For the Love of Pinterest

Are you on Pinterest yet? Please say yes, because if you aren't I feel a little sad for you. You're missing out on one of the modern world's greatest inventions. (Ok, maybe not, but grant me a little hyperbole please).

Pinterest is a digital pinboard where you can save links and images to all of those amazing/bizarre/beautiful/inspirational things that you find on the Interwebs. You can save anything -- recipes, project ideas, pictures, whatever. No more emailing yourself a link that will languish forever in you inbox. Instead, you get to save a link and an image. I know that doesn't sound revolutionary, but trust me: It will change your life.

You can have as many different boards as you want with as many pins as you want. And the best part? You get to see what everyone else on Pinterest is pinning. Which means that instead of aimlessly wandering the Internet for the thing you need, you can rely on the good (and sometimes not so good) taste of other pinners for what you need.

You can find things like this, and this, and this. (Psst. You should definitely click on that last link because you will die from the cute.) It has spurred me to do things I probably wouldn't have done otherwise, like that crochet scarf you saw the other day. The only bad part is that it is a complete and utter time-suck. I could spend hours (read: days) just looking at pins. But I don't care. I'm never going back.

I guess what I'm saying is: I love you Pinterest.

My First Wearable Crochet

Look what I did!

It's a crocheted cowl infinity scarf. Did you get all that? Basically it's a big, bulky loop scarf. It's incredibly soft and incredibly warm, and I made it! Can you believe that? I can't.

I know what you're thinking: "Crochet? Who in the world crochets other than 70-year-old women."

Well, I do. And it's making a comeback.

After seeing all of the amazing things that my grandmother had crocheted over the years, I decided to teach myself few years ago using online tutorials. Crocheting definitely hasn't been as trendy as knitting in recent years, but there are a lot of really cute patterns out there. Until now I've mostly stuck to small projects. This is the first actual wearable piece that I've tackled, and I'm really happy with it.

I found the pattern here through Pinterest. (More about my love for/obsession with Pinterest later.) Even though it's a "big" project, it's actually a great beginner's piece to tackle. It just uses basic stitches and is worked in the round, so there's so sewing together. It is really bulky, though. I left off two rows, so you might want to alter the pattern a little if you feel like it's getting too wide.

It alternates rows of single and double crochet. I found the yarn at JoAnn fabrics for just $6 a skein. So it was only about a $13 project. Not too shabby.

Thinking about trying your hand at crochet? It's so simple. You can basically teach yourself through the use of Google and YouTube. Some of my favorite tutorials are here, here and here.

It's not a perfect project. I dropped a stitch in the middle somewhere and my stitches aren't completely even, but I was pretty impressed with myself. It's given me the guts to try my hand at more wearable pieces. And maybe one day I'll even learn to knit.

Pin It

Natural Beauty

A couple of days ago we had our first real winter day. It finally got properly cold and snowed. Because we live in an older house, it's not the most efficient, and we often get condensation on the inside of our storm windows. In the freezing weather, the water froze on the window and created the most beautiful crystal formation.

It was so gorgeous that I couldn't resist snapping a few quick photos.

How pretty is that? It's one of those simple things in life that makes me smile.