Hurricane Fabio

What an unusual afternoon. It’s raining here. Rain in July isn’t odd for lots of places, but in Southern California it’s a record breaker. It isn’t raining hard and won’t last long. It’s the remnant of Hurricane Fabio. But I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

I have started writing the first scene of the next crochet book. For now I’m calling it The Worsted That Could Happen, but who knows what the title will end up being. It’s a complicated scene to write because a lot happens and it’s at a wedding reception with 200 guests, along with a staff of servers, a dead groom, a mother in law sitting in the wedding cake, holding a bloody knife and a bride whose been a wife for an hour and is now a widow.

And of course, I have to explain who everyone is. It is the classic example of being able to see it in your head, but getting it on paper is a different story.

I also want to throw in finger crochet. It is what it sounds like - crocheting with your fingers. At least the way I’ve tried it, my pointer finger becomes a hook. So far I have only tried it with boucle yarn which is bumpy and hard to work with. I chose it because it was the closest to my foot in the room I keep my yarn. I think it would be far easier with a worsted weight yarn that doesn’t have the issue of bumps.

I’d be the first to admit it isn’t the most attractive way to crochet. But it is interesting and if you had some yarn or even string readily available anywhere. And it you were nervous - for example at the wedding with the dead groom, it might be a way to calm yourself while you’re waiting to be questioned.

As my friend Linda Hopkins says, it makes you appreciate the ease of using a hook.

I still feel a little scattered because while I’m starting to write about crochet, I am still knitting a scarf. I’m using this yarn called Changes and the claim on the wrapper is that it is like having six kinds of yarn. Translated that means that it is a bunch of different textures of yarn spliced together into one skein. But here’s the problem - the first section is kind of a nubby yarn, but then it’s followed by something closer to cord. Well, the knitted section in the cord looks like it’s wearing a girdle compared to the first section of the nubby yarn. And stuck in the middle is a length of sparkly stuff.

It is a classic example of how you can’t tell what something is going to look like knitted or crocheted by looking at the skein. In this case, even a swatch wouldn’t help. I am going to keep going with it but I’m preparing for major ugly. Either way, I’ll post a picture when it’s done.