Yay…Welcome to the first yarn a long Sunday…If you have just stumbled here by accident, I do hope you will stay for a while and join in too. I am a teensy bit anxious about this to be honest as I have not done anything like this before and I’m worried no one will join in, although I have had some very positive feedback…thank you if that was you…you will know who you are.
The purpose of my yarn a long is to get to know you a little better and you I; and so I am hoping that you will join in with me by commenting in the thread below. My hope is you will also get to know each other a little better too and discover new blogs and other such yarny lovliness.
So, shall we begin… Todays yarn a long is:
‘Why do you craft…crochet…knit?
Shall I start?
I have wanted to write about this for a while because crochet has become my default…it is almost like my reset button. I was introduced to crochet a long time ago now; about 8 months after my youngest Robin entered the world and I was suffering with post natal depression. My Health Visitor was great and along with other structured support suggested I attend a local group of Momma’s that ate cake and drank coffee and crafted…well she had me at cake!
An elderly lady named Eileen, came along soon after I joined and she taught me how to hold a crochet hook and chain stitches. There was something very soothing about the rhythm of making those chains and before long Eileen, had me making treble crochet stitches (double crochet stitches if you use American terminology). Those first stitches were far too tight and I got frustrated easily, but the company was healing and Eileen, was patient and kind and the cake tasted good! I must have swatched 20 or more uneven little squares before it clicked…I’m a slow learner…but, when it did, click that was, I made a giant granny square blanket for my boys. We still have that blanket today and do you know I have never taken a photo of it, because it isn’t well hooked or perfect or in great colours… but it is in the colours they chose! My boys still use it though and who knew that it would lead me on the most wonderful hooky adventure.
I have taken a photo of that 1st blanket and here is the exclusive just for you… but don’t look too closely!
That was nearly a decade ago and since then I have immersed myself in learning new stitches… thank you to video tutorials, blogs, books, magazines and good old trial and error. I have also immersed myself in yarn and lots of it!!
Crochet saved my mental health back then along with some good medical support and the love of an amazing family and crochet continues to soothe me still in the beautiful chaos of life…
Lovely to read your story. My grandma on visits taught me both to knit and crochet I guess more than 50 years ago. As a leftie I always looked awkward but I’ve been crafting ever since, mostly knitting these days for my young grandchildren . Crafting is a hobby I need to do and seems to have been passed down to at least one of my daughters. She has the sewing bug.
Shirley, I think its lovely that knitting has been passed down the generations and that your daughter loves to sew. I remember both my grandma and my Mom knitting but I didn’t respond as a child. I have three boys and none of them show any interest at all…other than to snuggle under what I make 😊
I love your story of learnng to crochet, it is so good I think to craft.I think I fell inlove with craftingaround the age of ten or eleven. Mum was not into yarn and fabrci, she liked drawing and painting. When I became a guide I did a crafting badge and we made things to sell at bazaars. I remember a neighbour teaching me to knit and she also had us make needle cases, which I still have. My friends Grandmother taught my friend and I embroidery and my cousins other Grandmother(Ie te one we didn’t share) taught us how to make a leather purse. Sewing I learned at school but didn’t take too, I was always way behind in class because I didn’t have access to a sewing machine at home for homework. In the 6th form I made a stool and we made the costumes for the school play which I loved.Then came college and a friend and I knitted and embroidered. Early marraiage was knitting. Then babies came and then evening classes. And I have never stopped.
Great thread, thanks.
Oh wow, I love that you have always been creative. I think that is in all of us, it’s the journey we go on to find how to express it that is so different. I am finding a common theme in this yarn a long is the link creativity gives us back to our Grandparents. I bet if we explored it further creating would have been passed down to them from their grandparents and so on. Thank you for sharing your story. x
Hey there… This is a cool idea.
