Crocheting! Me?????

Crochet is such a beautiful word, like most other French things: the food, the people, the scenery (even though I've never seen it in person), etc.... I learned years ago, from my aunt, the basic chain stitch and how to do a double chain? etc... However, I never learned how to "make" something with crochet stitches. I don't know how to read a pattern, because I don't know the terms, etc....
However, I decided that I knew "enough" to try to lengthen this sweater. I really like this sweater, but I don't like its length. It hits just below the waist, and I'm always pulling on it to make it longer.
So, I started with a yarn that was the closest I could find at my local Walmart. It picks up the turquoise in the sweater, so it works. I then started attaching a row of crochet around the bottom. I just kept going for about five rows. I decided this would take all day and night and maybe even a few more days and nights the way I was going. The yarn I bought was all nubby so it was hard for me to tell where the stitch was that I was supposed to go through next. So, I thought I could speed things up by making long 10 stitch chains, loop them back and stitch them to the last row. I did that all the way around the bottom. My thinking was that I would then go back and attach a straight row by catching the fifth stitch in each chain, chain one or two more stitches and then catch the next loop. Does this make sense? Anyway, I started to do that and it really looked ok, but then i decided I kind of liked this ruffledy look. Or, maybe I was just tired of crocheting. I decided that the sweater needed a touch of this color yarn around the neckline too, so I did the loopy thing again, but with only 5 stitches in each loop. I like the way it looks, until I put it on. The ruffles around my hips look like a miniature tutu!!! Maybe if I was a few????? inches smaller through the hips it would look ok. Perhaps if I had made it longer before adding the ruffle it would look better. Whatever, I will probably wear this around some to places where I really don't care how I look, like to the nursing home to feed my mom.



It looks like a really warm sweater but the stitches are loose and the wind cuts through it. I usually have to wear a camisole under it. Oh well, it was worth a try, i guess. It was something different for me to try. I really would like to learn more about crocheting and knitting.

Please continue to pray for my mom and my mil. They are both having so much trouble with confusion lately. My mil's is a steady decline due to her Alzheimers that was diagnosed years ago. My mom's is due to ????? It's probably Alzheimers added to UTIs, being nearly 86, being in a nursing home, and who knows what else. She is having very vivid dreams about her past and thinking it's now. She wouldn't let them put her to bed the other night because she had a "paper" to get done. She's had lots of "appointments," "conferences, " "reports," etc.... to get to because of her work with foster care children and families. I told her that she shouldn't be having so much work to do now that she's retired. She said, "I think I need to retire again." She worked with abused and abandoned children for over 20 years. She's also having conversations with her mom and siblings who have been gone for years. That makes me wonder if she is really seeing them in some way in her dreams. Mary at Sewfast said she had a very vivid dream about her mom the other night and that it seemed so real even when she woke up. Hum...???? I've never been one to believe in things like this, but who knows?

Oh yeah, and what about the Tennessee men's basketball team beating the number one Kansas team, even without the four team members who were arrested a couple of weeks ago for gong 80 min a 40 zone, having open containers of booze, marijuana, and guns (one with a filed down serial number). One of the players, the best one of course, has been thrown off the team for good. He apparently was the most guilty. I think the gun with the filed serial numbers was his. They other 3 are indefinitely suspended until the investigation is complete. These three were sometimes starters and always played in the games and were big contributors to their success. But, it appears that UT's men don't need them afterall. They have played and won two games without these guys, and like I said beat the number one team last night. I am so glad that these four guys are seeing that maybe they weren't needed so much and that there are consequences to their actions. I just hope these younger athletes are seeing this and understanding that just because they are gifted in sports doesn't mean they can do what ever they want. I love sports, especially college level football and basketball (men's and women's) but these players are just people who happen to be more talented in this area than most. They are equal in God's eyes. It bothers me when a player who makes a great play points to Heaven, as if God cares who wins the games and helped him score that touchdown or whatever!!!!