reading, yes READING, and crocheting {at the same time!!}

In my car, I carry a complete set of crochet hooks, scissors, stitch markers, round looms, etc.  This is so that if I have time to kill, I can work on a project.  Currently, my project that I've been working on here at home is the lapghan that I've graphed and it is NOT a project I want to be carrying around with me.

So this afternoon, after my appt this morning, I stopped at WalMart to get a skein of yarn so I could tinker around with doing some squares in the round {think granny~square alternatives}.  Red~Heart's Super~Saver Warm Brown was on clearance for two bucks per skein!  Yeah, I'm allllllllllllllllllllll about that.  So I scarfed up those seven skeins and gave myself high~fives all the way to the check~out.

Then I went to a coffee~shop located in a locally owned and managed book~store on Main Street.  I settled down with my skein and my hooks and got busy.  And quickly got bored.  Cuz there was nothing to occupy my other senses while my hands were flying around with the yarn.

But then my mind drifted to something it sometimes has been tossing and turning and tumbling around.  See, I always say that I listen to audio~books while crafting cuz I haven't mastered the whole reading while crocheting thing.  But my friend who is blind learned to crochet last year and the stuff she does is all granny~square.  Which when ya think about it makes sense, this would be the ideal; cuz you crochet into the space, not the loops of the stitches in the row below.  I thought, dude, if she can do this, with practice, I might be able to as well.

So I tried to feel with my fingers the space between stitch clusters and I discovered that with a few glances, I was able to do an entire cluster of three stitches {one square was double crochet and the next square was treble~crochet}.  I was all like, wow!  Dude, look at me!

So then I decided to put myself to the test and READ my book while doing the granny~squares.  I shocked myself!  I think with practice, I could really improve and fly right along.  It's like most any activity, gets better with practice.  I mean, how many times did you think when you were first learning to type, I WILL NEVER GET THIS!!  And now you just type/text without even paying attention all that much.

Also at the cafe were about twenty bridge~playing women.  A few came over and talked with me.  One of them said that her granddaughter just moved here and likes to crochet but cannot find anyone who does too.  So I gave her my number and confirmed that there aren't any crochet groups in the area {some church groups do some various crafts, yes}, there are a few quilting guilds, a few knitting circles, but no crochet groups.  I told her to tell her granddaughter to give me a call and we could get together and stitch a bit.