Funnily enough, through reading nanacathy’s comment above I think I have discovered my answer… I think I craft and create because there is something inside me that yearns to do it. I remember that me and my best friend at primary school would always be asking our mums for things we could use to make stuff. We’d stick things on cardboard boxes to make houses and cars etc, and we loved watching blue Peter with their ‘here’ s one I made earlier’! Later I remember trying to make my dad a Teddy bear but cutting out two inch high Teddy shapes, sewing on a face and then stitching them together with a bit of stuffing inside. He kept it inside his glasses case for years (I wonder if he still has it?!) Later I did a bit of knitting, usually making garments for babies, but then I stopped as the motion of the two needles made me feel dizzy and sick. I wanted to learn to crochet when I saw some friends crocheting berets. For some reason I couldn’t learn from them… Though they tried to teach me. That desire remained for about 13 years until I met someone in church about 5 years ago who met with me weekly to teach me to crochet. I will always be thankful to Lynne for opening this door to me and spending so much time with me. A year ago I decided to be more intentionally creative, trying different crafts and crafting more regularly. I started the blog at the same time and it has helped me to keep crafting… If I’ve not blogged for a while then I’ve not crafted for a while either. Blogging has opened up a community of fellow crafters and people who can help me. It’s also given me a forum for reflecting on my crafts and my mental health and applying lessons learnt from one into the other. I wish I could say that crafting was a magic thing that sorted out my mental health, but it’s not. But it’s a way I can reflect on my traits and tendencies in a non threatening way. It’s also a way I Can bless others by making things for them, and I love that side of it. Finally it’s a way I can keep learning… New skills,either in a new craft or expanding what I can do in a less new craft.
Reflecting here has made me realise that it’s not just because I enjoy it that I do it. There is something inherently inside me that desires to create. That’s quite an exciting realisation for a Sunday morning, especially when I’m off to church in a minute to weekend time with God, the ultimate creator 😊
P. S. I’m glad you took a photo of the blanket. How special that must have been to your boys when you used their choice of colours to make something just for them.
Julia, Thanks so much for sharing your story. You have made me remember some of the things I used to craft as a child…and most of them were Blue Peter inspired! I love your story about making a teddy for your Dad and that he kept it for so long. Home made things have that sentimental value that goes deeper that the actual creation itself don’t you think? I struggle to crochet at times still if I am feeling very anxious too…and yet the very act of hooking those stitches is like medicine in itself…ironic!
I have really enjoyed looking at your blog this afternoon and think that Emma Bunny is just darling xx
It was fun having the opportunity to remember things I’d forgotten. I think you’re right about the deeper value to home made items.
I don’t think crocheting ended up calming me down, but who knows… Things might have been worse otherwise. Having a film rather than short programmes to watch helped as the time seemed to go a bit faster then.
I usually prefer to watch box sets while crafting as I don’t have to concentrate so hard, and I like to just watch a film with all my attention, but yesterday a film and crochet together did the job 😊
I love your story and your blanket is beautiful! I first learnt to crochet when I was about 8 years old (many moons ago, haha!) My Nanna taught my sister and me and I used to just make granny squares then. I carried on crocheting in my teens and early twenties, I even made my daughter’s christening shawl! But then life got in the way and I didn’t do any crochet for years, I didn’t even think about it. My sister had started crocheting again about five years ago and for my birthday that year she bought me a crochet book, a hook and some wool and said you might need this! She was so right, the next month my lovely daughter left home to live with her boyfriend in Rochdale, which is over an hours drive away. I was devastated at the time, I missed her so much (still do) so the crocheting helped me to have another focus in life. Since then I have learnt all sorts of new stitches, made new friends at the local knit and natter group and have spent thousands of pounds on wool haha. I started a blog a few months ago and I really enjoy doing that too. All I need now is for my daughter to move a bit nearer to me, preferably next door and life would be perfect! I love your blog and will look forward to next Sunday’s yarn along.
Thank you for sharing your story. How absolutely wonderful that your sister gave you a present of yarn and a hook…so much more of a gift than just yarn and hook…a fantastic creative journey…now that’s an awesome present. You made me laugh when you said you had spent that much and then I had a sombre moment of realisation!!! I’m just going to hop over to your blog now to have a poke around…xx
I started to crochet as a form of stress relief and to help me keep off the weight while I quit smoking and for the most part it worked. Although I did gain some weight, I no longer smoke. 🙂
Robin,
Thank you for sharing…it is amazing how many people use crochet as self medication for stress relief…myself included. I’m sure crochet is a much healthier habit than smoking, if not a bit more of an expensive habit! xx
I learned to knit when I was four. I remember the needles were green and had black ends. I knitted on and off for years but I didn’t really take to it until I was expecting my first child.
