My great-grandmother taught me to crochet when I was 7. I learned how to make a granny square then stopped crocheting for fifty years. Last year, swept up by the crochet boom, I decided to go on a short course to (re)learn. It was fascinating. I was top of the class! Somehow my brain and fingers remembered how to do it. Long forgotten neural pathways revealed themselves like old roads after a flood. I ended up making my first full crochet project in 50 years, a very long, wobbly, baggy, imperfect scarf.

Then I got excited! Could I be a crochet influencer? Maybe it could be a lucrative side-hustle that would see me catapulted to Insta-fame. Er no. I have huge respect for super-handy craftspeople who perfect their skills over hundreds of hours. There’s the technical skill involved in creating even, complex, interesting textiles, an excellent understanding of colour and texture and understanding current trends and innovations. And the business acumen and the dedication needed to devote even more hours to social media to display their creations and upload regular content! That is not me!

My great-grandmother was born in 1900. She worked as a seamstress at a hospital and became an expert in many different textile crafts before she died. She wasn’t an artist, but her creative work gave her great satisfaction. She perfected her skills over hundreds of hours. It was both her work and her hobby.

I don’t give over much time to my crochet. And I have a rotten sense of colour. I’m very impatient and there are so many other distractions, so I don’t see myself becoming an expert any time soon. But it is a lovely lulling way to spend time in front of the TV or whilst listening to the radio. I’m going on a long train journey soon and will certainly take my current project. This is never going to be a side-hustle for me. It’s a hobby. I may go off crochet and take up something else in the future – topiary, ten-pin bowling, Warhammer, archery, bee-keeping, patchwork, origami, juggling….who knows?

Hobbies are great. They’re interests that you do just for fun, without the intention of making money from them, or getting to be a champion at them. I think it’s especially good for children and young people seeing adults doing things just because they enjoy them, without needing to be the best, without it being for the CV or to make extra money or to transition to another job.

So much for young people now is about thinking forward: learning the piano will look good on the UCAS application, playing netball will demonstrate that you’re a team player, if you go to Stagecoach, maybe you can get into the National Youth Theatre in a few years’ time. Pressure, pressure, pressure. They can end up feeling quite overwhelmed by the competitive nature of well, everything. If they see you taking up a silly, pointless but enjoyable hobby, maybe they might gain a different perspective – that life is full of interesting diversions as well as work. Being bad at crochet/morris dancing/whittling/jam making but doing it anyway, is just great!
Further reading: Need A List Of Hobbies To Spark Inspiration? Here Are 170+ | mindbodygreen

#parenting
#hobbies
#pastimes