Hooks and Stitches

So I've been steadily getting through this diagonal box stitch afghan.  I still love the stitch and the yarn, I just don't think I'm loving the color combination.  Oh well, it's a stash buster blanket, so can't be too picky, I guess.  And it's been great to learn the pattern and get a feel for it.

About halfway done or so.

The texture is so cool.  I love the greens/cream section.  I kind of want to do a whole afghan with those colors.

In other news, I saw Attic24's latest pattern and tutorial for her Blooming Flower Cushion.  I'm totally going to have to try that.  What also caught my interest, as well as a bunch of other peoples' interest, was the red polka-dot handled crochet hook.  A woman with a shop on Etsy makes them at a pretty good price.  I want one (or three!  no, five!) but I also wanted to know how they're done.

After following a basic YouTube tutorial, I bought a small package of white Sculpey oven-bake polymer clay at Wal-Mart and scrounged under my sofa cushions for extra hooks.  I made a set in the basic shape as the polka-dot handle.  Before ordering through Etsy, I wanted to make sure that I would use them, that I wouldn't just be buying them for the pretty and then not be able to make myself use them instead of the plain hooks my hand is used to.

I took one to work with my box stitch afghan and made myself get used to the feel of it.  Success!  Not only will I have pretty hooks, but they actually do help with my wrist and hand!  Yet another thing Lucy's blog at Attic24 has introduced me to.

Productive me!

In the past I've gone long stretches of not crocheting.  I've thought of patterns I'd like to do, I'd buy the yarn, and then . . . not get around to it.  This past year or so I've been on it, though, consistently making afghan after afghan.  My wrist isn't exactly thanking me!  LOL

It seems the more I crochet the more I can't stop planning different projects.  I've been working down my accumulated stash of yarn and I'm beginning to worry about what I'm going to do with myself when I go to my shelves of yarn and need more!  Yarn is getting more and more expensive it seems.

I've been working on Attic24's Neat Ripple Pattern and loving it.  I made a rainbow throw for my sister-in-law in May, in twenty-one days.  I loved it so much I'm making a duplicate for myself, swapping out RedHeart Cornmeal for Lemon.

I'm using thirteen shades of Wal-Mart cheapo Red Heart yarn.  I take it to work with me and get quite a bit accomplished.  Then the other day I was looking through patterns on ravelry and stumbled upon this pattern for a Diagonal Box Stitch afghan.  My brain went nuts thinking of different color combos.

I have a stash of Vanna White yarn that's so old it's the 7oz size skeins, in various dusty/autumn colors.  So I figured I'd learn the pattern and test it out using that yarn and OMG I love it!

So I've been working on these two projects the past few days and my hands don't know which they want to do!