When Boredom Strikes

So I mentioned that it got a tad boring sitting around all day with nothing to do when we got here. Yes, I could walk to the BX and browse (but that’s kind of dangerous when you have a credit card in your purse). And I could go to the library to go online or check out books (which I did once in awhile). Well, one day when Andrew was looking at books, I found the craft section of the library. YES! And what happens to be just a little ways down from the library? The craft store. 🙂 I could hear the hallelujah chorus…

I couldn’t really scrapbook, since I wasn’t going to start from scratch with supplies. But I could do some crocheting. And that’s exactly what I did. I found a book at the library that had some cool things to make, but then I got a request from the husband: big ugly socks. Well, the book I had gotten didn’t have any socks in it, but I found a pattern online for some crocheted socks and decided to try it out. It was a good idea: it only required a couple of skeins of cheap yarn and a crochet hook. So I got to it.

It proved to be pretty easy once I got going on the pattern. The heel was probably the trickiest part, but I got the hang of it.

From start to finish, it took me 3 days to make this pair of socks for Andrew. Not too bad!

Well, now that I had been bitten by the crochet bug again, I had to keep going! So I started a pair of socks for my mom, since her birthday was a month away. They turned out so pretty! 🙂

Then I got kind of bored with socks. I wanted a new project. The next one on my mental list was a Christmas gift for my nephew. I had never tried clothing before, and I thought something small would be a good starter project. There was some trial and error (thank goodness it’s easy to pull out stitches in crochet), and I even went to Andrew for help reading the pattern (sometimes a fresh perspective helps!). And it slowly came together:

I also decided to start a new craft: knitting! I had started learning once before, but I hadn’t gotten the hang of the “purling” part of it. This time I was determined to master those basic stitches!

Yes, I am an ADHD crafter. I cannot just sit and do one project at a time. I always like to have one that’s portable for trips in the car or when knitting/crocheting with friends. Which I also started doing. 🙂

Another project on my to-do list? A baby blanket for my expectant cousin. She was due in January, so I knew I had plenty of time, but then I found out she was having a baby shower around Thanksgiving. So I figured I would go ahead and start! I got some bright-colored yarn from my new favorite website to order from: http://www.knitting-warehouse.com. It’s wonderful! So many yarns at discounted prices, and they ship to APO addresses!

By this point, yarn had pretty much taken over the living room area. But our household goods hadn’t arrived, so there was no TV, no computer, nothing to do! When I wasn’t watching British shows on my tiny cell phone screen (oh yes, I did this often)…

… I was crocheting or knitting. It was nice to rotate among projects. Keeps one who is bored from getting more bored. 🙂 Eventually I did finish all of these projects by their due dates. First I finished the baby blanket:

Oh yeah, I was also working on a hat/scarf set for my sister, Becki:

Then I got Kaiden’s sweater finished:

Then the scarf to go with Becki’s hat:

And I swear I finished that knit project I was working on, I just cannot, for the life of me, find the picture I have of it! I’m pretty sure I DID take a picture. Anyways, this was my life for quite a few months: knitting and crocheting. It really did help with the boredom, but once again, I’m hooked (haha, get it? I crack myself up) and have project ideas coming out of my ears… 🙂