Hi folks,

I am having a really difficult time concentrating this week. I think I am suffering from vacation hangover. After Mike and I got back from our trip to Arkansas, I did some laundry then headed out again on a trip with a couple of girlfriends. We spent a few days in the Smoky Mountains and it was wonderful—the leaves were just beginning to change there, and the rainy weather made the waterfalls we saw really beautiful.

I have seen so much great artwork and crafts over the past couple of weeks and I feel very inspired. There is so much that I want to make and do and try that I am having a hard time focusing and saying, “I am doing this today.” I am also covered in mosquito bites and hives from spending time outside planting mums since I have been home, and all of the itching I am doing might be contributing to my distracted feelings, too.

One of the things I have managed to accomplish since returning home is labeling all of the stitch samples I made while I was in Arkansas. I’ve been skipping around in The Big Book of Crochet Stitches for a while now, but I’ve decided to try to conquer all of these stitches in a bit more organized fashion.

I took my book and a pound of Caron yarn with me and started at the end of the “Easy Stitches” section. After spending days wandering around in parks and shops, I spent the evenings trying out stitches. I skipped a couple that didn’t make sense to me right away (I’ll come back to those later).

I used all of my green Caron yarn on the trip. I did a few more between my two trips, but I switched to a white Caron Simply Soft yarn that I had at home for those.

I also did some of the stitches in the “Bobbles” section of the book.

So, there you have it. I have many, many, many more stitches to work on in this book, but I find the learning exciting, and I like having those physical samples to refer to when thinking about new projects—it works better for me than just seeing a picture in a book

Until next time,
Annie