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.