In the beginning, there was crochet

I figure it's time for another crochet-related post.  In case you were wondering,

How did I get back into crochet?  Stephanie's friend Namoli Brennet, who is an extremely talented, award-winning singer songwriter, hosted a "Stitch 'n' Bitch" Monday nights at a local coffee shop.  Stephanie wanted to participate but didn't know how to crochet, so I said I'd go with her and teach her.  In the process of teaching her, I realized, "hey, this is pretty fun," so I kept going.

The last time I crocheted anything, it was a rainbow scarf (which I still have) when I was a teenager.  I had to get "Crocheting for Dummies" to get me back up to speed again, but now I know my stitches again and have been branching out in a couple directions.  At some point I need to pick up again with Tucson Stitch Together and find out if they are still meeting.

My current crochet projects:

• Finish an oval teal/green/red rug crocheted from strips of t-shirts
  
• Keep going on a rectangular red/black/white rug crocheted from strips of sheets and pillowcases (this one will look really cool when done).  I've had a little trouble though finding more scrap sheets of the right colors.  Plus yanking the cotton strips through little loops is a little hard on the hands, so I can only do so much at one time.
  
• A brown/red streak scarf for Dylan

Why have I not been crocheting as much?  I've been experimenting with a few other crafts such as making fabric bowls and a quilt block.  I just like to make things so I like to try making new and different kinds of things to see what really fires my jets.  I made a kayak dolly out of a baby stroller too but that is a whole different story.

Have I ever made money from crochet?  Surprisingly, yes.  I crocheted a few stuffed animals to sell at a small store some employees were running at work for charity.  Almost all of them sold and I got a few bucks for each and the charity got a few dollars too.  The only one that didn't sell was a pink bunny with multi-colored ears.  Guess there was a glut on the market for those.

What's next for Michelle and crochet?  I'm looking forward to making something, not sure what yet, out of some wool my friend Chris spun himself.  And I found the perfect yarn for a lion's mane at a Goodwill, so maybe a few amigurumi animals are next too.