Crochet overload!

I have been diving head first into crochet lately (again) and am loving it. I am planning on making a bunch of Christmas gifts this year and have been finding lots and lots of cute patterns in the process. One of the latest things I want to make is a "swiffer shrug", which is basically a reusable wet swiffer pad made out of cotton. Will probably have to modify the pattern slightly to get it to work for the swiffer "max" that Mom has, but that shouldn't be too hard. I found the pattern HERE. They look really neat and are definitely eco-friendly!

I know I am the only one reading this blog, and I know what is in my own head, but maybe I should give a little background on how/why I crochet. I have had MANY hobbies in my life, but some how I keep coming back to this one. I wish I could say that I learned at my Grandmother's knee, but while Grandma did crochet, she never managed to teach me. I first held a hook while attending River Valley School (I was one of 6 kids in my class), a very small private school which subscribed to the Waldorf Method. One of the classes that was taught by one of the parents was knitting and crochet. We did everything in the process....sheared the sheep, washed the wool, carded the wool, spun the wool, dyed the wool...then finally got ready to learn how to knit/crochet. I was pretty much hopeless with both hook and needle. I crocheted a LOT of triangles (chain 1; turn?) and knitted lots of things with holes in them. Gave it up at the age of 9. Fast forward 16 years to early 2002....we moved into our new house and one Sunday we were invited to our neighbors house to watch the Packer game. My neighbor had a book entitled something like "learn to crochet" and was busily making an afghan. I borrowed a hook, read the book and took off flying. In a matter of a few minutes I had re-learned everything I thought I forgot about crochet and was "hooked". (I know, really bad pun!) I have been crocheting on and off ever since.

I have started many projects and even managed to finish a few, including baby blankets, a crib mobile, hats, scarves, etc. I have yet to finish a full size afghan, but I have one that is about half way done that I would like to finish before the end of the year. Doubt it will happen, but miracles happen everyday. :)