The old saying is
‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’
But for me, my crafting started with a single stitch. I had become ill with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) and was struggling to cope with the loss of job (and associated status/money etc). I had knit a few jumpers as a child, thought I would be good to learn a new craft & so I decided upon crochet. I found a teacher & persuaded my mother-in-law to accompany me to the 8week course. She went straight back to her knitting… but I was hooked!
This was the result – a sampler blanket, learning a new technique every week & using it in ‘homework’ by crocheting squares. This blanket was much adored by me and surprisingly heavy. There were many times when I snuggled under it, comforted by its warmth and my sense of achievement. It is now (I hope) comforting refugees in Syria as I was moved by compassion for their plight believing they needed it more than I did. I co-ordinated a few of us to crochet(or knit) a large boxful of blankets and donated to SixtyMillionTrebles appeal. At the time there was an estimated sixty million refugees in the world (now the number is 68.5 million according to UNHCR, an increase of more than 10% in a few years!).
I still love to crochet and here is a multi coloured blanket on my hook at the moment
So I’ll finish this first blog post with my favourite crochet related quote and it’s associated mental health benefits
‘CROCHET keeps me from unravelling’
AngeLisa Crafts 