knitting neels

The name of today’s game is obsession. The past two weekends, I have had the great pleasure of teaching Beginner’s Crochet and Next Steps in Crochet with Charlene at This is Knit. The demand for these classes pleases me no end because crochet has really gotten a bad rap. There is also a bizarre stigma attached to it by many knitters who believe that it is “hard”, “stupid” and simply “not as good as knitting”. I think a lot of this is to do with the fact that crochet, like many other things, is much easier to understand when shown, as opposed to be being described in a book. Anyway, Charlene loves to crochet squares and turn them into fantastic things like bags and she told me about a book called 200 Crochet Blocks. I picked it up yesterday on my way home from the class.

Pretty, no? I have about 1500m of acrylic in my stash that I had intended for a light cardigan about three years ago. Looking at it in the drawer, I realised that I will have a sampler blanket for the sofa much quicker than I will have that cardigan.

Each block in the book measures about six inches square and each block takes around 30 minutes to make up. With 200 blocks to choose from, it all adds up to some pretty obsessive crocheting.

I’m really quite astonished because I thought I would never, ever make something like a blanket… but this is too quick for even me to get bored.

I have been invited over to lovely Laura’s for dinner tonight so I have brownies to make.

Maybe just one more square….