I started sewing when I was six. I made most of my children’s clothes when they were young.
I learned to spin aged 18.
Weaving and dyeing began in my late thirties.
Crochet. I was crocheting as a teenager (in the 70’s) and still have the tea cosy I made for my grandmother. I couldn’t hold the hook and yarn properly though. In 2013 I started having serious mental health issues and one day I decided I was going to teach myself to crochet holding the yarn and hook ‘correctly’. Yay, I succeeded 🙂
I also enjoy slow stitching but haven’t stitched for a few months.
Patchwork and quilting came into my life in my twenties and had never left either. These days I mostly do paper piecing and hand quilting. I’ve never machine quilted.
I have to create and be creative all the time. I seldom plan and instead I jump straight in and pretty much work intuitively. It’s the essence of who I am. As a Christian I see this as a reflection of God.
Thank you for sharing your story. It seems to be a common theme that creativity is just in us. I really love that you link that with Creator God…i had never looked at it like that before. It is also interesting how the need to create is woven into some of our hardest times and brings great joy. 😊
What an amazing reason to start crocheting ❤ I learnt to knit first when I was really little with my nana (we were always super close). When I moved to Australia, in my first year it was hard to make many friends at uni (because most australians didn't really see the point if I was going to leave in a few years anyway) so I spent long hours in my room in the shared house I was in watching random shows on my computer. That bored me quite fast thought, so I asked my nana to send me some yarn to make a blanket. She sent me yarn but also sent me squares already knitted to get me started and we made a big blanket together, albeit being over 17,000 km away. I still use that blanket everyday, it lives on my sofa 🙂 and shortly after that I discovered amigurumi and I was hooked on crochet too. It helps me unwind after long days and probably kept me sane during my PhD (which is almost finished, yay!). Now I just could never see myself stopping 🙂
Emma, thanks for sharing your story. How awesome that you made a blanket with your Nana even though you were so many miles apart. Squares of love indeed. That’s truly beautiful. It is amazing how creativity bridges gaps and links us with our elders and to our heritage x😊
How lovely to read your story. (I had meant to do you what you’re reading and crafting series last year and failed miserably, so I won’t commit to regularly joining in this too.)
My lovely gran introduced me to crafting when I was a child, I spent summer holidays with her and she and her crafty next door neighbour had me knitting, sewing clothes for my Sindy doll and cross stitching. I dabbled into my student years but life got in the way and I barely did any craft once I had embarked on my career. Then when I fell pregnant with no.1 Little Postcard I started knitting again. Crafting, and in particular crochet saves my sanity on a regular basis, the rhythm of the stitches and the colourful yarns are so good for the soul. Thanks for sharing your story, I too had a wonderful health visitor who helped me with my PND, it is so common and important that it’s talked about. X
Crochet blog
Lovely to read your story. My grandma on visits taught me both to knit and crochet I guess more than 50 years ago. As a leftie I always looked awkward but I’ve been crafting ever since, mostly knitting these days for my young grandchildren . Crafting is a hobby I need to do and seems to have been passed down to at least one of my daughters. She has the sewing bug.
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Shirley, I think its lovely that knitting has been passed down the generations and that your daughter loves to sew. I remember both my grandma and my Mom knitting but I didn’t respond as a child. I have three boys and none of them show any interest at all…other than to snuggle under what I make 😊
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I love your story of learnng to crochet, it is so good I think to craft.I think I fell inlove with craftingaround the age of ten or eleven. Mum was not into yarn and fabrci, she liked drawing and painting. When I became a guide I did a crafting badge and we made things to sell at bazaars. I remember a neighbour teaching me to knit and she also had us make needle cases, which I still have. My friends Grandmother taught my friend and I embroidery and my cousins other Grandmother(Ie te one we didn’t share) taught us how to make a leather purse. Sewing I learned at school but didn’t take too, I was always way behind in class because I didn’t have access to a sewing machine at home for homework. In the 6th form I made a stool and we made the costumes for the school play which I loved.Then came college and a friend and I knitted and embroidered. Early marraiage was knitting. Then babies came and then evening classes. And I have never stopped.
