Crocheting and Reading

Crocheting:

I finally finished my orange crocheted pillow this past weekend. The crocheting was the easy part, sewing the fabric was a lot more time consuming. 

For the crocheted part I used a size L hook, since my yarn was bulky, and a half double crochet (hdc) for the entire pillow. It is very simple, but gives it a little more texture than a single crochet.

If you've seen my weekly crochet projects before you know I try to only use plastic crochet hooks. My favorite hooks are from Boye. 

I got this same set several years ago at Michaels. It was on clearance for about $2.00. I am not sure why it was on clearance, but I was thrilled. I use these hooks all of the time. I love them! :)

Once I finished my crocheted piece, I searched through my stash to see if I had anything that would work as a backing. I wanted enough fabric to not only cover the back but under the crocheted piece too, since you could see the union jack peeking out through the holes. I found a piece of orange fleece just big enough to cover the entire pillow. Lucky me! I then pinned the crocheted piece to the fabric and whip stitched the pieces together. It wasn't a difficult process, but very time consuming. 

I completed the entire sewing process in a couple of hours, while watching a marathon of Bar Rescue. Have you seen that show? It is wild! 

Now I have my first Halloween decoration ready, my little orange crocheted pillow. I need to get into the attic this weekend for the rest of my decorations. Fall is in the air!

Reading:

I didn't get in too much reading this weekend, but yesterday I started to get ready for this year's NaNoWriMo by reading First Draft in 30 Days, by Karen Wiesner. I actually read the first several chapters last year, but don't remember anything about them. So, I am going to start from scratch all over again.

NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writer's Month, takes place the entire month of November. The goal is to write a novel in a month. Yes! It really is as hard as it sounds. :) I tried last year and didn't make it past the second chapter, but this month I am in it to win it.

Throughout the entire month of October, libraries are offering pre-NaNoWriMo workshops and classes to get writer's ready for the big day. I'm really excited that my local libraries are taking part too, not only in the pre-NaNo workshops but also in write-ins throughout the month of November. Not too much crafting will be taking place for me in November, which is why I am trying to get in as much as I can now. I'm just not sure how my crafty Christmas presents are going to fare!

Linking to Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday.