About Crochet

I used to think I wasn’t creative. Until I discovered crocheting.

I’ve always loved crafts, and making things with my hands, even if it was just Legos, or friendship bracelets at summer camp. But I never found my passion until I discovered crocheting.

I wish I had discovered it earlier. My mom’s friend taught her the basics, which she then taught to me. I made just a simple pot holder using one type of stitch, but I was in love! I took the basics my mom had taught me as a jumping off point. I used the internet, books, and my local yarn shop to learn how to read crochet patterns. Then all of the sudden I could make anything! It was such a powerful feeling to take yarn, a crochet hook, and a pair of scissors and make anything I could think of. Hats, scarves, blankets, mittens, little toys and dolls. My favorite part is finding a new pattern and learning how to take a combination of ordinary crochet stitches and turn it into a beautiful design, or pattern. Even though I used to think I wasn’t creative, I’ve started dabbling into making my own patterns and designs. It’s a really gratifying feeling.

Crocheting hasn’t just brought me closer to my own inner sense of creativity and accomplishment, it’s brought me closer to my family and the community.

My best friend's mother directed me to a charity at my local hospital. They take donated crocheted white blankets and give them to families at the hospital who have lost their new born babies. I think a lot of the time the babies are buried with the blankets. I can’t think of anything more heartbreaking than losing your brand new little angel. As I crocheted those blankets I tried to use unique new patterns, and finish them with love so each unique little baby would have something of their own to take with them.

My grandfather, who had a stroke 8 years ago, asked me to crochet him a poncho. Well, I made a mistake and used extremely heavy, thick yarn. It was too heavy for him to use as a poncho. But he used it as a blanket, and took it everywhere with him, and used it every night. I don’t live close to him, and it has been hard for him to communicate since he had his stroke. But I loved knowing that he loved that blanket, and used it every day, knowing it was from me. I hoped he would feel the hug I wanted to give him and the love I was sending him.

He was so proud of me for that blanket that he sent me soft, beautiful cashmere yarn. I normally crochet things for others, and hardly ever for myself. But I decided to take this beautiful yarn and crochet something for me. I’m glad I did, because in the middle of my complicated, time consuming crochet project, with very fine, small, and easily tangled yarn, my grandpa passed away. It was a tragedy to lose him unexpectedly. But now every time I work on my cashmere scarf, I think of him. And I know when it’s finished every time I wear it I will think of him too.

Crocheting has changed my life, and I hope my love of crochet has changed other peoples lives too. It helps me calm down and gets me excited, it allows me to express my creativity, but still lets me be my normal logical self by counting rows and following patterns, and it helps me connect with the important people in my life, and hopefully helps the parents who’ve lost their little ones be comforted in their grief. It helps me feel close to my grandpa, even though he's gone. I get to be creative for the first time in my life j j. Crocheting has meant more to me than I ever thought it would when I made my first pot holder using just a double crochet stitch. Now it means the world to me.