Tag: craft

A Brand New Hobby

A Brand New Hobby

About 2 weeks ago, I randomly decided to take up crocheting those tiny little adorable animals called animaguri. Turns out that the “Crocheting Animaguri for Complete Beginners” kit (not the real name, by the way) is way too advanced for me. Luckily, the kit came with a crochet hook, so I YouTubed a bunch of super basic crochet tutorials and learned how to start a project and how to do a single crochet stitch using yarn my mom left behind. I think she was going to use it for baby blankets, but I’m sure she won’t mind me co-opting it for my own work.

Crocheting, so far, has been hard enough to learn that I get a bit frustrated and have to take breaks, but easy enough that I can figure some things out on my own. Like why my trial scarf was losing stitches and how to fix it and why my stitches were/are so tight. I still can’t figure out the best way to hold the yarn, but I’m getting there. At first I held it in my right hand but that made it harder than necessary, so I switched to my left, but I haven’t gotten a hang of how to wrap the yarn around my finger(s) and hold the actual project at the same time. I’ve also seen a few different methods of holding the hook, so I’m experimenting with that too.

Two and a half weeks after my spur of the moment decision, and I now have 2 more crochet hooks (I had 3 more, but one of the cats chewed it to Hell), 3 more skeins of yarn, 3 cross-stitch kits, an embroidery kit, and am seriously considering a bag for all my gear. Apparently, I found out I’m okay at crocheting a single type of stitch (and halfway okay at a 2nd), and I decided I’m going to do ALL THE THINGS with needles (craft-wise, obviously, not heroin). Except knitting, which I have taken up a million times in the past and sucked at real, real hard. Then again, I was significantly younger than I am now the last time I tried so maybe I’d be better at it today. I also managed to talk myself out of learning to sew again – that was close, though. I would like to learn to make a quilt at some point. But I managed to convince myself that 3 hobbies (plus blogging again) would be plenty.

Door Wreath DIY

Door Wreath DIY

I am not what you’d call a crafty person. I’m not artistic in any way either, and even if I was I have little to no patience for sitting and doing something I’m not good at. I tried knitting, and I got a third of the way through the ragged-iest blanket you’ve ever seen before I just straight gave up. Though now I listen to podcasts, I might be able to take it back up. Intriguing.

Anyway, I keep wanting to make something that doesn’t involve cooking (I’m not good at that either), so I made the world’s easiest door wreath. Shane says it doesn’t look complete, but what does he know?

Crafting supplies - a wreath frame, scissors, ruler, stack of felt, marker.

Step one: gather materials! I bought 3 yards of felt, but I only used about 1.5. I think you generally use a basic cotton material, but I’m a rebel. I got red, gray, and green because of Christmas. Obviously. I also grabbed my “fancy” scissors, a random ruler, a Sharpie, and most importantly, a wreath frame. Is that what those are called?

Step two: use those fancy scissors and ruler to chop up 3 fair sized piles of what are supposed to be 1 inch by 4 inches pieces, but may vary based on your level of attention. I had to do this twice because I didn’t cut enough the first time. I thought felt would take up more space, I guess.

Step three: Fold a piece in half, slip around one of the wires in the frame and then push the ends through the loop at the end. Does that make sense? Are the images at all helpful?


Step four: Repeat roughly 8 million times. See below.

Step five: Have a wreath that is super easy to make, let you feel accomplished, and also allowed you to sit on the ground while you watch your husband play video games. 

I don’t hate it, y’all.
-Sarah-