rockin' the crochet

my family is always bringing home rocks.   really, we started carrying bags with us to pack them in.   it's that bad.    my husband usually brings home boulders when he brings home rocks but that's neither here nor there.   

i gotta share the story of my oldest who is my biggest collector.   i went for a walk with him, then almost 5, and my then months old tomboy princess.   he found a rock that he absolutely NEEDED to have.   i already had several smaller (fist size +/-) ones in the bottom of the stroller and a few little ones in my pockets.   i admit, we were both contributing to the collection.   but this rock was huge!   bigger than his head!   summer, hot, end of walk and 2 blocks from home, i don't want to carry the dang thing and i'm afraid that it will rip out the bottom of the stroller.   really, it's huge!   so i told him he could have it if he carried it.   (i'm such a smart mommy.)   he did!   i figured he would struggle with it for a few feet and give up.  nope!   he got a hold of it, (ok, i helped him with that.  i didn't have a problem with him taking it, i just didn't want to carry it.  i didn't want him to hurt himself either though), and he walked it all the way home!   he didn't even struggle much with it .   it did have to stay outside, but it went home with us.   we moved later, but the rock sits at grandma's house to this day.   

back to the point- what to do with all of these rocks.   i saw a pin from little owl arts where they had been crocheting around rocks and i figured it was worth a try.    let me say that i'm not great with knitting or crocheting.   i love to do it, but that doesn't make me good at it.   

on with the experiment!   i tried some thin yarn that i had an it was still just too thick.   then i found some twine outside in the garden shed.   nice!   works perfect.   good thing the neighbor didn't want to tie up veggies this year.  (his twine, yes i asked)

the first one, round white rock, did not turn out how i imagined it.   in fact, its ends are where the middle is supposed to be and vice versa.   stink weed!   good thing i don't do patterns, and make things up as i go along.   this called for a lot of improvising.    learned to make a stable circle and then fit it to the rock.   

it worked better for the second, round orange one.   i played with the string of this one two.   evidently, i did a half double crochet but did it in the top of the one before to make the chain for the necklace.   i just looked it up at dictionary of knitting and crochet abbreviations .    who knew?  * wouldn't a "half double" be a single, evidently not.    i didn't name it, i just used it.*   anyway,   turned out more what i was thinking but i'd like to see the rock more.   still working on it.  

 the third one, the triangle, is actually a piece of a pottery that we found at the river.   this was a special order for my daughter.   i did half a circle with half double crochet and then just used that stitch to go around.   it's also what i used to make the chain but i used two wide this time.   imagine what i could do if i learned another stitch!   

my kids pick up rocks everywhere so i'm thinking rock garlands, necklaces, rings and bracelets.   oh the possibilities.   wheeeee!