A Hook & Thread
My lifelong love for crochet began with a ball of cotton thread and a crochet hook. Through many iterations my crochet passion remains intact, though now, on a completely different path.
This is where it all began for me as well as countless crocheters like me. Inspiration in a magazine - back in the day when that was the main avenue to receive the latest crochet designs - sparked a desire to use these simple tools to create something where before there was only a dream.
I didn’t have structured crochet training. I learned the basics from my Girl Scout leader, but then I was on my own to figure things out. A ball of Aunt Lydias Crochet Cotton and a steel crochet hook could keep me busy for hours. I just played with stitches, ending up with stacks of what we now call swatches that I am sure I left scattered all over the house only to be thrown away. I can still remember my dad, seeing that I was hard at work he asked, “What are you making?” My standard reply was, “Nothing.” This response didn’t make sense to my Greatest Generation parents for whom everything must have a purpose to have value. In their world, there was no time to make things that didn’t serve a purpose, even if that purpose was decorative. Having internalized their puzzled responses, I soon turned to patterns so that I could actually make something of “value.” This, as a general rule did not work out well for me. More on that in another post.
Playing is still my favorite thing to do with thread and a hook, I am just a bit more intentional with my work. Each piece - or scrumble as they are known in the freeform crochet world - has inherent beauty and value to me. They are carefully stored and from time to time I take them out and admire them. Each one brings pleasure and the reward of creating something unique.
Assorted crochet pieces from The 100 Day Project
These days I use inspiration from nature, microscopic photography, Zentangle drawings, and the work of classic crochet lace from the past to create small pieces of crochet. These were simply studies done as a part of The 100 Day Project from several years ago. Each day for 100 days I crocheted something using thread. Sometimes they were lace, other times, they were textured shapes. All served a purpose for me on this journey in crochet art.
I will be doing The 100 Day Project again this year. Next week I will have my project and supplies ready to photograph and then begin. I hope you come back to see what I will be doing for the next one hundred days.
