my history of crochet / or: you can probably crochet too

In July of 2012 I went to a lovely wedding, in which this yellow shoe featured.

It was held in the country by a lake and I thought the evening might be cool. I'd decided to wear a blue dress and to make myself a shawl to wear with it. I thought it would be fun to crochet it.
I didn't know how to crochet. When I was growing up, I thought of crochet as a fussy activity that resulted in fancy borders and antimacassars. I like the word antimacassar but wouldn't want any on my furniture.

More recently I was watching a friend who crochets. It's relaxing to follow the path of her hook plying in and out of the pattern she's knotting. Her string of yarn spools off a heathery nest she bought when she was in Edinburgh, or from a funky yarn store close to where she lives in Montreal. She makes all kinds of things, even dresses.

One advantage to crochet is that you can drop your hook or lose it in your bag, pick it up, find a loop and keep crocheting. Try that with knitting! You'd have a disaster.

Did you know that E.M. Forster crocheted?
http://kevinfromcanada.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/aspects-of-the-novel-by-e-m-forster-a-guest-post-from-kathleen-winter/

I watched a few Youtube videos on how to crochet and taught myself how to do stitches. It's not hard if you already know how to knit. I bought a linen/cotton blend and started my shawl.

So it took a while. I wore a red dress to the wedding.

Good thing the bride and groom didn't wait. I finished the shawl last week.