Knitting and Crochet are cool as heck!

 

I don't usually pay much attention to sport (yes, I was that kid who was literally ALWAYS picked last whenever teams were being picked for P.E) but definitely paid more attention to the Olympics this year, mostly because of the explosion of interest in knitting and crochet generated by a bloke (imagine that!) showing his pride in wrangling yarn. Diver Tom Daley proudly sat in the stands knitting his little socks off (actually no, it was a dog sweater) and before you knew it, the whole British press and lifestyle influencer community were going absolutely nutso over the prospect of ordinary everyday folk (even men) taking up the hobby. 

People have asked me the same questions they were asking Tom. "What the heck are you playing at? Why knitting? Why Crochet?" and his answers were pretty much bang on the nail and paralleled my own reasons for taking up these pursuits. 

In truth, Knitting and crochet perfectly align with most of the other hobbies I have. Firstly they're creative. Making something out of a basic set of components has always been alluring, whether it's moulding something out of clay or plasticine, turning a blank sheet of paper into a detailed illustration or knocking seven bells out of a chunk of wood to carve it into something more interesting (sadly that hobby has died a death in later years as I don't have the luxury of a workshop or garage). Most creative hobbies can be done anywhere at any time (I nearly always carry a sketch pad with me and some pencils if I know I'm going to be out and about) and knitting / crochet are the same (though it's not always easy to carry a bag of yarn and a stack of needles with you). 

Knitting and crochet take you out of the world for a few minutes / hours, in fact that's something else that they have in common with other hobbies, hours slip by almost unnoticed and while whatever your making takes shape (in my case very slowly) the rest of the world feels like it's been put on hold. It's absolutely perfect for destressing. I often pick up odd bits of yarn at the end of the day of work to practice new techniques, or attack a few more rows on the ugly christmas sweater I'm making (which I've blogged about extensively). 

The other thing knitting and crochet have in common with my other interests and hobbies is that there's always something new to learn, always some way to improve your current skills, and always that delicious feeling that this time, this attempt, this very moment, you might just crack the knack of doing something that has eluded you up to that point (like for example the recent "wow" moment of getting intarsia knitting to work for the first time). 

I've never really been the sort of person who can stare at a mobile phone screen for long (social media has its charms up to a point but I could not spend all evening doomscrolling like the girls in the house do), I've even given up on videogames lately purely because of the frustration of so many modern games just being hollow shells or only keeping you occupied for a few short hours before being consigned to their dusty shelves. Yet 8 months on I'm still spending most of my spare time tangled up in yarn making stuff and can definitely agree with Mr Daley that there's no finer way to show people how awesome you think they are than by giving them something you've made for them (even if, in my case, most of the time they give you VERY funny looks when you do!)

So for those who scoff, I put to you a challenge. Go and grab yourself a cheapo knitting / crochet kit, some nice quality yarn (most yarn balls cost less than a pint or something from Starbucks), and go through some of the tutorials and guides I've posted about here and see what you can make! You might just get hooked too!