What Next?

When it comes to crafting, many beginner projects are geared for girls (at least I've had a hard time finding EASY projects for the guys).

Having conquered the very basics of knitting, my wee one has got it into his head that he must learn to crochet (secretly I think he wants to make a pile of amigurumi friends).  So we fiddled with hooks and yarn.  After much trial and error, he finally mastered chaining. And he chained and chained and chained . . . well, we had lots of chains!

So we took three of those chains, braided them and made some lovely bookmarks.

Crocheted Bookmarks

Bookmark Detail

Not bad for a beginner crochet project, eh?  Now here's the kicker: what next?!  We tried working on the single crochet stitch, but he's not quite got the hang of it.  It's challenging if you haven't learned how to "read" your stitches.  

I found a beginner crochet booklet from Leisure Arts with good how-to photos.  We also checked out various videos over at YouTube.

Beginner Crochet Book

But as you can surmise from the cover above, many beginner projects are geared for girls: scrunchies, headbands, flowers . . . **sigh**  I suppose he could make a scarf, but that can get boring for an 8 year old (seeing as scarves can go on forever and ever and ever . . . 'nuff said).  I'm looking for small, quick items. 

The book did have a project that might be doable: a key-chain/backpack decoration that could be "boyish" with the appropriate colours (yeah, that stuff matters to 8 year olds).

Keychain or Backpack Decoration

If you've got some better ideas, please pass on the links, author, book title (whatever) . . . need a little help to keep my son's interest going.