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Now that tv shows are ending seasons or doomed to a schedule of repeats, I have found that there is a lot of extra time on my hands. I’ve started reading a book, nearly finished Phantom Hourglass, bought and read the Sunday paper and even started my “spring cleaning” early. In an effort to kill even more free time I’ve struck up an ancient hobby of mine, crochet. I used to crochet a bit when I was younger, but I was a one-trick pony making bookwoorm bookmarks for friends and random strangers. The google eyed worms were cute, but lost out to cross-stitching and sewing.

I decided on a whim to pick up some yarn and crochet hooks at the craft store last week with no real plans for making anything in particular. My goal was to learn some fancy maneuvers with my little blue hook in the hopes that I can become awesome enough in my newfound craft to make some hip little toys for my new niece/nephew-to-be. Since I only have five months, I need to be on a speed course for awesomeness. I looked online for a simple pattern and found something slightly useful, wrist warmers.

These were incredibly easy to make once I figured out what the hell a half-double crochet and a double crochet were. After fifteen minutes of studying diagrams and looking up some youtube instructionals I was all set to start. The total time for making my two squares was probably around three and a half hours. I spent some time watching Dexter repeats while working so the total time for someone paying attention is probably closer to two hours. I’m quite pleased with the way they both turned out and fit. I’m also pleased that I was able to pick a project and actually follow through to the finish so quickly. Plus these will be so much better when trying to use my camera outside. Mittens suck when it comes to adjusting the focus or trying to hit the little buttons for ISO and shutter speeds.

For anyone who is interested, the pattern came from poster CMFoster on craftster and is as follows:

1. chain[c] 32 (30 for length - 2 for turning)
2. half double chain[hdc] across length (start in 3rd ch from hook)
3. ch 3
4. double chain[dc] across length
5. ch 2
6. repeat steps 2 - 5, until you have 7 rows of 1/2 dc and 7 rows of dc
7. fold your rectangle in half
8. whip stitch from top for 3/4 inch
9. leave approx 1 1/2 inch for thumb hole
10. whip stitch rest of length
11. Turn right side out
12. place on your super cool - uber hip little wrist

I modified it slightly in length as well as the number of rows completed in order for it to fit my hand better. I also chose a slip stitch vs a whip stitch.