Yarnspirations. The lot included two Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo skeins, which retail for $8.99 each, and stuck in the center of the buff color I found a 5.5 mm crochet hook. This is a skein of 100% Icelandic wool, which can be really expensive. It's marked with a price tag of $7.00, and I found it selling for $8.00 online. The needlepoint kit is the biggest surprise of all. It makes a pillow, and hails from the UK, where it sells for £45.00 ($60.76 US). Since it's flamingos I definitely have to finish it if I can. Altogether my eight plus lot retails for $125.04; I paid $21.30 total for the lot with the buy-it-now option and one penny shipping. I indeed got a very nice bargain.

Halfway Month Blues

Last week I realized on the 14th that two weeks of 2026 flew right by me, and right now I'm writing during the third week. I wanted to be finished with more projects by now, but life and work have to come first. I think this might be when most crocheters start a new shiny project to boost their spirits. Not me. I kept working away at my first project for the year, and here's why: I don't like being surrounded by unfinished things. I also tend to get fatigued and abandon projects more easily if I've left them by the wayside to do something else. Finally, the payoff of the finished project gives me a much better spirit boost than messing around with several projects at the same time. I have a couple of strategies for sticking to working on one project at a time, which I can use to keep myself focused on reaching the finish line. Planning my next project is probably what I do most often by pulling the yarn from my stash, getting out the printed pattern for the...