The Great Mystery of…Round

One of my friends taught me how to knit when I was 12 and we knitted and knitted. Mostly hot pads and bookmarks. Then came the 7th grade and knitting was forgotten. Completely and utterly.

Until…another friend inspired me to hunt up those knitting needles and give it a whirl again…some 50 years later.  I know.  That’s weird but that’s just how I operate.  And I also took up crochet again.  Although it hadn’t been 50 years since my last crochet project.  More like 30 years.

So, for the last 2 winters, if you drop by Ruff Farms, you most likely will find me knitting and/or crocheting.

I can knit scarves.  I can knit earwarmers.

I can knit cowl/neck warmers….ok, I ran out of thread and can’t get any more SO I came up with these and whatdoyouknow…..they are a thing on Pinterest!

But nothing round. You know like socks, hats, gloves, sweaters…which aren’t necessarily round per se. They’re just made up of pieces of round.

Anything round baffles me.  How DO you do that?  I’ve watched tutorials on youtube until I’m cross-eyed.  I. Just. Don’t. Get. It.

Round also scares me.  Anything I’ve ever tried to knit or crochet that was supposed to be round, ended up sort of rectangular.  But not even close to round.

One day when I was surfing Pinterest, I found THE cutest little girl hats that were…round.  Well, scratch that off the To Do List.  And they had cute little flowers all over them.  Round flowers.

Moving on.  A neat earwarmer showed up.  YESSSSS!  I can do that!!  I could do scarves, I now confidently thought.  An earwarmer aka headband is just a mini scarf. Right?!!  Plus there were those cute round flowers decorating the earwarmers.  Round. Again.

At some point…well, it was during my knee surgery recovery so it was of pure desperation to do something constructive as there are just so many old movies you can watch without going completely nuts… I put on my big girl panties, did a search on youtube for crochet flowers.

I even tried swirly hearts.  Don’t worry.  I’m still working on those.  The points at the bottom escape me completely.

I watched. I took notes.  I practiced that crazy magic circle.  I reviewed how to do the double, treble, single and half double stitches.  Eventually, a flower evolved out of all that blood, sweat and tears…and yes, a lot of exasperation #imsorry.  Yessss!!!  A round crochet thingy that vaguely resembled a flower.  And I practiced and practiced.  I wasn’t satisfied with my creation but I was gaining.

Then I went home for a week and parked my sad self in my aunt’s living room…you know…the one who made my crocheted snowman.  She pulled out flower instructions and said let’s do it.  AND I DID!!!  It was a passable recreation of her’s.  I could not believe it!

Now…earwarmers from my knitting needles have carefully arranged little bouquets on them…whether the recipient wants them or not.  They are my stamp of success.  I won!  I finally figured it out.  I can die happy now.

Well, just as soon as I figure out how to crochet a swirly heart to suit me.  The same aunt told my mother that the instructions I left with her a couple of weeks ago for the swirly heart isn’t working.  That almost made me happy.  If anyone could figure out how to crochet that monster, it was her.  And so far, she hasn’t. I’m in good company don’t you think?

BTW…all of the above pics are projects I’ve knitted since September.