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So... you want to crochet? Ready for a love/hate relationship?
For the past 30 years, I have screamed at my projects, torn out yarn like I was disemboweling the enemy, felt a fascinating satisfaction over a completed pattern, known the joy of giving the perfect baby shower gift (that I made *happy sigh*), or even started a pattern project to get frustrated or bored with it only to pick it up, literally, 10 years later to finish it. You don't think that sounds like you? Just wait!
A little background about myself, I have an unusual brain! Think of a rapidly firing hyped up squirrel running around to find its next nut! The doctors tried to label me as ADHD as a child but my mom wanted to find other ways to occupy my ever-ready go go go.
That's one part of my brain. The other part is I have synaesthesia. Just a fancy schmancy word for my brain remembers days, times, years, and numbers is a very spatially visual world. If someone says, what happened on January 27, 1997, I can tell you from memory what day it fell on and what I was doing that day. My life can be looked at backwards as if it is a movie playing. I can see everyday and every aspect in a weird-like timeline. I love it and it confuses a lot of people but it's just how my brain works. I'm off on a #squirrel moment.. back to the topic.
My grandmother put a hook and yarn in my hands and said, "Have at it". Time to calm me. I think she was at her whits end, grasping at straws and grabbed a skein of yarn and a crochet hook. She couldn't perceive how this was to be a lifelong love affair with hooking. No pun intended!
This blog post has one (or many points to make) so keeping reading because I want to ease that frustration before it takes over you and you throw in the towel just when you are beginning your own crocheting or knitting journey. #wearentquitters
Now, to the "knitty" gritty: what I wish my grandmother (or other skilled and experienced crocheters) would have taught me.
Pick the Right Yarn
There's nothing more frustrating in my crocheting zen-land than to work with a cheap yarn or a yarn that doesn't fit the project. I made a baby layette with worsted-weight yarn instead of sport-weight. I was about to finish the project and an adult coworker was able to put it on. Hmm.. did you read my first paragraph about the disemboweling? Hours and hours of crochet work and I had to rip it out. This was all before YouTube and online community groups could help out this poor little fledgling. So the one thing I want to emphasize: buy the right yarn. If you are following a pattern, make sure it is the right weight. Trust me, there are many! Also, not all acrylics or wool-blends are alike. Check ratings. Feel it in your hands. There are some yarns that I love the feel of how it runs over my hands while working the repetitious in and out.. back and forth. If you want a project to last through wear and tear, then pick a high quality yarn. You won't regret it.
Put the hook in your hand and see which hold style works best for you
My grandmother taught me how she knew how to hold a hook: like a writing utensil. That's how I learned. It's awkward for me to hold it like knitting needles but sometimes I do because I tend to crochet loosely and if I want it a little tighter or am working with thread yarn, then I hold it like a knitter holds their needles. Get the feel of the movement in your hand. Trust me, there are haters for each way you want to hold your hook. Just do what feels best in your hands. #hatersgonnahate
Over a short period of time, you will have enough extra yarn to open your own store
No joke! Over the years, I have accumulated tons of yarn. I'm not feeling guilty about it at all either. I have no shame. My closet is full in the top. I have a designated place in the garage for more yarn. In my den, I have yarn for the projects I am currently working on. My husband says I should open my own store. Don't tempt me, I just might!
You will start and stop many projects
This is so notoriously ME! My intentions are great but my follow-through is lacking. I start with great gusto only to get tired with it or my attention span sees another project and my gusto ramps up again. I put project number one away to start project number two. After awhile, I peter out until some other uh-mazing pattern or idea catches my eye. Project number two sadly gets put away in the abyss of unfinished heaps of my great intentions. It's an endless cycle and I'm afraid you will experience this too! Just sayin...
It's hard to crochet while watching TV and really having to pay attention
I remember when I started Season Two of Game of Thrones and I also started a new crochet project, when the episode ended, I couldn't tell you anything about it. I was knee deep in my crochet and counting stitches that the Game of Thrones plot was all a foggy haze. I started the episode again and "up" went my crochet hook and hands started flying. Eyes glued to my work. Next thing I know, the end credits are rolling. I missed it again! I still haven't finished the episode and that was years ago. You think that won't happen to you? Just wait! Thank goodness for Netflix!