Great thread, thanks.
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Oh wow, I love that you have always been creative. I think that is in all of us, it’s the journey we go on to find how to express it that is so different. I am finding a common theme in this yarn a long is the link creativity gives us back to our Grandparents. I bet if we explored it further creating would have been passed down to them from their grandparents and so on. Thank you for sharing your story. x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey there… This is a cool idea.
Funnily enough, through reading nanacathy’s comment above I think I have discovered my answer… I think I craft and create because there is something inside me that yearns to do it. I remember that me and my best friend at primary school would always be asking our mums for things we could use to make stuff. We’d stick things on cardboard boxes to make houses and cars etc, and we loved watching blue Peter with their ‘here’ s one I made earlier’! Later I remember trying to make my dad a Teddy bear but cutting out two inch high Teddy shapes, sewing on a face and then stitching them together with a bit of stuffing inside. He kept it inside his glasses case for years (I wonder if he still has it?!) Later I did a bit of knitting, usually making garments for babies, but then I stopped as the motion of the two needles made me feel dizzy and sick. I wanted to learn to crochet when I saw some friends crocheting berets. For some reason I couldn’t learn from them… Though they tried to teach me. That desire remained for about 13 years until I met someone in church about 5 years ago who met with me weekly to teach me to crochet. I will always be thankful to Lynne for opening this door to me and spending so much time with me. A year ago I decided to be more intentionally creative, trying different crafts and crafting more regularly. I started the blog at the same time and it has helped me to keep crafting… If I’ve not blogged for a while then I’ve not crafted for a while either. Blogging has opened up a community of fellow crafters and people who can help me. It’s also given me a forum for reflecting on my crafts and my mental health and applying lessons learnt from one into the other. I wish I could say that crafting was a magic thing that sorted out my mental health, but it’s not. But it’s a way I can reflect on my traits and tendencies in a non threatening way. It’s also a way I Can bless others by making things for them, and I love that side of it. Finally it’s a way I can keep learning… New skills,either in a new craft or expanding what I can do in a less new craft.
Reflecting here has made me realise that it’s not just because I enjoy it that I do it. There is something inherently inside me that desires to create. That’s quite an exciting realisation for a Sunday morning, especially when I’m off to church in a minute to weekend time with God, the ultimate creator 😊
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P. S. I’m glad you took a photo of the blanket. How special that must have been to your boys when you used their choice of colours to make something just for them.
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Julia, Thanks so much for sharing your story. You have made me remember some of the things I used to craft as a child…and most of them were Blue Peter inspired! I love your story about making a teddy for your Dad and that he kept it for so long. Home made things have that sentimental value that goes deeper that the actual creation itself don’t you think? I struggle to crochet at times still if I am feeling very anxious too…and yet the very act of hooking those stitches is like medicine in itself…ironic!
I have really enjoyed looking at your blog this afternoon and think that Emma Bunny is just darling xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was fun having the opportunity to remember things I’d forgotten. I think you’re right about the deeper value to home made items.
I don’t think crocheting ended up calming me down, but who knows… Things might have been worse otherwise. Having a film rather than short programmes to watch helped as the time seemed to go a bit faster then.
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Yes, I like crocheting and watching a film x
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I usually prefer to watch box sets while crafting as I don’t have to concentrate so hard, and I like to just watch a film with all my attention, but yesterday a film and crochet together did the job 😊
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I have just watched Call the Midwife…big mistake…I sobbed at it so much I couldn’t see my stitches!!!! xx
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Oh… Yep… That happens to me too! I’ve got last nights to watch today so don’t give away any spoilers!
