Here is a close-up of the gingham granny afghan that my mom and I crocheted together:I am so proud of this creation, not only because Mom and I worked on it together, but also because the pattern took the simple granny square and turned it into a beautiful heirloom. Each square is only 3 inches by 3 inches, which means if we didn’t already have the pattern for the granny square memorized already, we would by the end of the afghan. Also, I taught Mom how I make granny squares, which is different from the traditional way. Instead of finishing off each round and joining in a corner chain, I use a half-double crochet to join, and then work into the joining as a chain space. (If you don’t crochet, you won’t understand what I just said, but don’t feel bad. If you want to know more of this crazy language, learn to crochet–I can teach you.) So far, I haven’t been able to find a granny square pattern that uses this method, but I know I learned it from somewhere.

Anyway, I taught my mom my method, and now she uses it too. Whenever I learn something new, I change it to fit my style. I have my own tricks and quirks when it comes to yarning (aka knitting and crocheting: describes the combined crafts). I guess that’s why I like creating patterns. It’s so much fun!

Yarning is a lot like writing; once you learn the basics, you learn to follow your own style. I think that’s why when I have a problem with my writing, I pick up my project and start working with my hands. It allows me to think with both sides of my brain because I’m using both hands, and it calms me down enough to think about my problem. Just recently I have been having terrible writer’s block and I haven’t been able to write poetry. Yesterday, I spent the whole day knitting on my sweater, and when I went to bed, I broke through my block, even though I wasn’t thrilled that it occurred at a time that I should have been sleeping. I sat in the hallway at 1 AM by the nightlight, writing out a new poem. I couldn’t see what I was writing, just enough of the page to know that I wasn’t writing in the same spot over and over again. I just kept my hand moving, writing down the first thing that came to mind and not allowing my critical side take over. It was wonderful and the poem is going to be wonderful with some revision.

Unfortunately I couldn’t fall asleep for an hour afterwards because I was still on my writing-high, but it didn’t matter because I broke through my block. And I know that it was because of my knitting. Yarning is essential to my life.