Collecting Crochet Hooks? Huh?

You may say that collecting crochet hooks seems like an odd thing to do, and I will say that you are right BUT...

I crochet practically everywhere I go--traveling, meetings, home, watching TV, visiting with friends--pretty much any time I have a few minutes and I want to be productive. Since I crochet so much, People are always starting conversations about crocheting. some of the most popular comments are:

"I wish I could knit like that."
I reply, "I have tried knitting and I didn't like it. This is crocheting."

"I've never seen anyone use such large hooks before."
I reply, "I use large hooks for bulkier yarns. Sometimes I like to crochet with
two or more threads and a larger hook manages it better. Sometimes the yarn
I select is not as soft as I would like for it to be. If I use a larger hook
the finished product is looser and softer. Sometimes I just want to get finished
with a project quickly, and a larger hook covers a lot more territory quickly."

"That's nice, but I don't like blankets with all those holes. I like something solid
and warm"
"I know what you mean, but with crochet, if you make it solid, it ends up being
so heavy that you can hardly lift it."

"Do you ever sell what you make?"
"I am happy to sell what I make when I find a buyer. Most people are not
interested in paying for the cost of the materials invested in a project
when they can go to WalMart and buy a blanket, throw or scarf for a fraction of
the price."

Israel

"Can you teach me to do that"
"Yes, I have taught a number of people to crochet, but it is like anything
else, you have to practice to get good at it. Most people make the mistake
of starting a project that is too big and they never get it finished."

Taiwan

If I have the time, while I am sitting with people, I will teach them to crochet. I can't tell you how many crochet hooks and little balls of yarn I have given away. I keep all my crochet hooks in a little pencil bag. I bought this one in Israel.

My friend, Freddie, bought this one for me in Taiwan. She went to Taiwan to help our Associate Pastor's family when they went to pick up their adopted son.

This is the contents of my bags--metal and plastic hooks, scissors and a tape measure.

And now to the subject of this blog.

I taught a crochet class at my church. I asked several of my stitching friends to come and be in class tutors. I wanted every student to have an instructor that could help them quickly. I knew I could not be everywhere at once, and I did not want the students to get frustrated. As I was giving the history of crochet, I mentioned that I had never seen any antique crochet hooks, but it might be a fun thing to look for. Wouldn't it be interesting to find one made out of bone or ivory? Although, I have seen some beautiful new handmade hooks.

My friend, Virginia, found an antique wooden hook--over a hundred years old. She also found a handmade one--made out of honey locust wood. She gave them to me for Christmas. I was so surprised and delighted. It was a very thoughtful gift. I am sure it is the beginning of a treasure hunt. Park Ranger will be so excited when I want to stop at every antique store in Texas looking for crochet hooks. Oh well, he'll get over it. At least they don't take up much room in the car or in the house.

Until we meet again.

KayKay

Hill Country Lights

We visited Park Ranger's parents in Fredericksburg on Christmas Day, and one of our activities was to see the Christmas lights in Johnson City. Johnson City was not known for it's lights when I lived there, but it is known for that now and deservedly so. We saw the Blanco County Courthouse. It was completely draped in white lights. They had horse drawn carriages giving people tours of the displays.

After the Courthouse, we went to see Dexter Haynes' display north of town. I'll have to admit that Dexter's display was quite impressive also.

And then to top off the evening, we saw the trees at the Pedernales Electric Cooperative. Every trunk of the old live oak trees were completely wrapped in white lights as well as lights in the leaves of the trees. It was quite a winter wonderland and something one should see if in the area during the holidays.

My Adventure

Park Ranger took me on an adventure today.  He took me to the Grand Canyon.  We visited the Grand Canyon about 23 years ago; although, things were a lot different then.

Twenty three years ago we visited the Grand Canyon on the way to California.  Park Ranger was working on his doctorate at Fuller Theological Seminary, and he decided to take the whole family for one of his sessions.  The whole family consisted of Park Ranger, myself, Josh (age 5) and Katie (age 2). 

We bought a used pop up camper, hooked it up to our full sized van and took off.  Of course, Park Ranger had parks for us to stop at all along the way.  It was April, and April in Texas is pretty warm.  April in Northern Arizona, Utah, and Nevada are not so warm, so right off the bat, I packed the wrong kind of clothes. We ended up buying a round of sweatshirts for the entire family at several of the parks so that we would have enough clean clothes to keep everybody warm.

