Teaching an old dog new tricks!

Trying different tools and techniques to challenge myself and spark new ideas!

I recently made a huge investment for myself: an $8.50 crochet hook and some balls of organic cotton yarn to accompany it! Now of course it wasn’t a huge financial investment but it is rare to veer away from the usual paint and paper purchases to try something a little bit different. While at least half of my working week as a small business owner is taken up with admin tasks, accounting, postage, delivery, printing, packaging and so on, at the end of the day, the thing I love to do most is simply to make things.

I remember as a child attempting a few knitting projects. There was definitely a homemade jumper or two that got completed and the odd scarf here and there. My family weren’t knitting professionals by any means but Winter often signalled a visit to the haberdashery department for the purchase of a new pattern and wool and there was always a big bag of various sized knitting needles and leftover yarn if we ever felt the urge to get creative. My sisters and I all had sewing baskets and the prized contents of these were a variety of sequins collected from leftover calisthenics costumes my mum had made for us or the ones collected from the floor of the dressing rooms after a concert.

In recent years between family and work it has felt that there is zero time for extra curricula creative endeavours. Before our son was born, I knitted a blanket made from squares of plain knitted wool in shades of blue, mint, pink, lemon and white but it was really just a nesting activity and I wasn’t very happy with the result and eventually gave it away I think. My sister had taught me a simple crochet stitch to edge the blanket but this was the only time I had ever done any crochet and it was one round and I was finished.

I’m not entirely sure what inspired me to go in search of a crochet hook recently but I think it was the desire to make something functional and a couple of you-tube videos that made it look like any beginner could have a go! The first week was a rather frustrating attempt at trying to get beyond a simple chain – who knew that it would be all so technical with yarn tension and the fact that cotton yarn doesn’t have much stretch and splits easily meaning some parts of the yarn end up on the wrong side of the hook.

But like most things in life, persistence is key and by the second week, I was practicing little 5cm square swatches of single stitch crochet and had even managed a stuffed crochet star keyring that our daughter liked enough to hang on her school bag. Yes, it is progress slow progress but I have also found it to be a lovely meditative activity to do at the end of the day. It’s encouraging to see the work slowly grow, the pattern of the repetitive stitches and choosing colours to sit next to each other. As life and processes become faster and more and more automated, I find myself gravitating to more traditional techniques and handmade processes.

I will see where this crochet journey takes me. For now, I have a goal to make one cushion cover and currently, at a rate of 3cm per hour, it is going to take me a while to complete that goal! It is always good to explore new techniques and think about how that might cross over into my usual work and it is always a challenge for the brain to try something new. I’m interested to know if you have tried anything yourself recently or taken up a new hobby. Please let me know in the comments. Back to crocheting for me.