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Oh my giddy aunt. I haven’t cried like that for a while! I normally tear up over an episode of call the midwife but that was something else 😭
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I love your story and your blanket is beautiful! I first learnt to crochet when I was about 8 years old (many moons ago, haha!) My Nanna taught my sister and me and I used to just make granny squares then. I carried on crocheting in my teens and early twenties, I even made my daughter’s christening shawl! But then life got in the way and I didn’t do any crochet for years, I didn’t even think about it. My sister had started crocheting again about five years ago and for my birthday that year she bought me a crochet book, a hook and some wool and said you might need this! She was so right, the next month my lovely daughter left home to live with her boyfriend in Rochdale, which is over an hours drive away. I was devastated at the time, I missed her so much (still do) so the crocheting helped me to have another focus in life. Since then I have learnt all sorts of new stitches, made new friends at the local knit and natter group and have spent thousands of pounds on wool haha. I started a blog a few months ago and I really enjoy doing that too. All I need now is for my daughter to move a bit nearer to me, preferably next door and life would be perfect! I love your blog and will look forward to next Sunday’s yarn along.
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Thank you for sharing your story. How absolutely wonderful that your sister gave you a present of yarn and a hook…so much more of a gift than just yarn and hook…a fantastic creative journey…now that’s an awesome present. You made me laugh when you said you had spent that much and then I had a sombre moment of realisation!!! I’m just going to hop over to your blog now to have a poke around…xx
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I started to crochet as a form of stress relief and to help me keep off the weight while I quit smoking and for the most part it worked. Although I did gain some weight, I no longer smoke. 🙂
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Robin,
Thank you for sharing…it is amazing how many people use crochet as self medication for stress relief…myself included. I’m sure crochet is a much healthier habit than smoking, if not a bit more of an expensive habit! xx
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I learned to knit when I was four. I remember the needles were green and had black ends. I knitted on and off for years but I didn’t really take to it until I was expecting my first child.
I started sewing when I was six. I made most of my children’s clothes when they were young.
I learned to spin aged 18.
Weaving and dyeing began in my late thirties.
Crochet. I was crocheting as a teenager (in the 70’s) and still have the tea cosy I made for my grandmother. I couldn’t hold the hook and yarn properly though. In 2013 I started having serious mental health issues and one day I decided I was going to teach myself to crochet holding the yarn and hook ‘correctly’. Yay, I succeeded 🙂
I also enjoy slow stitching but haven’t stitched for a few months.
Patchwork and quilting came into my life in my twenties and had never left either. These days I mostly do paper piecing and hand quilting. I’ve never machine quilted.
I have to create and be creative all the time. I seldom plan and instead I jump straight in and pretty much work intuitively. It’s the essence of who I am. As a Christian I see this as a reflection of God.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for sharing your story. It seems to be a common theme that creativity is just in us. I really love that you link that with Creator God…i had never looked at it like that before. It is also interesting how the need to create is woven into some of our hardest times and brings great joy. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an amazing reason to start crocheting ❤ I learnt to knit first when I was really little with my nana (we were always super close). When I moved to Australia, in my first year it was hard to make many friends at uni (because most australians didn't really see the point if I was going to leave in a few years anyway) so I spent long hours in my room in the shared house I was in watching random shows on my computer. That bored me quite fast thought, so I asked my nana to send me some yarn to make a blanket. She sent me yarn but also sent me squares already knitted to get me started and we made a big blanket together, albeit being over 17,000 km away. I still use that blanket everyday, it lives on my sofa 🙂 and shortly after that I discovered amigurumi and I was hooked on crochet too. It helps me unwind after long days and probably kept me sane during my PhD (which is almost finished, yay!). Now I just could never see myself stopping 🙂
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Emma, thanks for sharing your story. How awesome that you made a blanket with your Nana even though you were so many miles apart. Squares of love indeed. That’s truly beautiful. It is amazing how creativity bridges gaps and links us with our elders and to our heritage x😊
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How lovely to read your story. (I had meant to do you what you’re reading and crafting series last year and failed miserably, so I won’t commit to regularly joining in this too.)
My lovely gran introduced me to crafting when I was a child, I spent summer holidays with her and she and her crafty next door neighbour had me knitting, sewing clothes for my Sindy doll and cross stitching. I dabbled into my student years but life got in the way and I barely did any craft once I had embarked on my career. Then when I fell pregnant with no.1 Little Postcard I started knitting again. Crafting, and in particular crochet saves my sanity on a regular basis, the rhythm of the stitches and the colourful yarns are so good for the soul. Thanks for sharing your story, I too had a wonderful health visitor who helped me with my PND, it is so common and important that it’s talked about. X
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