Hopefully that title got all the whining out of my system for a while.

So in naive anticipation of cold weather, I’ve returned to the manly art of crochet. I’ve decided to start off this year’s projects with another scarf, partly because of my limited skill, but mostly because I like scarves. A big part of that is probably because I can only wear them comfortably when it’s genuinely cold, and I suspect I only really like the cold weather because where I live Summer lasts for eight solid months.

I understand that in many parts of the northern hemisphere they’re already having Autumn by mid-October. Here I’m wearing a t-shirt & boxers at half-past ten at night with the windows open and several fans and the cooler running and I’m still drenched in sweat. Damn, now I’m whining again.

I don’t remember now why I first decided to learn crochet, although it wouldn’t surprise me if it were specifically to make my own scarves. (I never had one that felt long enough until I started making my own.) I do know why I’ve kept at it though, and that’s the simple joy of making stuff. To me it doesn’t seem to matter much what I’m making or how I’m making it. Wood, clay, paper, yarn, metal, all I need to do is be making something on my own terms and I’m generally pretty content. Shame I’m not better at it, really.

Crochet has a meditative quality to it, once you get going it doesn’t really take a lot of attention and your mind can wander. There’s something very soothing about that. I’ve taken to listening to podcasts, audiobooks, or radio plays while I work, but sometimes I’ll just let my mind drift. Imagination is a wonderful thing, and I’ve come up with some neat ideas that I hope I can use in some way. At lease one of these would make an excellent series of stories if I could just work out how to turn a setting and premise into a story. I’m told this involves some mystical thing called an “outline”, the making of which probably involves secret techniques only known by ancient monks hidden on distant mountaintops. If I’m going to seek them out, I guess I’ll need a warm scarf.