Crochet Connection

Crocheting connects me with others, with myself and with God. Crochet connects me with others because sharing my passion with others is a must. I want to see the crochet of others; I teach crochet to others; I show my crochet creations with others; I meet with others just to talk crochet. Mostly, I delight in seeing the delight of my friends when I give them a crocheted-just-for-them gift.

Crochet connects me with myself because I am a deeply creative person with a colorful, delightful, intriguing, curious, humorous imagination. Crochet expresses the wonderful positive traits within my heart, and leaves less room for the negative ones. Crochet challenges me, gives me emotional outlets, quiets me in a storm, comforts me in both good and bad times, absorbs my mind, and its rhythmic movement soothes my soul. Crochet presents opportunities to learn new, to create those new neuron pathways in my aging brain, to think in new ways.

Crochet connects me with God because of an analogy that popped into my mind long ago. When I crochet I have complete (well almost) complete control over my creation. I can do with the yarn/wire/thread whatever pleases me. Sometimes it turns out well, and sometimes it doesn't. I learned in first grade that I am created in the image and likeness of God. Well--that's more than a whole mouthful, and more than a lifetime of thinking in that one statement. Obviously, at least to me, God is a Creator, and I am a creator. I know, I know, the analogy limps a bit here and there, especially with the concept of power! But I have complete power over the yarn. The big difference, of course, is that if I don't like the last row or two, I can FROG it - but I can't FROG the last day or two, or year or two, of God's creation-my life. But I can learn from my mistakes in a couple of ways - the first is not to make the same mistake - but the second way is a bit more like life - I can keep the mistake and turn it into a new and, hopefully, better creation. Recently I was crocheting a bathtub, and when I started I had one method in mind, but then as I went on I wasn't pleased with the result but I had already put in a lot of time figuring out how to crochet a bathtub and then doing it, so I didn't want to FROG my work. I thought, and I thought, and then I "thunk" some more and came up with a way to complete the bathtub without undoing my previous "mistakes" aka work. The end result is a far better bathtub! Do you think maybe that is what we can do with out life, too? Use what we have, be it what we intended to have but what was thwarted by the uncontrollable part of life, and turn it into an even more brillant creation? maybe that's what God had in mind when she gave us (even tho limited) freedom to choose, to make decisions for ourselves?

I AM CONNECTED.

Crochet and creating

I was standing in the backyard; a green dollar bill in one hand, and a lighted match in the other. I lit the bill and watched the green change to orange. When the fire reached my fingers and I felt the heat, I dropped the remains. Because the dollar was mine, I could do anything I wanted with it because I have freedom of choice. I am free to do whatever I want with my dollar bill - I could make a stupid, bad, intriguing, fascinating, wise, creative, imaginative or even useful choice (like spending it for more yarn). I could even crochet with it... If Pauline could crochet with ice cream, then I surely could crochet with a dollar bill!

This is how I feel about a ball of yarn -- it is an inanimate object but I can put life into it --crocheting booties and putting them on 5 day old Mikala's tiny feet - really puts life into them! I wonder if this is how God sees her very animated creations. The most like-God act of creation is to create a baby like tiny Mikala. And following this line of thought, giving birth to our yarn creation is starting the process of crocheting strands of yarn - one little slip stitch is all it takes to create something like this:

Crocheting lessons

To crochet is to create! I take a skein or two of yarn and manipulate it to create a new item. I have complete control (w-e-l-l, most of the time anyway) over the yarn and what it will look like when I create a new something. I can do with it what I want. Is this maybe something like the relationship of the Creator to the creature?

I am grateful for my hands and their ability to shape yarn into a new creation. I am grateful for my imagination which enables me to add a bit of "whimsy" and a crazy combination of colors to my creations. I can think out of the box -even tho my box is circular like a hat box, not square to begin with. I am grateful than I enjoy the journey of creation more than the creation. (The journey is always fun and fascinating and full of satisfcation - the creation may end up being imperfect or exquisite but it matters not because of the enjoyable trek getting there).