So right now I am utterly addicted to the new book in the Stitch n Bitch series, 'Happy Hooker'. I bought it for myself as a treat when I got back to Boston to start my new semester here (I'm in my last year of my degree!!! AAAAHHHH!!!) I have always been a huge fan of the Stitch n Bitch series, the first of which I received for Christmas 2 years ago (just after starting in Boston) and have been on a knitting spree ever since. This book on crotchet is great though and finally bridges the gaps that myself and my Mother weren't able to get over ourselves.
I've been knitting since I was very small, I think about 3/4 years old, though my want to do it came and went every few years, depending of fashion, school work and if I could steal anymore of my Mam's yarn. Mammy taught me, her wee left-handed daughter to knit, and I took to it immediately. Art and Maths collide in my life often, particularly as I love Music, but I think knitting was the first place these two loves of mine met. However, my Mammy's true love and calling is crotchet. She was taught as a young girl by an elderly neighbour of her family and used to make all sorts of crazy beehive hats and scarves for her ones. When it came to teaching me though, it all went wrong. For a start I did everything backwards from her and it seemed so crazy and freeform to me that I just couldn't grasp it. UNTIL NOW!! All of a sudden everything my Mam ever said to me has started making sense. I crotcheted my first scarf over the summer and am now working on the bohemian granny-squares bag in 'Happy Hooker' and loving it. Suddenly it doesn't seem random and non-sensical, it seems liberating and allowing for improvisation.
I also have a new appreciation for my Mammy's crotcheted creations. I have always loved them but now I see their inner workings more clearly and that deepens the love. Mammy will crotchet just about anything that sits still long enough but these last few years she has been experimenting with wire and beading to creat magnificent crotcheted jewellery - necklaces, cuffs, even belt pieces - and even better she has started selling them in local craft stores at home, under the name 'Lily Cobweb'! The two pics I have at the top of the page are of a necklace she made as a present for my friend Kelly and the other is of some crazy 'bullion' thingys she's been playing with recently, kind of looks like beach treasure!
She still does her lace and baby blanket and has been promising me a little 70's crotcheted dress for as long as I remember, but it is this new innovative work that really grabs my attention. I want to be as creative and free-spirited as she is, and usually I am, especially in my music, but recently I have lost that impulse. I think its kind of been worked out of me in school but I want to find it again! Truth be told, I was never that Mathsy, I loved it but my heart lies happy with the ethereal, spiritual force inside me that never cared I couldn't cut paper in a straight line (left-handed perogative!) and stand still when I played my flute (used to drive my teacher nutty..supposedly ruins your tone, but it was good music, I had to move and look who's in music school now!). Anyway that is enough ranting, especially considering I don't actually have ANY readers yet. Oh well, this blogs just for me and it's made me super happy!!
1 comment:
Here is comment number three on your blog (from a former flute player):-) Congratulations and welcome to blogland. I'm sure you'll like it. Highly addictive yes, but that's OK :-) I got hooked on crocheting last year, and that's very addicitve to :-)
Post a Comment