before our fabulous weekend away, i emailed the girls and asked if anyone could teach me how to crochet a granny square while we were there. i threw in some yarn and some crochet hooks, just in case. my dear friend elizabeth tried to teach me a couple of years ago, but i'll be the first to admit that i never really caught on.
but somehow, on saturday evening, it clicked for me and i made the granny square above. and i don't even have the feeling, which i had the first time around, that i would go completely blank if asked to make a second one. i took my early attempts along to show the girls and you can see them here, together with the blue and grey one that i made on saturday. as you can see, i have really learned it now, whereas some of the others ended up with two centers and weren't even remotely square.
i learned something else about how totally free you can be when you crochet (way more so than with knitting). you can really just crochet in all directions. it was rather amusing because when i first started the square, i was sweating from the effort and had to take off my scarf and sweater (i don't think it was a hot flash, just the hard work of learning something new). i also forgot to breathe a couple of times, from the sheer concentrated effort. that wasn't so good, but it did make everyone laugh. but then, i relaxed and just crocheted. maybe it was because one of the others crocheted the white thing above and there was so much freedom in it - no sense of right and wrong, but just where the yarn takes you. i think it took realizing that for it to click for me.
i started crocheting a circle after my first square, just to give it a try. and it stayed flat and didn't become a nest (that has happened before) and i got into a kind of rhythm with it. and it felt somehow freeing. and tho' my effort wasn't nearly as free as christina's little white lichen? snowflake? seafoam? thing, i felt like i had learned it at last. and i will get more free with it and i'll undoubtedly show you the results right here.
check it out, i even managed to crochet a little jacket for a stone! funny how sometimes it just takes learning something at the right moment. i don't think i was ready to do granny squares before and now i am. just imagine what i'm going to do with all those pins on my must learn to crochet (or knit or whatever) board on pinterest....
7 comments:
I don't think I've ever thought of knitting and crocheting as an expressive art form, but I feel I've been very narrow minded about it until just now! Your thought process as you created these is very insightful, and your work is great. I think you should have each one framed in a little shadow box.
I have been wanting to learn how to croceht for years! When my poor dear grandma Ariadne wanted to teach me as akid I was so snobbish about it. And I have been trying the last couple of years with the Internet and books. I managed to make three flowers and added them on a cap, and wrapped a couple of stones too. But this past week I joined a small group at a school to learn crochet with a lovely young teacher and I already made my first bows and I made some at home and felt so free not even having to folllow a pattern. I am so excited for the next lesson!Of course I will blog about it!
AriadnefromGreece!
Brilliant! and brilliant pinterest board! I'm trying figure out the Japanese flower scarf flowers. So far, completely useless...lol.
Fantastic! The sky is the limit now :) I think by the time I am done with this blanket, I am going to transition to crochet...now for a good teacher.
Be careful otherwise you get addicted to it! :))
tiny up my rooms I found lots old wool .. rest wool from the woolen artist event we made on the island of föhr following holidays i wanted to use this wool for crochet but don't know how to make ,, thanks for your advice .. Like the colors
I always smile when someone learns how to crochet. I tried to teach my daughter for years and although she dabbled at it I could tell she just wasn't that interested. Now in the last month I was amused to find that her boss has taught her to crochet and she is on her 12th scarf and just as many headbands. I of course was a little jealous it took someone else to teach her.. I said as much and she assured me that when I taught her , she was just not ready!
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