One of the great pleasures of my life at the moment is that my daughter is living at home and that she loves films. This means that at least once a week we settle down with our knitting and watch something that is designated a ‘Mum Movie’, that is something not too violent or too scary. This week it was the 1947 film, The Ghost and Mrs Muir which was lovely, if a little bit melancholy. I will not go into the details, because I hate spoilers, but what I can say is that it showcased some rather lovely crochet blankets and a crochet shawl which we both noticed because that is what happens when you spend your days immersed in all things yarny.
The film starts off in the early 20th century and although granny square blankets might have been around, crochet actually took off in the 1940’s when the film was made. I would love to have been able to see what the actual colours were of that blanket. As for the shawl, I remember my mother having one in the 1970s which was almost identical.
I talk a lot about knitting on this blog, because that is the craft which I favour, but today it is the turn of crochet. Crochet is undergoing a massive renaissance at the moment. I think younger people like it because it is less rule bound somehow than knitting. They can create amazing things without patterns. Personally, I prefer crochet for blankets, shawls and scarves, but I have seen some gorgeous garments as well. And of course there are the people who crochet animals and people. Someone who came into the shop last week said that she had created a whole nativity scene in amigurumi crochet.
Furthermore, the whole ‘granny’ aspect of crochet seems to have long gone. Janie Crow is a designer who has taken the concept of a crochet granny square blanket to a whole different level with her ornate, sometimes 3D patterns. I am in the middle of her Persian Tiles Blanket – I have to admit that it has been on the naughty step for a while as I made a mistake on one of the big hexagons, but I am planning to get back to it some time. She has just released a pattern for a shawl – the Lotus Shawl – which actually is not dissimilar from the one in The Ghost and Mrs Muir.
One of the questions people sometimes ask us when they come into the shop is whether we have wool for crochet. To which our answer is that you can crochet with anything. As Mandy points out, you can even crochet with strips of plastic bags. So yes. We have wool (or cotton, or blends) for crochet. It all depends on what kind you want – chunky for something quick, laceweight for something delicate and everything in between. We also stock a range of crochet hooks, with and without handles and varying in size from 0.5mm to long double ended hooks for Tunisian crochet. We have books to tempt you – such as You Can Crochet with Bella Coco or Mini Amigurumi Animals. We have in the shop boxes of cards with different stitches or granny squares patterns as well – which I think would make excellent stocking filler presents. And of course, if you are not already a crocheter, but are interested in getting started, we offer beginners courses in which we will get you crocheting granny squares. Perhaps something for the New Year?