It’s midnight Chez Garter and even the cat thinks I should be in bed (he’ll be changing his tune in just five hours, sadly). I can’t say I’m wide awake; it’s more that I’m going crosseyed over a pattern from the 1890s and singing the new crochet anthem.

I have a wary relationship with crochet. Mostly I pretend it doesn’t exist. I comprehend it enough to work a chain of stitches along the edge of something I’ve knitted, just to tidy it up. But the most technical I’ve gotten with the hook thus far was for the ear flap ties of the Trapper Hat last winter. Chain n stitches? Sure thing. But “1 single crochet on treble stitch of last round, 3 chain, 2 treble in same place as the single crochet is worked into, miss one treble stitch of last round, and repeat”? That’s Martian talk.

But we like to remain undaunted here at Blue Garter. There was a time, after all, when I didn’t know how to make an increase without leaving a hole, nor how to pair slanted decreases. So I resorted to my usual line of attack: I surfed the mighty internet, found some instructions, and puzzled out treble crochet. It took me several repetitions to figure out what I was doing structurally, but pretty soon I was hooking like a pro. And hey, the results are worth the rapidly diminishing eyesight! All those perfect little square holes to run my ribbon through – that’s a useful addition to the bag o’ tricks. (Don’t ask me to perform double crochet, though.)

Monday morning: Sorry, guys. Pictures and pattern to come soon – a power outage knocked out the computer during the night and I haven’t been able to resurrect the internet connection, so I can’t upload photos of my rockin’ crochet edging just yet. Tech Chief Mr. Garter isn’t home until Thursday night, so I’m blogging from the library. Let’s have three cheers for your friendly neighborhood socialist organization, eh? Anyway, the pictures are going to be awfully cute, so stay tuned.