Rediscovery of an old craft
The global corona pandemic has been going on a lot longer than most people anticipated. After an initial phase of not acknowledging reality and thinking it would go back to normal next week - this time for real - I’ve shifted my mental mode and told myself this is normal now. This made it a lot easier to handle the uncertainty and neverending weeks of lockdown and limitations.
One of the (re-)discoveries I made to keep me occupied and engaged is crochet. Initially, I was a bit dismissive of it having some negative stereotypes about it being old-fashioned, time-consuming, and generally not cool. Though time-consuming, that wasn’t actually a drawback right now.
I started off with a family tradition (together with my mother) of making our own oven gloves. After creating two sets, I got a bit bored and stopped for awhile. But then I got drawn to it again after seeing some cute little baskets. Looking for some possible Christmas presents and having some time in my hand I followed a detailed and to the point tutorial. I was surprised at how easy it was to get into the rhythm and finished one for myself. It gave me a great feeling of accomplishment! Though, counting the correct stitches especially for the round parts can be quite frustrating. Who knew it’s so hard to count to three, 20 times in a row, without getting distracted. 🤔 Over time it became something meditative and also adding small mood boosters that could be accomplished in a relatively short period of time (think one evening).
But again, you can only make so many baskets and I needed a new option. Then I stumbled on amigurumi. The simple definition of amigurumi are crocheted (or knitted) toys. There are a few styles but I was mostly drawn to the small and cute animals. Again, Youtube is your friend with a wealth of great tutorials. I’m impressed by the number of people putting in the time to show step by step how to create different amigurumi!
The majority can be done with a few simple stitches that are good for beginners. The main stitches/techniques you need are:
The rest is often a combination of these. Watching a few best practices videos to get it going with the wisdom of the crowd gives you a few more tips that will give you a good result nearly from the start:
Overall, I gained a new appreciation about an old tradition and respect for the women that historically where creating clothes, blankets and other items. It takes dedication, patience and an attention to detail that can be frustrating at times. But more than that it is a fun past-time that you can add to a repertoire of crafts to bring your ideas to life. 😄