I {HEART} CROCHET

I came to the fiber arts through crochet. My mother taught me when I was so young that I don't even have a clear memory of being taught. I do remember spending hours making crochet chains, trying to see how long I could get them before I grew too bored to go on. As I got older, I moved on to thread crochet. I made doilies and fillet crochet picture-squares before realizing that I didn't like them enough to display them, which (in my mind) made the making rather pointless.

Mom had taught me to knit as well, but when I picked it up again as an adult it quickly supplanted crochet as my fiber art of choice. Crochet seemed so hopelessly old-fashioned, so 70s acrylic, all granny-square kitsch with none of the smooth sophistication and flair of knitting. I put my hooks aside.

But recently, my older DD has been asking for a blanket. She dearly loves all my handmade gifts, and since I realize that this will not last forever, I want to capitalize on it while I still can. If the girl wants a blanket, then a blanket she will get.

I decided to pick a crochet pattern because, like it or not, crochet does work up faster than knitting. I looked up free crochet afghan patterns on Ravelry and let her choose the one she liked best; she picked the Easy Ripple Afghan. We then went to Michael's and I let her pick her colors of Cotton-Ease, whichever she wanted. She chose "rainbow," which meant we went home with seven more-or-less primary colors plus white. I cast on two days ago. Here's what I have so far:

Unbefrickinlieveable, isn't it? Two days of easy double crochet and I've got a foot of blanket-width fabric to show for it. The rhythm of the pattern is soothing, and it feels good to wield a crochet hook again. DDM (formerly Baby M, though with her 5th birthday fast approaching she's hardly a baby any more) has already said she loves how the blanket looks, and at this rate it will be done in time for her birthday in just a few weeks. While I love the look of the knitted afghan I've been toiling over for the past few years (on size 4 needles, with the end nowhere in sight), there's really nothing like a crocheted blanket for a fast, satisfying project that produces BIG results in little time. Yay, crochet!