Thankfully, I came to my senses!

A quick note before I start. Let me apologize for being absent from my blog for so long. The pandemic and craziness in the world threw me for a loop for a while, and my writing and crocheting as you will see became very sporadic. But I’ve made it a goal in 2022 to write AND crochet more consistently. So without further ado …

Fiber Arts Are in My Blood

I’ve been crocheting for over 50 years. Working with fiber is literally burned into my DNA. 

My paternal Aunt Viola taught me how to crochet on one of our family’s many summer trips from Washington DC to Milwaukee, WI. I was about 15 years old and already an avid knitter. My mom had taught me and two friends how to knit when I was around 11 years old. 

Once I got the hang of crocheting, I loved the fact that it was so much faster than knitting. Keep in mind, this was the 1960’s when worsted-weight yarn was about all there was to buy. So it was easy to finish a crochet project quickly. 

Plus, I could never get what I considered to be an even tension in my knitted fabric. Some stitches were loose, others tight. And I learned much later that I had been wrapping the yarn around the needle incorrectly. So I was never 100% pleased with the finished piece.

And then along came sewing. My maternal grandmother, I recently discovered through census records, was a dressmaker. No wonder mom was such an avid sewer. I can’t tell you how many handmade outfits I had to wear during elementary school. Hated it! 

I got my first taste of actual sewing during a high school home economics class and continued sewing into my 20’s and early 30’s, making clothes for myself. 

But by my mid-30’s, I had even dropped sewing and switched almost exclusively to crochet.

So why in the world would I want to quit crocheting at this late date?

Enter the Pandemic

When the pandemic hit, I got infected with the “face mask sewing” bug. I experimented with several designs (forget about pleats!) until I finally discovered the “perfect” face-mask pattern on YouTube. I began sewing in earnest and posting photos of masks I’d made for myself on Facebook. 

When Facebook friends started asking me to make them some, I took up the challenge and started selling them (hey guys, Imma Taurus?—?finance is my thang!).

This went on for several months. But the market eventually got flooded with cheap masks, and requests for orders dwindled down to nothing. So I decided to let go of selling masks and focused on making them for myself to compliment my wardrobe.

During this time, I was doing very little crocheting, except for some commissioned pieces that were a bit challenging. So after delivering the last one in September of 2021, I decided to quit crocheting on commission.

Even though the mask making had slowed down, I just knew that my focus would be primarily on sewing. I had an entire wardrobe planned, and figured I wouldn’t have the time to do much crocheting. I had even announced my departure from crochet on Facebook. A friend assured me that I would be back. I told her, no, I was finished with it.

And while I sewed some small projects after I let go of face-mask making, the wardrobe never materialized. I got a little depressed for a while and was also having issues with anxiety due to the craziness going on in the world.

Little did I understand at the time how letting go of crochet was magnifying these mental health issues.

Crochet To The Rescue!

What I forgot when I decided to quit crocheting last year was (1) I LOVE creating crocheted garments FOR MYSELF and (2) the repetitive motion of crochet has a stabilizing effect on my nervous system. 

Therefore, not only do I enjoy crocheting?—? as a highly sensitive person, I NEED to crochet.

The repetitive motion of crochet and the narrow focus it requires keeps my mind free of worrying thoughts and the endless ruminations it loves to engage in. When I start ruminating again, which I will most assuredly do, I simply become aware of it and bring my attention back to crocheting. This “moving meditation” calms and centers me.

I also get a nice serotonin boost from the repetitive movement of making stitches and from the sense of accomplishment I experience when I complete a project. Bye bye depression!

Best of all, needle crafting with yarn in general, not only slows down cognitive decline in older adults, it can rewire the brain to strengthen cognitive ability as well. At my age, I need all the cognitive strengthening I can get!

I still plan to do some sewing. My Moon in Gemini refuses to let me do just one thing. I have a couple of patterns and fabric lined up and ready to go. 

But some of the items in the wardrobe I had planned to sew are now going to be crocheted. And, who knows, I might even take on a commission from time to time. I just don’t want it to interfere with the creative projects I enjoy crocheting for myself, along with the mental health benefits making them provides.