Welcome back, Mulder...

Rehab did you well. Compare with pre-rehab, X-Files: IWTB premier:

I wish you continued good health... my eyes cannot take it otherwise. Welcome back, Mulder, you bastard.

Anyways....

I taught my self to crochet last fall and have enjoyed most the satisfaction of planning, budgeting, carrying out and completing projects. So far, I’ve completed 2.5 original projects: 2 dishcloths, a scarf from a pattern, and a scarf adapted from a pattern. The last one is getting there… I completed it only to realize that the ‘contrast’ between two yarns was non-existent and a couple of the rows just looked plain ‘weird.’ Anyways, the best advice came from a cashier at Chapters. When I was buying a crochet magazine, we got to talking shop and when I told her that the scarf I was crocheting for my boyfriend turned out ‘weird,’ she told me, “I doesn’t matter what it looks like so long as he wears it!” True enough, but I have a good strategy to not make it look weird any more.

Anyways, my goal is become handy enough to be able to come up with quick and pretty presies for family and friends and to hand-stitch some cute sweaters for myself to schlep around in. Oh yeah, and to apply my skills in ‘deconstructing’ the corporate co-option of fashion, creativity and clothing by ‘adapting’ their designs into personal projects.

If this little endeavor keeps me out of the mall, then I’ll be happy. Next hobby is making my own clothes and more huge start-up costs. ‘Huge’ is an exaggeration. The hooks and the yarn were not that outrageous – some were, in fact, Christmas gifts – but, after spending approximately $14 on two new skeins of wool for my boyfriend’s scarf, I realized that it might have been cheaper to just go out and buy a new scarf. Oh well, the project has yielded so significant left-over wool that I can use for something else and I got to use up the remaining wool from a previous project so it works out.

My relief is that I am starting and finishing things. When Nana taught me to knit when I was a little girl I didn’t have the patience to follow through with my practice.