Relaxing By Crocheting

I was taught to crochet by my aunt when I was in my teens. I've never found anything more relaxing to do, aside from maybe drawing/painting.

It requires a crochet hook, not two pointy needles, like in knitting. I never could get knitting down to where I felt relaxed. You have to count too much. Being dyslexic counting continuously becomes---well, I forget where I am! And the pointy needles could get dangerous where I'm concerned!

With crocheting, I can sometimes go along, and actually not be looking at the work itself. Depends on what it is, of course. And there are some very easy patterns. If you have basic knowledge of crocheting, you can work on what's called a "granny square" and make a beautiful blanket. I've made several. One I made last winter is something like 9 feet by 9 feet and it's all granny squares sewed together. It took me three months to make, but you know, while you make an afghan, you stay warm, so there's a real up side to working on one at night when the wind is blowing and you're trying to stay warm in an over 100-year old farm house.

The Basic Granny square:

If you have the basic techniques down (chain, single crochet, double crochet, slip stitch), you can make the above square.

You begin with a slip knot. After this you make a circle. I use what's referred to as a "magic circle", doing the slip knot, chain 4 and then double crochet into that fourth chain from hook. Now you make another double crochet (dc) into the same chain. At this point, you've made what's called "a cluster". Now, chain 3. Then, make three double crochets (dc) into this same chain, and three more chains (ch). Second cluster made, you make a third cluster of dc, and another chain. Do one more cluster, chain 3 again and then slip stitch into the top of the chain of your beginning.

If you've made it this far, you've got the beginning of a granny square. From this point, you can do just about anything. You can change your colors, making sure to leave about an inch of the last color to weave in after you've clipped it. Or, if you want, you can keep going with the same color for a larger piece.

Look at this one I'm making, only I'm not using white as in following photo, but a very light blue.

You basically keep going around. The corner is made by doing 3 dc, ch 3, and 3 dc. Then, chain 1 and make the 3 dc in the next ch 1 space.

There are more variations on this basic square than you can throw yarn at. I mean, only this morning I made a hear-shaped one. But I had to dismantle the woman's pattern, because it wasn't working for me.

If you look closely, you can see the basic granny square in the middle.

Anything that isn't a basic granny square is called a "motif", because it's different. Sometimes it's a circle, and it becomes a flower. But let's face it, nothing's more simple than the granny square.

With the above square I'm working on I may make a nice spring afghan. I haven't got enough yarn to even complete more than 3 or 4 squares right now, but I wouldn't mind working on this, along with my other projects.

There are lots of places to learn how to crochet. You can find video tutorials, if that's something you'd like to look into. Here is one place where you can do that, and they always have free ebooks, which is where I get most of my patterns.

I've found more and more sites where they post about crocheting patterns and I'll never run out of patterns. I can barely make all the ones I've got now. But I like to collect new ones. I'm talking about making hats, scarves, cowls (you know, those popular slouchy scarves that hang around the neck), and other things. I don't mind a challenge, it's the only way to learn, but when I find something that doesn't work, I try and re-work it for myself.

Okay, good talk!