These two hobbies are just it! They help me unwind after long days of work. Interestingly, I hear they are called grandma hobbies. More young people are taking them up nowadays. They are making thriving businesses out of them. This is how my journey in the art of crochet and knitting began.
Crochet
This is how I started to crochet. One of my friends would make really beautiful crochet projects and I became interested to learn. So, I asked her to teach me. She then told me that it was easy to learn from various creators on YouTube.
I bought a hook and yarn that same week and started learning. My very first item was a pair of baby booties. I then proceeded to make coasters, socks, scarves, shawls and tops. I would crochet during COVID-19 when I was away from work. One of the masterpieces I made was a shawl bearing my sister’s name. She loved it! I had poured myself into it and wrote her name using bobble stitch. Over time, I have had many people buy scarves from me. Others I have gifted because what better gift than a handmade one! If people who have my scarves meet up, a hall of 100 people would almost be fully packed. Truly, as we say, I hand-made all those projects with love because my two hands made every stitch.
Knitting
How I learnt how to knit
My mum taught me briefly how to knit during one of the school holidays. She recounted to me how she would knit our sweaters when we were young. Her morale about knitting had gone, I could tell. She enjoyed what she had done in her earlier days. We were kept warm courtesy of her love, in stitches. She reassured me that knitting is very easy.
All along, I was convinced that crochet was easier simply because it’s the only one I knew. She taught me how to make the two main stitches, that is, knit and purl, and I gladly made a dishwashing cloth. However, I did not continue once we opened school. It is much later in my adulthood that I would explore knitting. I remember I was at home for sick leave. Left with not much to do since I was to be off device screens, I decided to try and knit a beanie. I failed terribly. However, the second one I made turned out so fine that I sold it! I remember it was a mustard yellow one. And that was my beginning of loving knitting. Crochet took a back seat.
Lesson from knitting
One of the lessons I got from knitting is patience. Knitting projects do not build up as fast as crochet projects do. Owe unto you if the project requires small needles such as 2 millimeters. It will work up so slowly, you will be tempted to quit. But once done, the products are beautiful. I love knitted products. There is a type of uniqueness and neatness that they have that is unmatched. Purely handmade with love. There are knitting machines, but all the knitting projects I have had have been handmade.
To everyone out there who is kept warm by a project I crocheted or knitted, keep warm, especially now that the cold season is upon us. I look forward to seeing what I will make in the coming days. Follow along for my why and for stories of individual projects.
