Why "Crochet Journey"?

I call my classes "Crochet Journey" because my view is that we grow together as a class.  Crochet is not something to be learned once and completed in a few weeks; it is a lifetime journey of learning and increasing our skill and deepening our appreciation for the wonderful benefits of crochet, in the items we make for our family, friends and ourselves to the peaceful quality that comes from rhythmic creative activity.  

Crochet is practical, whimsical, beautiful, rough, smooth, easy, difficult, fun, satisfying, and endlessly fascinating.  There's always something new to learn, always a new direction in which to stretch and grow and gain new skills.  

Crochet is also a place to retreat when life gets to be just too much to bear sometimes.  Settling into a comfortable rhythm of stitching, experiencing the "zen" of crochet, is a beneficial meditative activity that refreshes the mind and spirit.  

It is my privilege and pleasure to teach crochet in Portland.  I'd like to teach you to crochet, too!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Long Ago and Far Away...

Image
Not long ago I was participating in a local knitting/crochet group when the conversation came around to the first item we'd ever knitted or crocheted.  A couple of the members still actually had that first sweater or scarf!  I couldn't claim that, but I knew there was a picture of me wearing that first finished project, and I found it while rummaging through old pictures this weekend. I wrote a bit awhile back about how I first started crocheting , but I didn't mention what I'd crocheted first.  The McCall's magazine that touted crochet as an accent to sewing offered a free pattern for both a hat and a scarf, and this is the hat in the picture.  I decided to make the hat first and went to Woolworth's to buy a skein of their classic yarn in orange, since I was in high school and our school colors were orange and black.  It was Christmastime, and I wanted to be sure I could make this first test hat before making hats for others.  I worked on it at home, b...
Read more

The Wheatsheaf Stitch

Image
It's the first Monday of the month, and that means a new stitch for our Square of the Month! The stitch for December is the Wheatsheaf Stitch, also known as the Mini-Arcade Stitch.  This is a terrific stitch for scarves, blankets and throws.  It's easy to learn, with a pattern based on a multiple of 5 stitches plus 2 for the base chain.  Yarn is KnitPicks Brava Worsted in a cheerful Paprika. Here's our class hard at work on their own squares.  This is our fourth Square of the Month; eight more to go to complete our 12 squares to sew/crochet together next September.  Next week we'll be starting on pet sweaters for our furry family members and friends. We're always working on something new in our Crochet Journey classes!  Come join us Mondays at 10 a.m.; see you then!
Read more

Graphing it out...

Image
The graph and resulting C2C sample look simple, right?  Not so fast; there's a good amount of planning and attention to detail that goes into every crocheted graphic design.  With practice and skill, plus the help of software designed to produce ready-made graphs of any photo, the sky's the limit as to what images can be reproduced with yarn! There are three ways to stitch C2C, or corner-to-corner crochet:  cutting and weaving in ends when changing colors in each diagonal row (slow and tedious, but looks great when completed, and is completely reversible), cutting the ends and tying them on the back (when creating a wall hanging or pillow, where the reverse side will not be seen), or by "carrying" the yarn, crocheting over the strands of unused colors to keep them at the ready for the color changes (efficient, but there are a few "floats" or short strands of yarn that can be seen, especially on the reverse side).  None of these methods is particularl...
Read more