1. Start

I have come to realize that my crochet dreads did not seem to be the best of choices. Just a little misfortune to find this site after having the crochet dreads installed. Don't get me wrong; I love the dreads I'm having now, but during my dread search I wasn't able to find a way to let the dread develop the way I encounter here: the - lovingly - neglect way.

So now I have arrived, I have thrown overboard the crochet needle. Funny enough, somewhere on this site I saw a bent crochet needle, accompanied with laughter and a serious warning. Well, I had to straighten the needle several times a session the last two weeks. But, that's in the past now.

I'm new to this site and haven't by far explored the blogs, forums and advises, but I feel that starting right from the beginning might provide a guide for others who will visit this site in the future and stumble across me, having overcome problems the past few years. I'm sure I'm not the first and only one starting the crochet-neglect conversion, and will refer to predecessors on this site when I find them.

I like to run tests on myself, checking if the statements made by others apply to me. Usually they don't. I have found out and have come to the realization that I have to undergo situations myself. My current project is using my hand for a whole year when eating - I'm a leftie - just to convey that if one wants to change a well worn habit, all one has to do, is change the mind and chose the opposite. I do this for a friend, stubbornly stating not being able to use the right hand when eating, even though religion dictates. I'm not religious (at all) and I'm not only doing this to bring a point across, I cannot change ones mind when the other doesn't want to, but for me it's a great lesson too: I used to state I wasn't able to use my right hand, I even have a banjo for lefties. So to prove myself I can apply my own statement to myself, my cutlery has switched hands for three months now, nine more to go. Doing this makes me realize I have checked my thinking regularly over the past few years, whether my state of mind is maturing. After all, my today's truth is tomorrow's lie; they are merely a state of mind with an expiry date.

I have digressed... Back to the dreads.
So my plan is to let the hair grow, without further nurturing the dreads I have now and watch the results of my actions unfold. My current idea is that if I would have had neglects, the new outgrow will dread itself eventually over time, so why not when wearing crochet dreads? The principle seems to be the same.

I was so over the moon with these dreadies - and still am - I suggested my sweetheart to swap from colorful extension dreads to the real deal. She replied with a big no no, stating it took too much effort to maintain them. Now having found the neglect way, she might change her mind, she looks great wearing dreads.

When cruising this site I have come across many pictures of forests. I'm a seafarer myself for over thirty years now and would like to post one or two special ocean views. Hope you don't mind. Funny thing is that I feel like a landlubber who accidentally became a sailor; I love the smell of the forest's soil when I get back in my home town and go out walking the dogs. Or when I overview the slopes and my mind floods with emotions. And love. This is something the ocean can not provide. On the other hand, at sea I have experienced the craziest situations, which a non-mariner may have great difficulty in comprehending. Digressing again. Oh well, I don't mind, and this is my blog after all.

What's this "Dreads Online" and "Knotty Chat"? Doesn't seem to be working. It looks as if my sentences vanish into space.

So here's my from-crochet-to-neglect project/adventure.