while you're ahead…

I have a confession to make.

I didn’t take any projects with me on holiday.  No crochet, no knitting, no hand sewing.  Nothing.

For the first time in years I was empty handed.

And you know what? I’m glad I did… my hands needed a rest.  My brain needed my hands to rest, and it felt really good.  Strange, but good.

We’ve had such busy months leading up to our holiday that a break was just the ticket.

Towards the end I was getting a little twitchy but I was glad I’d taken a step back and thought about what I really want to do rather than simply grabbing yarn for another shawl or another pair of socks just because they’re portable projects.  I don’t need another pair of hand knitted socks … do yo know what I mean?  I mean… I do, but I’d like to challenge myself to learn new techniques and I can’t do when moving from place to place every few days and without time to really stop and think and learn.

This doesn’t mean that I didn’t try to visit a yarn shop when in LA… weirdly, although there were people working there and it was full of yarn they refused to sell it to me because they had moved to online sale only.  Ahem… I am here?  I have cash to splash?? Nope.  They said no.  Bizarre.

What I found myself surrounded by though was ‘crochet’.

It seems everywhere… from Anthropologie:

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to the well stocked vintage stores in Bakersfield (we spent a couple of hours… but could have easily spent all day!)

I found this great book for a few dollars

that clearly shows that aside from the dates photography… nothing has really changed

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update the yarn and the setting and you have yourself a cool, contemporary crochet book.

There were plenty of crochet ‘things’ in the shops: bed spreads (so tempting.. no space in the suitcase unfortunately)

aprons

pot holders…

including this intriguing trivet made out of what seemed crochet covered bottle caps

My crochet juices were flowing… I might get have to raise my hooking skills up a notch…

 

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