Refreshed Mojo

Enough miscellaneous prattle! On with knitting -- I got my mojo back! And from a most (and Claire, I do mean most) unexpected source: crochet. I'm not really a knit vs. crochet snob. To me, knitting is Beethoven's 9th symphony: intricate intertwinings that build to a full and rich climax. Crochet is The Blue Man Group: full of energy and rhythm and unexpected twists and turns. In-your-face. Crochet stays where you put it. Knitting is fluid and flexible. As Audrey Hepburn says in Roman Holiday, "Each, in it's own way..."

I think I like knitted lace so much because, frankly, in the lace world it's the underdog. Knitting has to really work to make crochet's equal when it comes to lace. Check out these yards of lovelies from the hands of my great grandmother:

Now look again with something for perspective -- my 0000 needles. A shopkeeper told me, "They don't make anything finer than quads," and yet "they" obviously do. The finest needles I own look like a Kindergartener's extra-fat crayons next to this venerable lace. My needles will fit through the yarn overs, but I can't imagine knitting yards of lace with the needles fine enough to produce this. To crochet a similar lace would have been faster and simpler. I know Great Grandma Schwochert was accomplished at both. I wish I could ask her why she chose to knit this.

But I digress. The crochet project that set me back on my feet was to join knitted rectangles to make an afghan; not only crochet, but the dreaded "F" word -- finishing. Many different knitters brought 7 x 9 rectangles to our last guild meeting for assembly. As crochet is wont to do, it moved right along and here is the result:

When you want a border that says, "This far and no further," when you want to tame the unruly gauges from 9 different knitters, when you want a little instant gratification, crochet's your game.

My mojo also got a boost when my sweet cousin asked if I would knit her a little something:

Mini-mittens. (Coincidentally, mittens are also the guild's charity project this month.) There's nothing more inspiring than knitting a project for someone that you know, ahead of time, will really appreciate your work.