Crochet Projects and Giving Back

Did I mention my hobby yet? I really thought I had, but I glanced back at my introductory post and bio and didn’t see it. I know I mentioned it in the comments over at Isaac Fitzgerald's Substack, Walk It Off in a post about helping yourself while you help others, so maybe that’s what I’m thinking about.

Anyway, yeah, I’ve been doing this for about four years now. I started right about the time I finished doing physical therapy on my left elbow, which I crushed into powder by landing on it after slipping on ice in the parking lot at work. That was a fun day. Maybe I’ll find a poem that I can tie that story into and go into it at length.

So I did surgery and got plates and screws in there and then did weeks and weeks of physical therapy and then decided I wanted to do something that would maybe help me keep my hand loose and also force me to put my phone down for a while and I thought about all the beautiful things my wonderful mother-in-law made using just yarn and a hook and thought I’d try it. And Amy was interested too, so we got a kit and we got a book and I couldn’t figure out anything but a chain stitch for the longest time. Those pictures just did not translate into meaningful action for me. And then I tried YouTube and let me tell you, I haven’t had a feeling like that since the time when I was in college and discovered guitar tablatures. Holy shit. I don’t know if angels literally sang behind me or if that was on the video in the background (someone should do that, make instructional videos that occasionally have that angels-in-midheaven sound when they walk you through a half-double crochet front loop only or something) but it just opened all these possibilities for me.

Most of the things I make fall into two categories: things to wear and things to play with. Lots of hats and scarves and cowls in part because those are easy and I can let my mind drift a bit in spots, which I need because I’m constantly bombarded with things trying to get my attention that if I don’t make myself, I’ll never drift off and hit that creative place.

The other fun thing about hats and scarves is that once you get the basics down, you don’t really need patterns anymore. Lots of space for experimentation.

Most of the hats and scarves I make these days wind up either in our Little Free Library or in the community pantry at our daughters’ school. There’s only so many hats and scarves a family needs.

Other clothing items I’ve made include socks and sweaters. I’m doing a sweater right now for myself that, at my current rate, will be ready for winter 2025 I guess. I’ll keep you posted.

The other big category is plushies, mostly for my kids, but some for me and Amy as well. These take a lot more concentration because I’m definitely working from a pattern. I have yet to really try to do one from scratch but someday maybe. Here’s a sampling of some I’ve done over the last couple of years.

Those are, from top left to bottom right, Gudetama, Pinch the Goblin, Molly the Sweet Tooth Fairy, Mimikyu, Camilla, Link, Slowpoke and Kirby. There’s a lot more of them and I’m always making more. I’ll post more pics in the future if y’all are interested.

There are a couple of times I have just decided to try something and see if it works out. Last year I went to visit my sister in Texas and I wanted to bring a local gift so I bought a bottle of Cedar Ridge Bourbon. But I wanted to make it look like a gift and maybe pad it a little so it wouldn’t shatter in my suitcase on the way so I made this.

Yeah, I made an ear of corn. The yellow tie at the top is supposed to look like tassels and if I were to do another I might try tapering the kernels a little more at the top and bottom but I really liked this idea.

If you’ve read this far, I appreciate it and I’d also like to make you an offer. I’ve had it suggested to me more than once that I could make and sell these kinds of things, make it a side hustle, but I’ve got a job and I don’t want a second one. There have been too many times in my life when I had multiple jobs because I had to have them. I don’t want to mess up my enjoyment of this hobby by trying to make money off it.

On the other hand, I like making things for people and I like helping worthy organizations, so here’s my suggestion. If you’d like me to make something for you, hat, scarf, plushy, drop me a line or leave a comment and we’ll talk about what you’d like. The only cost to you will be a donation of whatever size you can afford to your local food bank. You don’t need to tell me how much you gave; honestly, I’d rather not know. I’ll trust that you’ve done it. Thanks for reading.