Threading The Needle (or The Hook)

Everyone knows someone that knows their way with a thread and a needle. Perhaps you have a grandmother that crafted you socks too large for your age. Maybe you became familiar with the mild disappointment of opening a tin of cookies to find an assortment of threads and pins. Did the thought of “how do they do it?” ever pass your mind when seeing a half-unfurled ball of yarn weaved into a garment? Oftentimes I catch myself thinking just that. However, now is the time for action.

Photo by Magdaline Nicole on Pexels

This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve uttered that statement, nor would it be the last. In the past years, especially through many COVID-19 lockdowns, I declared to all my friends and family that I would become an avid crocheter. Not croquet as in the mallet and ball past-time, or croquette the deep fried roll; but, crochet, the weaving of yarn with a hook into something new.

Photo by Castorly Stock on Pexels

Countless times I would find myself at my desk with a hook in my right-hand and the yarn in my left. Minutes, perhaps hours, would pass and I’d find that beads of sweat collected on my forehead as my back formed a shape similar to the hook in my hand. I would feel my hands ache and cramp, unfamiliar with the action of weaving and the shape of wefts. Only when I straightened my back and my gaze refocused would I see the 5-7 stitches that haphazardly clung together resembling the ball it originated from, only a bit more knotted.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

I swore many times that I had given up and that the skill was beyond me; until I held the hook in my hand a week later. Fast forward to now, I am still just as inept when it comes to crocheting. But, perhaps with The Learning Project assignment I can have another incentive to pursue this skill.

My goal for this project is simple: MAKE SOMETHING. Now to those who furrow their brows and question why I would be so ambiguous with my goal, you have to understand that I am not someone who just picks up a new hobby. I am much more accustomed to living my life within a finite set of parameters that haven’t changed in years. I don’t want to be too ambitious and promise myself something so grand that I’ll be disappointed by the end of this project. Throughout the weeks, I hope to update you all with new stitches I’ve learned, aspirations that I’ve acquired, or techniques that were passed on through the web (pun intended).

So please follow along as I weave this web of learning and ambition into something perhaps more recognizable and maybe wearable.