"What, you crochet? What are you, some kind of weirdo?"

 

Yes, that's me, on the left with my beautiful daughter, back before Christmas last year when I first picked up a crochet hook and was determined to learn properly after years of trying. 

A lumpy middle aged bald bloke with a beard, not the sort of person you'd associate with crochet or amigurumi but hopelessly addicted to it nonetheless. 

But why? 

There are lots of reasons! Not that I feel the need to justify my obsession with this hobby, but here they are anyway. 

• Keeping your hands and brain occupied. When you get to my age, any spare time is usually taken up by mundane stuff you'd rather not be doing. Taking the bins out, fixing the money pit of a house up, all sorts of rubbish things that get in the way of actual hobbies. I also share a house with two women, and any guy will tell you that doing so usually involves a LOT of waiting around for them to get ready, get up in the morning or join you in any outdoorsy activities or trips. So why not do something while you're waiting? (I also sketch, draw, bake, cook and play videogames but most of those activities have taken a bit of a back seat lately!

• Making something out of nothing. You start any project with a ball of yarn, a hook, and some weird instructions. You end a project (hopefully) with something tangible in your hands, something you've made yourself - and if you're lucky, it doesn't look too bad! There's something hugely satisfying in that, and I would probably be the first to say that if I was a manly man with a huge workshop at my disposal, I'd probably craft stuff out of wood, or sculpt, or a dozen other methods of producing tangible works of 3D art!

• You can do it anywhere at any time, with the minimum of materials! Yep it's true. All you need is a hook, some yarn, a pair of scissors and a darning needle and you're good to go. You can crochet while everyone else is watching the TV, or sitting on their phones or computers and it's wholly engrossing. In fact the best thing about crochet is the worst thing about crochet, the time just seems to disappear while you're doing it!

• You can make cool stuff to give as gifts! At the moment we're still in the midst of the third lockdown due to COVID-19 which means shops are closed. With a lot of birthdays coming up, it's been really good to be able to make stuff I can gift to family members for just the cost of postage (and most crochet is nice and light so doesn't cost an arm and a leg to parcel up and post). It's also giving the gift of your time to someone. I made Doctor Who for my brother, and an Animal Crossing character for my sister - both of which took quite a few hours to complete and I put a lot of effort into getting them 'just right'. I know if someone did the same for me, I'd be delighted. 

• No two projects are the same. Even if you're making the same thing again, it often turns out better (or worse) the second time around so there's the constant challenge of learning from your mistakes. 

• There are so many skills to learn, stitches to perfect, and new methods to master. The internet is filled with tutorials, sites, videos and patterns - and a lot of them are free so get yourselves over to Ravelry.com or The Spruce Crafts and fill your boots! YouTube also has a lot of videos (mostly from women with lovely nail jobs and pretty hands) so go there, search for Amigurumi and you'll be in crochet heaven!