How are things today? Here in my corner of the world the weather has been extreme. Highest humidex ever recorded with temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius. Thankfully, it cooled off overnight so the hot tea I am enjoying while talking to you is quite tolerable. My favourite tea lately is Mojito… 

Today I wanted to share with you crocheters (and knitters and tatters) about my Aha! moment (as Oprah would say) with my love of crochet. I started crocheting when I was expecting my son almost 17 years ago. My Nana was a crocheter and so was my Mother-in-Law. I wanted to learn so I could make things for my new baby. So, my friend and I registered for a 2 hour evening class at our local craft store. I picked it up very quickly and have loved it ever since. I am not afraid of a challenge, so I started off with a (huge) granny-square afghan. As my belly grew during that pregnancy, so did the pile of granny squares.

I just kept making more and more squares. I eventually put the squares together into an afghan that we still have today, but it pretty much fell apart…. 

I have gotten better over the years (as my son has grown to be 6’2) and took on even more challenging projects. I read about “blocking” in some patterns and … you know how it is … you read it, you don’t really know what it is, but you know how to do everything else, so you just ignore it. Kind of like how I cook!

Until just the other day. I tripped over the blog of Doris Chan. She is a renowned crochet designer and her blog is really informative (and funny!). She wrote about blocking; and she did it in such a way as I didn’t feel intimidated by it and I could see clearly that it made ALL the difference in how the finished piece looks. So, I tried it….. and Aha! I see now.

I am making some lacy crocheted rings and bracelets for my Etsy Shop. They are made with Size 10 crochet thread and small hooks (size 2 – 3.25 mm).

You can see here on the unblocked piece on the left that the stitches are unruly and don’t look tidy. The blocked piece on the right looks more “finished” and lies flat. You can also see the delicate designs of the picot stitches and flower much more clearly. I am TOTALLY into blocking now. If you are interested, Doris gives an excellent how-to on her blog in the post “Blocking is Your Friend” which you can find here.

Have you had an Aha! Moment in crochet, or other fibre arts? Share with us!

* i n t e r e s t i n g  f a c t *

“Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901) crocheted and contributed to the craft’s early popularity.”

cited: http://www.jjcrochet.com/blog/all-about-crochet