Indoor hobbies

In February I'm usually busy puttering around outside, but not this year. So back to the winter indoor hobbies, like bird watching.  It was interesting how the birds all disappeared during the snow, except for jays coming for suet.  Now the juncos, white-crowned sparrows, finches and chickadees are suddenly here, even a flock of robins yesterday, a happy sight, considering this un-spring-like weather.  They must find worms in the yard, ditto the moles, who had a grand old time digging fresh mounds under the snow. 

We didn't get any new snow from this latest system, just cold, miserable rain and temperatures at least 10 degrees below normal.  Forty degrees might not sound cold to you, but it's real rheumatism weather here, and distinctly unpleasant outside when it's so damp and grey.  We'll be in this dreary weather pattern for at least another week.

I always have cooking and housework to keep me busy, blah blah blah, although that gets boring. And I've been too restless for the things I should be practicing, like my ukulele.  The Ukes haven't met for nearly a month and I lack motivation. Plus, playing alone isn't that much fun.

I pulled out some old crochet projects, like this giant practice granny square I've been working on forever. You can just keep going round and round obsessively on a granny square, and it will eventually become a rather garish square blanket.

I was wandering around Joanne's Craft Store this week, which gave me the urge to crochet something more useful.  I bought another beginner crochet book for inspiration to add to my stack at home. The first project in the book was a cotton washcloth.  Single crochet, what could be easier, a child could do it.

Then working in the stripes correctly gave me fits, and I blamed the poor instructions, of course, instead of my ability to decipher the poor instructions. I finally got it sorted out and need more plain cotton yarn.  They don't sell anything that ordinary at our local fancy kitting store.

I like Hobby Lobby better than Joanne's, because I never have their coupons and feel ripped off.  I didn't even know we had a Hobby Lobby in Seattle until my friend Nancy told me about it. It's way up on Aurora Avenue, but I can zip there easily via our fancy new tunnel, still toll free.