My Very First Yarn Along!

I  must admit, I'm pretty excited about this for several reasons.  First of all, I discovered Yarn Along, a regular feature hosted by Ginny of Small Things, months ago.  I've been wanting ever since to dig my yarn back out and dive into a project, but life...  Need I even try to finish that sentence?  Of course, the biggest life event that stood in my way was my mother's death in January.  She was the one who taught me to crochet, just as her grandmother taught her, and picking my hook back up again was an extremely bittersweet thought.  I've only now worked up the courage go back to it, not to mention the interest.  But it's winter now, (even if I can't get the weather to cooperate and give me some snow).  It's almost Christmas; I sit in my living room every evening in my recliner and enjoy the glow coming from our tree in the corner of the adjacent dining room.  Can there be a better set up for crocheting on a long winter's evening, with baby and husband safely tucked away in their beds for the night and Jim Dale reading Harry Potter to me through my earbuds?  Yes, it's definitely time to crochet again.

In my own defense, I'd like to point out that I'm a better crocheter than a photographer.  I did find out a couple of nights ago, however, exactly how rusty I was even at crochet, when I had to restart this project four times before I finally figured out what the pattern was saying AND remembered how to execute said instructions.  Pretty sad, considering that this is a very simple pattern.  The grey matter is warming up again, though, and believe it or not, that little green and white lump has aspirations of becoming a lovely afghan in various Christmas colors when it grows up.  You're going to be seeing this project develop for a few weeks, I'm afraid; the book of the moment will change much more quickly in the weekly photographs than the crochet will, because an afghan takes me a little while.  Anyway, I'm back at it again, and that's the important thing.

As for this book, you'll notice it says "Etc." at the end of the title.  I have finished the "A Christmas Carol" portion, and am now working on "Etc.," namely The Cricket on the Hearth.  Naturally, a review will be forthcoming here on the blog when I have finished it.  Happy Yarning/Reading!