Well I was going to call this article “Real Men Crochet”, and that is still applicable however RECENTLY I have had an unusual amount of emotional ‘stress’ and I have really appreciated my crocheting – more than normal. My life has been on hold for a few weeks and whilst sitting, waiting, pacing, worrying and comforting in various hospitals and nursing homes I found that crocheting saved me. So I now figure that I need to save the world one person at a time and you need to help me – pretty please.
read more »

A Guest Post by May Ashley.

Do you know the saying, “an apple a day, keeps the doctors away”? Well I think crocheting has the same effect (or maybe even better). I crochet everyday. It does not matter how long. Sometimes it’s just for 10 minutes other times it’s for a couple hours. I am a busy working woman, so I can not always spend the whole day crocheting. But I do crochet religiously everyday.
read more »

Have you ever made a gift and the recipient hasn’t used it? Have you taken offense? I know I have been very upset when something I have made ends up hidden in the cupboard or the guest room that never has guests in it.

I am sure it has happened to some of you – however I hope it hasn’t – giving the perceived unwanted gift. The gift you have slaved over with thought and love and they have no idea what went into it. Gifts that you spend hours on to find they are stuffed in a spare bedroom that is a totally different color when you thought it would be nice in the lounge. Nobody wants to be put on a pedestal but a genuine thanks would be nice don’t you think?

Think again my crocheting friends.
read more »

Have you seen Olek’s crocheted art yet? It is fun to look at and always puts a smile on my face when I see it. Yet, it always has me perplexed as to the meaning behind it. Previously I’m written about the Wall Street Bull with Crochet Cozy, but I’ve recently come across a new exhibit of Olek’s work. This display was on the streets of New York and is titled “Crocheted Grapefruit” based on an idea from Yoko Ono’s book.
read more »

My craft room is my nemesis. I am very lucky I have a craft room all to myself that doesn’t double as anything else. In 2000 we built a house to our needs, once again we are very fortunate to have been able to do that. So why then does this one room terrify and intimidate me at the same time?

It all started so very simple, we moved in and all was perfect in there. I gave up my job when we moved in to become a full time mother to our then 3 and 10 year old daughters. Money was short so I worked from home. First I did piece work sewing for a company so everything had to be perfect in the craft room in order to determine what was theirs and what was mine. I slowly went mad doing that so I began my own business sewing and crocheting. An odd assortment of fabrics, cottons, zippers, buttons, lace, and various other things all built up in my room with my precious yarns and threads.
read more »

With the exception of the obvious dialects around the world, the language our forefathers spoke, we all speak another language to each other but can actually understand each other. As far as spoken language I am only versed in English, toddler, and teenager – for those of you without toddlers and teenagers, believe me, they speak a different language.

As I write these stories each week I write in English, or more precisely, Australian. After I have finished my writing I then go over it all and make it American. Rachel prefers me to write in American. You would be surprised how many words are different.
read more »

Well, Rachel has out witted me again. This article that you are reading, well the one with the above title – she sabotaged me. I thought it was a good idea, I had it ¾ written and then I went to the Crochet Spot home page for something and what was there staring me in the face??? Hmmmmmm??? “Submit Your Crochet Pictures!”.

Well I got all bent out of shape there for a bit, just because this is her site she shouldn’t steal my ideas should she? Even though she had no idea I was writing a post about making stuff from this site. Maybe she could have mentioned she is psychic.
read more »

I had something written for all of you it was titled “WIP and WIM”, that’s changed – as you can tell by the title of the article you are now reading. I’ve kept with the original thread but added some! I know your just bursting with excitement to find out why I have changed the title (pretend you are) – I shall tell you.

Firstly, what am I going on about? For the uninitiated, a WIP is a “work in progress”, you know, the one or ones you are currently working on even if you have only done the first row before putting it into a bag or box and forgetting about it. A WIM is a “work in mind”, they are all the other projects that you know you need to, or want to do next.
read more »

How far would YOU go to get some yarn, and I don’t mean distance?

I am now officially something…. not sure what though, I could be totally deranged, insane, fixated, total idiot, obsessed, possessed or maybe on a more positive note simply dedicated to my crochet. How have I come to this conclusion?

I really, truly hope that you cannot relate in any way to this story because it is really, really embarrassing. The only reason I am sharing this with you is because we will never meet. I am in Australia and I don’t think there are many Australians on this site, also my address in not published. Just a side note – I am really quite bright, I manage a hubby, house, children, animals and have a degree. This story I do not believe, and hope isn’t, a normal episode in my life.
read more »

It is pretty close to what we call winter where I live. I am on the east coast of Australia and it is getting quite nippy here. Our summers are very hot and unpleasant, summer is also our wet season so the humidity only adds to the discomfort – I am a cold weather girl myself. Admittedly the word cold here is a joke really and I have never even seen snow, but the fire place needs to be lit and the warm winter woollies have to come out. A lot of you reading this will probably be either coming into warmer weather or are well and truly there now.

Crocheting when it is cool is therapeutic. It is nice to snuggle up and make something warm and fuzzy – it is just good, that’s all I can say. What happens in the warmer months? Do you find crochet sort of takes a back seat? If your crocheting does come to a bit of a halt, then I need to ask WHY?
read more »