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Crochet Can Be Dangerous!

If you've never thought of crochet as anything but a "gentle" art, beware of crochet overload! It could cause your head to explode. Let me explain.....Last week I was in the thread aisle at JoAnn looking for the required #3 size thread for our bead tapestry crochet lesson. I noticed a lady picking out the same thread I needed and the quantities of colors were limited, so I politely hung there to let her pick what she wanted, slightly worried that there would be nothing left for me. Because #3 thread is not commonly used, I decided to ask her if she was getting supplies for the Crochet Guild meeting. She looked at me strangely as if she was trying to absorb what I was talking about. It turns out that English is the second language of this nice polish lady in her seventies. When she absorbed the activities at a guild meeting that I described, she seemed interested. I gave her our guild card and drew a small map so she could find her way to the meeting. She actually lives in the next village but didn't seem to know where the library is located.

So yesterday was meeting day and I glanced up from my seat and there she was, signing in as a guest. I waved to her to come and sit by me. I don't think she actualy remembered me. She was probably a bit anxious having found her way across town and not knowing what to expect. Remember, too, she is in her seventies!

During Show & Tell she was not shy at all about showing her doilies made in #3 cotton. Some one asked her how long she had been crocheting and she answered, "Oh, two or three days." That got a laugh and I hope it didn't embarrass her that I explained the question was "When did you start to crochet?" Five years ago was her answer. During our break, I noiced she went around and looked at everyone's work, that is after the crowd that formed around her large doily samples thinned out! Next our bead-crochet lesson began and she was really baffled by how that all takes place. She watched me work out the pattern very carefully and asked many questions.Since she was a guest, she didn't come prepared with supplies. I showed her close up how to do the bead stitch and answered her many questions. I felt bad that she sat there with nothing to crochet so I told her she didn't have to stay until the end if she didn't want to. By now, though, she was gettig the idea of bead crochet and said he granddaughterwold love to have one of the bracelets we were making. She was actually a little giddy now thinking of the prospect of making that bracelet.

I was beginning to get a little concerned; considering her age, she had had a lot of stimulus in the last couple of hours. She sat through our business meeting and heard our plans for our chapter's 4th Annual Crochet Buffet. ""What's that?" she asked me. "I think of buffet as food." She heard that two of our members would be teaching at the Folk and Fiberart Fest  Where's that?"She head the discussion about our bringing in a nationally known teacher for a special workshop and saw 35 crocheters show their latest FO's during Show & Tell and she saw the many great books that were brought to the meeting today from our Chaper Library. What if her head exloded from all she saw and the cro-excitement it created? What if? I innocently invited her to a meeting because I believe that ALL crocheters should know the joys of crochet guild. I didn't mean any harm!

Comments

Vaughnde said…
ROFL! I think she did very well with the language barrier. I think you've opened up new worlds to her. I actually would LOVE to be part of something like that myself but being deaf, easily lost in a crowd and in a small retirement town....I doubt thats gonna happen anytime soon :)
MsBusyfingers said…
I liked your story about your little old Polish lady's cro- awakening. I have to say though - that "in her seventies" doesn't really necessarily mean "old" and I wouldn't worry about her. You probably added years to her life - motivation being: there is way too much new crochet to discover, can't die yet!
I loved this delightful story. Although I am 1/2 her age, I often feel as if my head is about to explode with crochet too - I've got pattern designs floating around in there, WIPs, great crochet books I want to read, yarn I want to try, patterns I'm drooling over, festivals I want to attend....yikes, is crochet consuming my life?!?

Also wanted to thank you so much for founding CGOA...I recently became a proud member and I can't wait for Chain Links in July!!!!
CrochetQueen said…
Thank you all for your thoughtful and witty posts here on my blog. I appreciate your taking the time to write Please consider becoming a fan!

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