Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Hook, line and yarn

We had a lovely family gathering this year: fourteen of us snuggled into a comfortable fishing lodge in the Highlands of Scotland for a week's fishing.  It was like something out of an Enid Blyton novel - especially when fresh cake and tea got wheeled out every afternoon!

The Granny Square collection
Whilst I enjoy fishing, and love being by a river, this year I packed a different hook and line.  I went with a very clear goal of making a blanket.  A friend had taught me to crochet so I started on the simplest thing I could think of - Granny Squares - and headed north stocked up with yarn, hooks and a slightly obsessed air.

Needless to say I was given a hard time by my kids.  They teased me and made me the butt of their 'granny'  jokes, but I just smiled knowingly to myself and carried on with my project.

As a creative project granny squares are great; they don't take too long to make, it is relatively easy to learn and there are many things you can turn those squares into: gloves, scarves, blankets etc.  As well as being right on trend,  crocheting is a great way to calm the mind.  Research has shown that being engaged in sewing, knitting or crocheting reduces stress, breathing becomes deeper and the same area of the brain associated with meditation is activated.

A few days into our holiday and the tide turned; the very people who were teasing me were suddenly sitting down asking me to show them how to crochet.  Within days I had my own little school going.  That's why I had smiled so knowingly, I knew what was going to happen and had packed extra hooks and yarn so that people could get started on their own projects (and no-one would mess with my blanket project!)

Keep calm and snuggle up.
"I feel a bit like Attilla the Hun, making you do it over and over again until its right," I said as I was teaching them the basics, "but you'll thank me in the end."

"Oh mum, you're not like Attilla the Hun," my son said reassuringly, "more like Genghis Yarn."

I obviously need to crochet more to work on my patience.

Any excuse!





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