So last Thursday, I started jury duty. Knitting needles were not allowed, so I brought a book, a Sudoku book, a computer. Nothing really satisfying.
I was put into jury selection for one trial–a murder trial, so selecting the jury took a really long time. I had to go back on Friday, and they neither excused me, nor finished picking the jury, so I had to go back on Monday. My diversionary tactics weren’t working–I’d become accustomed to knitting while waiting, and I missed that sense of accomplishment. So, Saturday, I got out my Plymouth Encore and two “learn to crochet” books that had failed to sink in on previous occasions, and with a project in mind, I set about to learn to crochet.
I spent about four hours on Saturday and five or six hours on Sunday working on a single crochet log cabin blanket. I’d seen the knitting pattern in Mason-Dixon Knitting and figured it couldn’t be that hard to adapt it to crochet, and I was right. Sadly, it’s slow going, perhaps because of the single crochet stitch (I prefer to learn one stitch at a time, same way I learned how to knit), and most certainly not helped by my naturally tight stitching. My hands keep cramping up from being forced into these new positions. I also think part of it is the crochet hook I’m using. It’s exactly the size that’s recommended for the Encore, but I forgot that when I’m knitting, I prefer to go about two sizes up because I knit so tight, and what do you know, turns out I crochet tight too.
But it’s turning out pretty well–it’s already bigger than this picture I took on Monday. It was the perfect project for waiting in courthouse hallways, so of course I was excused from the jury at 11:30am Monday. That’s quite alright, though, ’cause now I’ve finally made a dent in the “learn to crochet” resolution I made about two New Years ago.