March is National Crochet Month. Who Knew??

Ok, LOTS of people probably realized that March is National Crochet Month, but not me!  Thanks to Julie at Red Berry Crochet for creating the 52 Week Crochet Challenge in honor of National Crochet Month, and making me aware of the awesomeness of the month! Now I'm in the know.

Each week, there is a new challenge - from learning a new stitch to organizing your stash.  She's also created a Ravelry group to help us keep it all together.  You can find it here.  So far I've met a great bunch of ladies that I look forward to getting to know better as this challenge goes along.  You can follow their blogs from the links on the right under the "Are You Ready? Crochet Challenge" logo. Or join the group at Ravelry, which is a really cool knitting and crocheting site, by the way. You should check it out if you haven't already!

So what was the Week 1 Challenge?  How do you celebrate National Crochet Month?  Well, since I didn't know there was such a thing, just finding out about it was a good start, right? I also decided that I would try and crochet at least a little each day this month, and do better updating this blog.  Yeah, I know...I'm a little late getting around to posting this and we're already 13 days into the month, so I'm not doing so well with goal #2 at this point. There's still half a month left though, and there's always room for improvement so I'm hopeful.  As far as goal #1 is concerned, I've been able to keep up with that fairly well.  I use time duing my lunch hour to keep my hooks moving, and in the evening while watching TV.  I should say listening, because I have to keep an eye on the yarn and stitch count or else I end up with really strange looking objects!

As for Week 2? Start a crochet notebook, journal, scrapbook, or blog. Check! Woohoo! Got week 2 covered already.  I did actually start a “Current Crochet Projects” binder last week. No, I didn't cheat by looking ahead either.  It's a bright, pretty pink binder because white was just too boring for a notebook full of beautiful crochet projects.  Plus, I'm a girl and I like pink!  Don't judge.  Anyway, I was getting confused with which blocks belonged with which CALs, and trying to keep straight just how many ongoing projects I do have, so I needed something to help me along.  I have a page listing project name, designer, date started, date completed, which pattern(s) is used and where it can be found (book, website, etc.), hook size, and yarn brand/name/color.  I also have a printed copy of the current object pattern I’m working on, and a picture of the FO (finished object) labled with pattern name, which CAL/project it’s for, and the date. Oh, and a picture of someone else's take on the project if I like their color placement or want to use it for inspiration, etc.  The projects are divided by tabs so I can keep it neat.  I plan on making another binder for completed projects, and probably dividing that by type of object - blanket, scarf, hat, etc. This might be overkill, but I’ve never done it before so it will most likely be a "try it and adjust as needed" kind of thing.  I think it will be a nice reminder of the time, effort and LOVE that I put into each project, and I hope to be able to see my crochet skills progress and improve over time.

Now that I'm caught up on Weeks 1 and 2, I should be ready to start Week 3 on time.  Hey, it might even get it's own blog entry.  You never know...