In Which the Pirate Slowly Crochets.

The third annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week was so much fun! I read a ton of new-to-me blogs, got lots of ideas and inspiration, and learned about stitches and patterns that I might have otherwise missed. Plus I’ve jumped to nearly a hundred RSS subscribers (through Google Reader; I don’t have stats for other RSS readers) and almost 250 followers on the Knitting Pirate’s page on Google+! (I think some of them might not be real accounts, but whatever…) Eskimimi is truly marvelous for organizing and arranging the event, and I know I’m not the only grateful blogger out there.

While Blog Week was going on, I was making slow progress on a washcloth. It was slow going because I seem to have sprained my wrist. How, I’m not sure. But it hurts when I move it in certain ways, so I’m being careful to take lots of stretch breaks, and I’m trying not to work too fast, which causes me to have a death grip on the hook and can add to the strain.

This is the second time I’ve crocheted the “Bumpy Not Lumpy” pattern, which you can find for free on Chocolate Mints in a Jar. I started off by chaining 37 as per the pattern instructions, but after only a few rows I realized that I was going to have a much bigger cloth than I wanted, so I ripped back and began again with a chain of 29. This gave me a 9.5″ square cloth and a pretty nifty pooling pattern. I made sure to note this on the project page so that if I make this pattern again, I’ll know how many stitches to start with.

I like to hang my washcloths from the shower caddy to dry, rather than draping them over the towel bar – not to mention that I’d rather have water drip into the shower than onto the floor! I think they dry faster that way and are less likely to smell funny. I made the loop by chaining a dozen or so stitches, then single crocheting the length of the chain beginning from its base and working around, then working the last row of the pattern. Since the last row is a single crochet top edge, it worked in quite nicely and doesn’t feel as if it’s going to pull loose. I didn’t do the edging all the way around, but I think on my next fully-edged cloth I’ll work the loop before the edging. I like the way it gets incorporated in.

Washcloths are fun and quick, but I have to get my focus back to the Dancing Cranes stole now. Sure, it’s only the beginning of May, but I’d like to have it checked off my list well before its October deadline. I’m into the second pattern repeat and there’s no reason for me to be frantically knitting at the last minute, other than my own tendency to procrastinate – which I’m trying to overcome. Here goes! Hold me to it!