Mar 9, 2011

How I Learned to Love Crochet

...or, Why You Should Give Crochet Another Chance, by Joy Campbell

When I was little, my mom used to crochet. And it looked SO HARD. I thought it was magical that she could fling around a hook and some string and produce something I could wear.
I wanted to learn this magic, being all of about 5 years old. Impossible, but she tried.
I held my hook like a butter knife, my yarn tight in my little fist; my chain looked more like a spaghetti disaster than a neat little braid, and once I finally figured out how to build back onto my chain, my stitches were so tight that I couldn't actually do it.
So I quit, thoroughly frustrated, convinced that crochet was Just Too Hard.

Does this sound familiar?

Years later, my stout-hearted friend Sarah took another crack at teaching me. This time around, having spent almost 30 years developing my fine motor skills (and patience), lessons went considerably better. Within days, I'd made two hats and a scarf; within weeks, started designing my own patterns; and within months, I was creating custom wearables for my friends.

Crochet is sculpting with fiber. It's about creating, accomplishment, patience, and skill building. It may not be easy, bur the concepts are simple.

YOU CAN LEARN, and I can teach you.
(skelectica@gmail)