There are many ways to read a pattern: written, graph, or video
We all learn differently. Some are visual learners while others are hands-on learners. For me, I like all three. Sometimes a 2D picture just doesn't cut it or the written form is lost in translation. A video is perfect for the project. Or vise versa for all three. Follow what works best for you. I have posted a video on how to read a graph for crocheting. Once you get it, you really "get it". Find your niche and go with it!
Your hands will cramp
I am a sign language interpreter and a lover of crochet. Put these two together and my hands and wrists have been put through the ringer. Fingers go numb. Fingers cramp. Be prepared for this aspect of crocheting. About 10 years in to crocheting and I couldn't take it anymore. I got a wrist brace and haven't looked back sense. So, now that you want to crochet, buy a wrist brace to save your hands in the long run.
There are days when all you want to do is get back to your project
You're hyper-focused on a project. You keep checking the time because you have an appointment to be somewhere but all you want to do is stay home and crochet. You wait til the last minute to leave. You forgot to brush your hair. Oh well. I get it. I lose track of time. When I'm out with a group, sometimes, I want to be in my pajamas with a glass of wine while working on my crochet or knitting. One day, if you haven't already, you will understand!
It can be an obsession
The addiction is real. You'll become great friends with Pinterest. Crocheting videos. Subscribe to several crochet magazines (do people still read magazines?). Join crocheting groups. Scroll for hours in Instagram looking for the most amazing patterns. Yeah.. crochet is your life! Just make sure you balance it with normal life. Read books. Watch movies. Meet friends for dinner. Play outside. Put your project down. It'll be ok. It's nice to take a break from it, even for a few hours, or even days! Discover your hygge and relax!
You will make mistakes and have to rip out an entire project that you put hours in to only to roll it back up (while crying)
You read a pattern wrong or skip a stitch that makes your whole project wonky. Not too long ago, I was working on a Tunisian crochet baby sack. I was almost done when I looked at one of the beginning rows. There was a loop I wasn't aware was there before. I tugged at it. The entire row began to unravel. I could feel my blood pressure bubbling. I missed a stitch. It messed up the entire baby sack. All the hours and days that I worked and all of it went up in smoke. I had to trash the entire project. In the 30 years I have crocheted, I have ripped out about 50% of things I was working on. #lessonlearned
Once people know you can crochet, be ready for people asking for freebies
Once someone knows that you can crochet, they will be asking for freebies. Most people mean well but they may not realize all the work that goes in to a project. Set your crafty boundaries. Learn to say no. Barter. Negotiate. You don't have to be a people pleaser. They will appreciate your crafty project.You may want to crochet for the world. That's awesome! Just know that you've been warned. It's ok to say no.
Counting is important
Ease your mind. Keep your crocheting projects. If you don't count, then there will be heaps of crocheting projects in piles ready for the dump. I have experienced wavey edges over the past 30 years. To avoid the "I'm gonna quit" temper tantrum, the best thing is to count your stitches.
There are crocheting groups out there
Find like-minded groups to cry your woes to! Not really! There are groups out there to bounce ideas, help with stitches, or just understand your crochet world. They are awesome as a great networking community in your own town. Connect with others. Get a coffee. Honestly, they are fun!
Crocheting is calming and sometimes completely mind-numbing and boring
This is my favorite thing about crocheting. The feel of the yarn through my fingers. The back and forth and endless feel of a pattern. To others, this is boring, but to me, it is a passionate relationship with the pattern and my yarn. It's what keeps me going. It's the love/hate aspect of crocheting. You will either appreciate it or not. For me, I am on cloud 9.
Last but certainly not least, the satisfaction of completing a crochet project, knowing it started from a skein of yarn to a stunning finished masterpiece.
No amount of my favorite chocolate can compare to that amazingness! To look back over the hours and hours of your project, finding your happy place, staying-in and finding your hygge, having your project for years to come, always with that happy memory of creating something beautiful!
I bow down to you! You are with me in this amazing journey. You go this. Way to go. Need encouragement, let me know. I've been there and can't wait to lend that "You Go" moment. We all need it here and there.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW!
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