Knitting Passion

Knitting is not my first learned craft. I actually didn’t start to knit until I was in high school when a friend showed me how to cast on and do the basic knit and purl stitches. She may have shown me, but by the time I was ready, I totally had forgotten how to cast off. That first piece was truly a sight, I’ll tell you!

My first craftiness actually was crochet. My grandmother taught me when I was four years old. She sat me down on the porch - oh, yes, we had a porch on nearly every one of our rentals - with strips of fabric tied together and taught me to make my first rag rug.

But, what I remember most is the big wooden crochet hook she gave me. I sure wish I still had it, but have no clue whatever happened to it. It was hand whittled by her brother, so that would make him my “grand uncle”, right? Yeah, I get confused, too, by the various stages of relationships.

I came across a site this morning that has me waxing nostaligic. Turn of the Century Crochet Hooks. Here’s a picture I borrowed from them:

These just remind me so much of the one I used for the rugs.

In talking with my friends on Saturday, we began to compare notes on, of all things, how we hold our hooks. My grandmother was never able to get me to hold the hook “properly” (see figure 3 on that page). Instead I hold the hook so the end is tucked into my palm and I control the motion with my whole hand. I guess that is the easiest way to explain it.

Holding it the way the picture show and the way Grandma wanted me to always felt too awkward.

So, my friends and I were chatting about it and I finally think I have the answer to it. I was only FOUR years old!!!! My dexterity wasn’t as good then as my grandmother’s and so I learned to hold the hook the way it felt best to me.

And, you know - it works, too. My gauge is generally right on and my stitches look neat.

So, I guess the moral of this story is - hold the hook the way it feels best to you - and crochet or knit to your heart’s delight.

By the way, I’m still watching what to do in Columbus this spring. Granddaughter is beginning (I think) to get excited about the trip - or maybe she is just resigned to spending 10 days with her doddering old grandparents. lol. At any rate, WE are excited.

Hubby and I have both received our passports (what? you don’t need a passport for Ohio?) and we have been picking up some things for the granddaughter also. (a new carry-on bag, notebooks - all in various shades of PINK, etc.)

So, stay tuned for the updates.

p.s. if there is an ad on this site that you find distasteful, I’d like you all to know that I have no control over the ads shown on this or any 451 press site. But, I will take your concerns to TPTB. Thanks for bringing them to my attention.