By Tawni Rogers
Crochet became more than just a craft for me once I finally started to make things for other people. When you are making something for yourself or trying things out, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But once I had people start requesting things, or I started making gifts for people, it became more of a really experienced hobby for me.
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Coasters, Pot Holders, and Every Craft Fair I Could Book
When I decided to sit at craft fairs or have booths at markets, I was producing things like crazy. Almost to a dangerous degree, where if you turned your hobby into a job, it wouldn't be fun anymore. But it was a good little side hustle for the time of life I was in. I was making lots of generic things like coasters, pot holders, and scarves.
I would even get a little fancier and make lots of the fruits and vegetables, things I could sell really cheaply, and just find out what people would buy, and I could go through really quickly. But it was a lot of work. Every moment I had after work in the evenings was spent at home making things as fast as I could for markets.
Simple Scarves and Baby Blankets for Friends
Like most people, I picked up a new hobby during the pandemic, and that's exactly when I started crocheting for the first time. It was kind of timed just right by accident. So when we were all in lockdown, I was learning as fast as I could to make whatever.
During that first period when I was learning, I was making lots of fun things for my family, like pot holders and scarves. Really, really simple scarves. During that time, I also started making baby blankets for friends who were having babies, and I was always really proud of them. I could hand them off, and hopefully their kids would use them for many years to come.
Why My Hands Need to Stay Busy
I initially picked up this hobby because I'm a very anxious person. After I get done with work, if I slow down or sit down, I am usually too anxious to pay attention to things, and I just need a way to calm my mind. So I picked up this hobby because it keeps my hands busy, but you can also kind of still listen to what's happening around me or watch a movie.
But because my hands are busy, I feel that more calming nature of it. Counting and doing things in a pattern are just really soothing, especially once you get the muscle memory down and you don't necessarily have to pay attention to every stitch. I love that feeling of just going and going, and not realizing that you're making something while I'm watching a movie and doing other things with family.
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It's really fun to look up and have something done at the end of it. And to have made something that you're really proud of, and that you know your hands created.
Blankets Calm Me Down, Sweaters Do Not
The most calming projects for me are something like making a blanket or a scarf because it's the same stitch or two repeated hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Those are almost mindless projects where you have the muscle memory; you are doing the same stitch over and over, the project is getting bigger before your eyes, and you're not really having to focus on as much.
The projects that do not calm me down are the ones I have to pay really close attention to, like when I make things people wear, cardigans and sweaters. Even when I try to make an amigurumi animal, there's lots of counting, there's lots of rounds, there's lots of different stitches you have to do to make certain shapes and sizes. And while those are fun, they're definitely not the projects that I do when I need to calm down. They're definitely not mindless, in the way bigger flat projects are.
The Scarf I Keep Beside My Bed
Oh, when I'm upset, I absolutely reach for my crochet. I'm sometimes a terrible sleeper as well, so I'll keep a project in my bedroom. If I just can't sleep or calm myself down, or can't get my brain to relax, I'll pick up a little project. Again, something really simple like a scarf, and just sit there and do that for 15 or 20 minutes to kind of just let my mind wander to that project instead of whatever's bothering me.
It's also another reason why I crochet when I'm flying on airplanes. I'm not a nervous traveler, but sometimes I get anxious while I'm flying, and I love to have a project with me because it just takes my mind off everything going on around me. And I can just focus on whatever I'm making on my lap to help me get through those few uncomfortable hours.
Why I Tell Every Worrier to Pick Up a Hook
If you are considering starting crochet as a hobby because you need stress relief, or you need something to do when you're upset, anxious, or worried, I would highly recommend it. It's almost impossible for our brain to keep worrying about those things when we're working on something else.
So whether it be for 10 minutes or four hours, if I can sit and work on a project, that's all I can think about. I'm counting, I'm changing yarn, I'm looking at my project getting bigger, I'm reading the patterns, and it just makes other worries go away. So if you're an anxious person, if you're a worrier like me, I would highly recommend this as a hobby to try.
