Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

As you have probably noticed, I regularly post to my blog on Tuesday. Hearing the news today that Marinke, aka Wink , succumbed to suicide last Friday, I feel compelled to post today in the hopes that reading this will underscore the great support from the crochet community that we all know and understand. Wink was featured in Kathryn's book, Crochet Saved My Life , which I reviewed in 2012. Depression was a long and difficult battle for Wink and her creative endeavors greatly comforted her and motivated her to reach out to other crafters through her blog, A Creative Being .  This time unfortunately, being creative and reaching out was not enough. For those of us who so believe in the healthful benefits of crochet and crafting, this is devastating. Seeing her blog which is brightly colored and happy-looking is so sad and ironic when the realization sinks in that she was suffering deeply. My contribution crocheted from Wink's pattern: Spoke Mandala Crocheting one of ...

The word crochet is derived from the French word, croche , meaning hook.  Early on it was almost entirely a convent art, classified as nun’s work.  The exact origin and date of crochet is in great doubt.  Some believe it goes back to before the time of Christ, but there is no record of this form of needle art before the 1800’s and it was not until the 1840’s that written instructions were published. Hand-turned hook from author’s collection Archeologists believe the Israelites were familiar with crochet during the time of Solomon, before the first millennium BC when they left Egypt.  Heinz Edgar Kiewe, in his book titled  The Sacred History of Knitting , concluded that crochet hooks were probably implements of that time. He refers to the story of one of Jesus’ followers, Akida Ben Joseph who was said to have used a crochet hook so that he might spend his time as a shepherd more usefully. Crochet has been handed down from generation to genera...