I have a new word to say: crochet. Crochet is a noun, and also a verb.^1 Crochet is my new obsession.
When it comes to fiber crafts, I consider myself a novice. During my childhood, my girlfriends and I would constantly make those cute knotted bracelets. I had quite the stash of embroidery floss. (In fact, I still have a lot of that floss.) Were those cool friendship bracelets considered crochet?
When I was a tween, (before they were called "tweens") I remember one of my mom's friends cast some bubble gum pink yarn onto a huge hook and taught me how to crochet a square. She didn't teach me how to change yarns, start a project, or to stop. Perhaps that's why I had a single, gawdy square of bright pink yarn stuff sticking around my room for such a long while, but no further projects.
Then, finally, after college, I started a knitting circle at my place of work, which also happened to be my place of residence. (It also happened to be a prestigious women's college in western Mass.) Things went well for a little while, but before long it fell apart. Maybe it was my poor knitting skills, maybe it was their busy student schedules, or maybe the chemistry just wasn't right. But it was in that group that I first saw the potential of crochet. One member of the circle participated with a single hook & vibrant yarn and by the end of the session had a cute little project nearly completed!
My interest in crochet was reignited just a little while ago when I heard an awesome podcast by Sister Diane of Craftypod. Her podcast is about beautiful, handcrafted hats crocheted by Afya Ibomu of Nattral.com. This made me want to run out and grab a hook and some yarn. Imagine: hats of many colors! Ahhhh.
This all leads me to yesterday. I bought a little hook and borrowed a little book. I had some fuzzy yarn on hand. I'm such a beginner, and this book was great about the baaasics, like how to hold the hook, how to cast on, and rudimentary stitches. In spite of my enthusiasm, I was stitching just before bed, and was only able to learn how to make a single chain. I added a sparkled button and called it a bracelet.
it's so cute!
Footnotes-------------------------
1. Dictionary.com offers the following entry as the second definition of crochet, transitive verb form: "make a piece of needlework by interlocking and looping thread with a hooked needle; "She sat there crocheting all day." I just liked the sentence. Sounds blissful.
