YOU NEVER WRITE

How true. I'm sorry. The fact is, I've been doing a bit of socializing lately, and my knitting has suffered. I have found it to be difficult to pull out the knitting when spending time with non-knitting friends. They seem to think that you are either bored by their company, or ignoring them, or a combination of the two. In any case, I am hoping to get things back on track this week.

GETTING BACK TO MY ROOTS

Back before I began knitting seriously, I was an avid crocheter. (Why is "knitter" a word and "crocheter" not a word? Is there a term I do not know, meaning "one who crochets"? Help, please.) I have mentioned my crochet several times in the past, and I apologize to those who may be getting tired of hearing it. It's just a little update for those who might be new to the story, people. In any case, one of my biggest reasons for conquering the world of knitting was the wide array of attractive patterns available. Crochet patterns were so often limited to afghans (nice, but big) and truly hideous, tent-like sweaters. And so I moved over to knitting, craft of cute little tops. (And socks! Oh, I want to make some! Must finish Koigu scarf first! Dang!)

But now, just as I am approaching a level of knitting that I will optimistically term "intermediate," crochet is everywhere. The latest Family Circle Easy Knitting is loaded with crochet. Even the spring/summer Rowan has crochet. What happened? I am secretly delighted, of course, because, with crochet, I can tackle even the "expert" projects with aplomb. Crochet expert? Yep, that's me. And so, I am thinking about making the little crocheted cardigan in the Rowan magazine. Just because I can. And because it might be nice with skirts.

I HAVE QUESTIONS. DO YOU HAVE ANSWERS?

I have a few other crochet-related musings, which I will include here, as it seems like an appropriate moment.

Musing 1. Has anyone made the granny square skirt which was in the first issue of Knit It? I do not have the magazine, but I remember it being sort of nice. Can anyone tell me how many squares around, etc. it was? Just looking for a jumping off point, here.

Musing 2. Rowan 33 has a little feature on a new book by Erika Knight called Simple Crochet. Research has shown me that this has already been published in the UK, but will not be released here until September. Has anyone seen it? Any UK readers out there? Any readers out there at all? No? Shoot. Anyway, if there does happen to be someone reading who has seen this book, could you let me know if it looks nice? Worth ordering from Amazon UK? Or, if you're feeling particularly interactive, would you like to trade a copy for some US-only product? I'm not sure what that product would be, but I am open to suggestions.