Visiting the National Parks in April is completely different than visiting in the summer.  In April, the parks are filled with retired people, couples, as well as families with small children.  On this particular trip, it seemed like we were the only people traveling in the parks with small children.  We had a blast every place we went.  The kids were great.  We tried to visit parks in the morning, then we would have lunch, load up and get on the road just in time for the kids to go down for naps.  We would get to the next park, set up the camper, check things out, have supper, play, go to bed.  That was the routine all the way to California.  That trip is a warm memory in my mind.

This trip, we were watching the families with small children and WE were the "old" people.  I kept remembering Josh running around and talking nonstop in that high little voice that he used to have and Katie just toddling around.  In fact, Katie was about the same age that TJ is now. 

We have always wanted to spend time in the parks and see some of the sights without the time, physical and age restrictions that we have had in the past. 

Several years ago, when I was going through the process of being approved for bariatric surgery, one of the things I was asked was, "What do you see yourself doing when you are 100 pounds lighter that you can't do now?"  I answered, "hiking with my husband in the parks."  That became a reality this trip. 

On the way to the canyon, I looked over the different trails, what we would see, how difficult they were and how long was the hike.  I selected one and told Tom of my selection--he agreed with my selection.  We took the shuttle to the trailhead and began our descent.  The descent was exhilarating.  It felt so good to be able to move down that trail.  We got to the overlook in 30 minutes. 

The overlook was breathtaking.  We sat on the rocks and enjoyed the view and had a snack of dried apples, peanuts and G2 Gatorade.  The ascent was totally different. We would climb until we were both so out of breath that we couldn't go any further, then we would rest for a couple of minutes.  We did that over and over again until we finally made it to the top, an hour and a half later.

You will never know the feeling of triumph that I felt completing that hike. I told Park Ranger that this was our maiden voyage, and it was successful.  It was so successful that were even able to walk to the restaurant for our dinner that was down the street from our hotel.  It may not sound like a big deal, but if you have been in my shoes, then you will know how excited we were.  SCORE!!!

Gonzales?

Gonzales?  Gonzales, who?  Not Gonzales who--Gonzales what.  Gonzales, Texas--the city.  Gonzales, TX--why?  I visited Gonzales, TX.  The park ranger I live with insisted that we visit Gonzales on our way to a ministry engagement in Victoria, TX.  Anyone that knows Park Ranger knows that if there is anything historic, scenic, notorious or just plain interesting on the way, Park Ranger will make a point of seeing it.  Gonzales was such a place.  Most of the places that Park Ranger selects to see are pretty interesting.  Gonzales was no exception.

Gonzales was actually the place where the Texas revolution started.  It is known as the Lexington of Texas.  (Lexington is known as the place where the 'shot was heard around the world'--the first shot of the US revolution.)  Shots were exchanged in a skirmish over a small cannon that the Texas settlers had been given from the Mexican government.  They were given the cannon to protect themselves from Indian raids, but when Santa Anna came into power, he decided that the Texans didn't have any business having a cannon.  He decided to take it back.  The women were commissioned to make a flag for the Texans.  They chose to make the flag out of their wedding dresses and embroidered and painted the image of the cannon with the words "Come and get it".  Sam Houston actually put out the call to join the Texas militia from the shade of this huge live oak tree.

Gonzales had a beautiful courthouse and downtown area. Beside the courthouse is the jail, which is also the town's visitor's center.  One can get all kinds of information about the town at the visitor's center including the historic places to see as well as a directory of bed and breakfast establishments.  After getting all the information one would want, visitors can take a tour of the jail.  What a creepy surprise.  The jail was complete with gallows and noose.  My daughter decided to check out the noose, and when she did, all my mother's caution went haywire.  I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Courthouse

     

CreepinessPark Ranger

Well, so much for the historical part of the visit, but for me the most memorable part of the trip was seeing all of the old homes in the town.  Many of them are private homes, but some are bed and breakfasts.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.  Pictured at the end is an old Mobil gas station that looks exactly like the ones that used to be.  Also is the stage stop and the cannon are pictured,.

Park Ranger came through again.  Gonzales is a great place to visit.  Small Town, TX, USA