Paying it forward. Finally.

Back in, oh, February I commented on my friend’s blog and won something! Yippee! The catch was that I had to post on my blog the opportunity for three of you to win something, too.

My main problem was that I had no idea what I was going to make. At the time I had zero supplies for any projects and only knew how to crochet square, flat things.

At least, I thought I knew how to crochet. But then Andrew bought me a little crochet kit at Moudy’s and I found out that I have been crocheting wrong for the past 5 years. Somehow I learned wrong, in spite of having a wonderful teacher, and have been crocheting incorrectly ever since.

But I retaught myself and now I’m good to go.

Oh, and I can crochet things that aren’t square and flat so you have half a hope of winning something that isn’t a dish cloth or scarf, like this cute hat that I finished yesterday. It fits Rachel but she is anti-hat so she won’t wear it.

I got the pattern from this cute blog and had to learn like 3 different stitches (thank you, Google) and what all the abbreviations meant.

Chain 3, dc in next 5 dc, 2 dc in next, * dc in next 5 stitches, 2 dc in next* repeat around, slip stitch to join in BLO. Say what?!

But I (almost) successfully figured it out. It’s not perfect, but it’s also not square, so I’m happy. I’m not saying that you’re necessarily going to get a crocheted item because I know crochet doesn’t float everyone’s boat (*ahem, hi, Steph! ahem*). I’m just saying that I finally feel a little crafty and creative again so I’m up to the challenge of creating 3 new items. Or just 2 if I count this hat as one of them. Anyone want it?

Plus we don’t know the gender of the baby yet so I can’t start making a baby blanket yet, anyway.

And I’m glad that it’s only three because my friend Joy posted one of these that said 5 people and I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed worrying that maybe I had signed up to make 5 things as well. (It’s not too late to change that 5 to a 3, Joy, *wink, wink*).

S0, if you aren’t in the first three comments here, you can also comment here to get something made by Joy. For some reason she hasn’t drawn a lot of comments and I don’t know why because she’s an amazing seamstress, just so you all know. The only reason I haven’t commented is because I had already signed up for this one, but since her offer still stands I might just commit to making 5 more things since I’m already making three. Might as well, right?

Also, if you want a nursing cover you can enter to win one here.

I’m totally rambling, but I thought I’d share this cute story about Rachel. Her favorite blanket is a pink crocheted blanket with a white trim that my friend Emily made. Incidentally, Emily taught me how to crochet, but she crochets correctly. I’m just a slow learner. Anyway, Rachel has always liked that blanket but has been very attached to it recently.

While I was crocheting the hat, Rachel picked up my skein of yarn and called it a “bwainty-ball.”

How very correct she was. If we unraveled her blanket it would still be essentially the same thing, only a big, tangled ball of a blanket instead of a nicely crocheted one.

Alright, now finally, here are the rules:

The first three people to comment will get something handmade by me. They must agree to also gift three handmade items to three different individuals. Since I live in Egypt I have lifted the “you will get it within 2009” rule and have changed it to “you will get it when you get it.” The postal system here is just that unreliable and I will probably rely on visitors to transport my items back to the States and mail them there (if you don’t live here). So it could take a while.

To sum up: comment, promise 3 things to others, get 1 thing from me. Go!