Crocheting Is Good For The Soul

I always knew that crocheting was peaceful, relaxing, even meditative for me, but, I really discovered a new facet to its good and groovy powers for me, the last time I picked it back up again. You see, I hadn’t crocheted in maybe four years, after our big move. We moved to Alabama from Texas and it was the first time I’d ever moved so far. It was, and has been, very hard on me, and took a lot out of me. And it feels like it separated me from ‘me’, somehow. When I finally picked up my yarn and hook again last year, it really helped to reconnect me ‘with me’ in a powerful way.

One big thing it does for me is reconnect me with my late Grandmother, whom I loved dearly. And that alone, is extremely peaceful for me. Kind of feels like I’m back sitting on the couch with her, just relaxing and being together, like we used to do. She is the one who taught me to crochet and it was one of our special things together. So this powerful feeling of reconnection with my grandmother brought me back to me, you know? And that was powerful! After feeling like a stranger in a strange land for so long!

And then, of course, there was all that good stuff I talked about in the beginning – the relaxation of it, the meditativeness of it, etc. And that, as well, was powerful and helpful to my soul, my spirit.

So I was really happy to have picked it back up again. Soon after, however, I put it back away and haven’t touched it for months. What?!

What happened?

Well, I made a crocheting mistake, an error in my craft. And I got frustrated and put it all away again.

Here’s what happened. My grandma taught me to tie knots when changing yarn. There is another school of thought that seems to be quite popular, that you never tie knots, you work the yarn in and keep going. Or something like that. See – clearly I don’t really know and that is how I goofed. I was trying to attempt this ‘work the yarn in’ method, midproject, and totally had a FAIL! Ha! And I even have a lovely how-to book – more than one, really. I tried to follow the instructions, but, book instructions never really made sense to me. What made sense was my grandma, showing me how to do it.

Several times recently, Loretta has suggested that I pick it back up. She knows how peaceful it makes me feel, because, stitching does the same for her. All crafters can relate to this about their chosen craft, I think. I keep thinking I’m going to do it – and I finally did! I just decided I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get around that corner. I imagine I’ll start with maybe the tapestry hook and do a bit of actual sewing and then just crochet around the crooked, sewed corner.

I felt locked out of one of my favorite things to do – and I’m the silly one who locked the durn door! So instead of fussing about ‘oh my gosh, how do I fix it??’, I’m just going to fix it, as best I can, and keep on chugging!

And guess who gets the irregular scarf? You guessed it – Loretta! Ha! That’ll show her to “push” me into doing something! Ya’ll just don’t tell her, though, okay?

P.S. I’m (for now anyway) just going to stick with my grandma’s teachings of the tying knots. Funny, it almost feels like betrayal to try the other way. Haha! But that is not the reason I’m sticking with it – I just want back in and I don’t want any more barriers in my way – like learning new things. Perhaps one day when I get more in the swing of things, I’ll ask someone to help me learn the other way.