Learning to crochet

Teehee Small feat of marvel in the battle of "I don't know how to crochet". Taadaa wonky, out of shape, my tension sucks so they are all a different size, Granny squares. I'm so proud of myself. :)
I can't say I know how to crochet, but I can say, I know how to knockout a few albeit wonky Granny squares now.
I followed the best Granny Square tutorial videos and instructions over at Meet me at Mikes. I don't know if I will do a Granny square a day, but Pip's Granny Square School is awesome! Make sure when you use the you tube based tutorials, go watch them on You Tube, as there are extra written instructions on the You tube pages for each one.

While learning this and swapping between 4 colours, I was constantly battling to keep the wool near me (i swear it has legs), off the carpet and untangled. I started googling for Yarn or wool holders. I was envisioning some kind of paper towel roll holder type scenario. Instead I saw all sorts of clay contraptions. I decided I could do better. I saw the 4 Glass jars I had bought from Woolworths about 10 years ago.

I used to keep pasta and rice in them in the kitchen, but now I have fake tupperware with flip top lids (the cork lids of the glass jars didn't seal airtight like plastic does) So, they had been sitting empty for quite I while and now they are repurposed!
I drilled a hole in the top of the cork lid, cut to length a straw (4 pieces a bit deeper than the cork lid plus a little extra) The straws I used were those thicker, wider clear plastic Subway enormous drink straws, because the regular drinking straws I had here were too thin to pass the wool through. I can't remember the size drill bit I used, I just held them up the the straws to see which one was similar. The straw pokes into the hole in the cork lid to allow the wool to move smoothly through without wearing down the cork.
I put the wool in, used a crochet hook to pull through the wool into the straw and out the top. I then got my husband to jam the cork lid down hard so it couldn't slip off when I tugged the wool. They work perfectly! The glass jars are heavy and stop movement and even when I tug a bit on the wool or it jams because of tangles inside the ball of wool, (I swear this stuff tangles inside the ball more than any other wool I've ever used before do they do something different now?) the lids stay on and the jar stays put.

And now, on this rainy day weekend, back to filling my beautiful shelves and organising my sewing room.