Artistic Expression

My writing prompt from Marie this week was to write about my first artistic expression.  Now, even though I am a naturally artistic person, I honestly do not remember my first artistic expression.  I am sure that it must have been very similar to everyone elses; a crayon scribble across a piece of paper, but I don't remember it.  Instead, I am going to tell you about how I learned how to crochet.

My mom has major domestic skills.  Sewing, knitting, crocheting, you name it, she can probably do it.  Part of it comes from the era that she grew up in but it also comes from her environment.  She was a farmer's daughter and a lot of these skills were very handy.  After years of doing these things, she is a pro.  I still will contact her whenever I am having trouble with a pattern or two.

My mom tried to teach me when I was younger how to crochet.  Being a rather stubborn child, I tried and immediately gave up because it was too hard.  Fast forward a few years and I'm about 18 years old.  I get it into my head that I want to finally learn and I tell my mom.  She gives me an H hook, a ball of yarn, and proceeded to show me how to do a slip knot & how to do a chain.  Once I figured that out, she had me chain and chain and chain.  The chain strand was about as long as the couch before she checked on my progress.  Mom then showed me the differences in the tension of the chain stitches I had made.  Some were rather loose, some were really tight, and some were in between.  Once I had a gotten a length of just right chain stitches, she knew that I had a feel for how to hold the yarn as I work, so she took me to the next step: making a granny square.

I was able to progress rather quickly with the granny square and eventually made a blanket for my brother out of them (which I hope he still has).  Before we moved apart from each other, her from California to Montana and I from California to Illinois, she taught me one of the hardest crochet skills: how to read a pattern.  Ever since that time, I have loved crochet.  It is really cool to take just a simple string and create a fabulous piece.

So, while it may not be a memory of my first artisitc expression, it is definately the most memorable.

Think I have enough hooks?

Hooker at Large

As a hooker (another name for a crocheter), I have a tendency always have a bunch of yarn around my house.  Stuff that I've bought with the intention of using for a project that I've never gotten to, remains of projects that have been completed, and skeins that people have given me because "I won't use it.  Danielle is a crocheter, let's give it to her!"  And, as any fellow yarn crafter will tell you, you never throw it away because you'll eventually use it for something down the road.  I am no exception to this either.

So, back in April, I got it into my head that I was going to sort through the yarn that I had, see what was there, and come up with some projects to use up the many  balls that could be found floating around my house.  Boy, was that an interesting experience.

My wonderful yarn hoard

What I thought would take me only about 30 minutes to an hour, ended up taking me around 3 hours to sort.  I will admit, I did get distracted by several skeins that I had forgotten that I had and my dear cat Gabby got it in to her head that she had to "help" me sort. (Her help was sitting in the middle of all of the yarn, watching me move it around the room)  I eventually got it all sorted out into worsted weights, thread, and specialty yarns (chunky, silky, etc).  Holy cow, did I have a lot of it, and sadly not enough to do a major project with one or two colors.

After a couple of weeks and a couple more donations of random skeins, the crocheting gods graced me with inspiration.  I am going to make hats.  My reasoning?  Because hats are fun, they don't take a lot of yarn to create, it will use up a lot of the random skeins, and I can be really creative with them.  And boy, have the creative juices been flowing.  I have several ideas, most of which will be my own designs, that I think will work well & could possibly sell.  If, and this is a very big IF, I manage to get a lot of these hats made, along with a few other things, I am hoping to vend at a fair this fall.  So, wish this hooker good luck as I dive deep into all my skeins and whip out some cool creations.

The Entanglement of Yarn

Yarn.  It comes in a variety of colors, textures, and thicknesses.  Just a simple ball of string.  And yet, using this simple ball of string, you can create amazing things: blankets, sweaters, baby booties and those are just some of the more common place items.  This simple item is often over looked by many but I look at it with joy.

My mother is the one who taught me how to crochet* when I was 18 years old.  I decided that I finally wanted to learn.  She had tried to teach me when I was younger, but it didn't turn out all that well.  She gave me a hook, a ball of yarn and showed me how to chain, the base of any crochet project.  I took to it like a fish to water.  She then showed me how to make a granny square, then how to read crochet patterns.  I loved it.  My first completed project was a granny square blanket.  Each square of this blanket was a full 8oz of yarn (which is a a full skein(ball) of yarn).  I used four different colors and it was rather long, more like a wrap around yourself type blanket, rather than the put on your bed variety.  I gave it to my brother and he loved to wrap himself up in it to keep warm.

                                                The deep recesses of my crochet bag


Sadly, there are a few downsides to this beautiful, yarn weaving hobby.  One is that you will run into people who don't understand the cost of yarn and the time it takes to complete projects.  They will offer a few dollars to "pay you" for an item that might have taken you a few months to complete.  Don't allow people to belittle the time and energy it takes to make something.
Two is that you become infatuated by yarn.  You want it and can't get enough.  You gladly accept gifts of random skeins from friends, thinking to yourself "I can make something out of this."  The yarn stash goes from one box, then two.  After several boxes and four partially completed projects later, your friends may have to stage a yarn intervention.
The last downside is that once you start down the path of crochet, you become hooked!  (Ha! Just a little crochet humor for ya)




*Crocheting is done with 1 hook.  It is not the same as knitting, which uses 2 needles.  Saying crocheting is the same as knitting may result in yarn-related injury.  Just warning you now