Recently, I've been thinking over my life as a crafts-girl. I used to be a very stoic and hardcore knitter with no intention whatsoever to change my focus in the nature of yarn-handling. I was content in my little world of knithood.And yet the change happened.
I suddenly had the completely irrational desire to crochet again.
I had crocheted in the past, but found it too 'wild' if you know what I mean. Knitting held security for me, because it had a set number of stitches, and nothing could change that but me. If there was a problem, I could fix it. I thought crocheting violated all the boundaries of that safety and security. Creating stitches out of thin air and the sheer flexibility of it all was too much for my head. But all that changed when I saw one of my knitting friends wearing a crochet scarf she made. It's funny, but whenever I see this person (who is a great deal older than me and I don't get to see very often, ) I get an inkling of inspiration that turns my crafting world upside-down.
After our first encounter at my Mums friends' home, in which she introduced me to the all-important website Ravelry, I suddenly went on a rampage of learning all I could about knitting. I taught myself Fair Isle, Lace, Intarsia, Increasing, Decreasing, Entrelac, Cables, knitting in the round, and bobbles. I used video tutorials, books, and my own brain until I had accumulated a vast knowledge of everything there is to know about knitting.
It was mid-December when the 'crochet-anomaly', as I like to call it, happened. It had been over six months since me and my Friend had last met. I saw the scarf, and was instantly curious as to how it was done. I did something I hadn't done before, and began to browse the crocheting side of Ravelry. I had never done this before, because I was too stuck up to admit I wasn't fluent in crochet. I favorited a few patterns here and there, thinking that I'd be able to read the instructions well enough. It was a few days before Christmas before I actually tried anything.
It was going to be a long day of rehearsing Christmas stuff, and I had frequent (and long) periods of nothing to do. I had thought of this beforehand, and as I was gathering up my usual stash of travelling projects, I came upon a small shawl that I had made for my friend as a Christmas present. I thought back to a cute crochet border I had come across a few weeks before on Ravelry. I printed it out, and thought I had the ingenuity to figure out all the abbreviations on the spot. Boy, I was dead wrong! If there's anything I've learned about yarn-crafting, its don't think you know what everything means, and when in doubt, double check.
When the time came, I pulled out the neatly folded pattern, hook, and yarn, ready to start making a flawless border. I couldn't make heads or tails of anything. I had no idea what a 'chain space-' was, or dc, or hdc. I had completely forgotten how to do anything besides chain st, sl st, and single crochet. I unraveled my hopeless attempts over and over, when finally, I decided to stop puttering about and learn how to make the darn thing!So, I ended up going on a completely different rampage than the knitting one. Long story short, (my eyes are tired of the computer screen, :) I learned a lot about crocheting, and a transformation happened in a very short period of time! I had actually changed the pattern search engine on Ravelry from "knitting" to "crochet", and it hasn't changed for months.
I realized that I've always been lax on following patterns, (as described in my first post,) and crochet fit that part of me perfectly.
And I had never dreamed how much faster the projects go with crocheting!
What took me a few weeks and less-than-satisfactory results with knitting, took me one day with fantastic results with crochet.
I don't know whats going to happen from now on, because I still really love knitting with all of my heart, but the instant satisfaction and portability of crocheting has momentarily won me over. I'll never give up on knitting, but I've had almost no desire to do it for quite a long time. I hope the 'just crochet' part of me will fade away soon, so I'll have equal disposition to do both.
Love y'all!
Bianca
