Oh! (Oxygen, please!)

The plan to create a crochet display this past Wednesday in honor of National Crochet Month was postponed until today.  It was fun to put together, and I think it came out awesome if I do say so myself!  Hopefully it will inspire someone to pick up the hook for the first time, or inspire someone to pick the hook up again.  Either way, the library is prepared -- they have quite the selection of books to check out on crochet!

As I worked on the display with my girls, Grace and Priscilla, my thoughts turned to last night when I was doing bingo duty for my kids school.  Well, it was supposed to have been bingo, but if you really looked at what was going on then you would have saw that I'm slowly converting it over to "craft night."  {{wink wink}}  One lady doing bingo duty with me brought her quilting squares to show how she's doing in her class and we discussed how I designed the Communion Cape for my daughter last year.  It looks like she's interested in crocheting one for her daughter!  

Another brought me a scarf she recently finished crocheting and discussed with me possible design ideas for a yarn she recently purchased that has *bearding.  We talked about hook sizes and stitch possibilities ... then, top it off with the several ladies playing bingo that kept motioning me over to look at their knitting projects and you can see where I think "craft night" is starting to blossom.  ((heh heh heh))

While I loved every bit of this, my favorite moment was with Katie, a fourth grader who was there with her Mom.  Katie could already knit, and she's been watching me crochet.  Two weeks ago I had made a "date" with Katie.  I told her if she wanted to learn how to crochet then she'd need to bring some yarn & a hook -- and she did.  She took to crocheting as if she were born with a crochet hook in her hand!  We, her Mother and I, were very proud of how quickly she picked it up.  Katie's Mom said to me, "She's been so excited and couldn't wait for you to teach her!  We actually had to mark the days off the calendar!"  I was touched; Katie has so much enthusiasm for the fiber arts!

At the end of the night I told Katie that I now want her to bring her crochet work to school with her so she can show me her progress.  This shouldn't be a problem as she can find me there at least two days a week.  I figure if she knows I want to see her work, she'll keep at it.  And I have no doubt she will!

This is what the fiber arts is all about, right? ... sharing the passion; making it a natural part of our lives like breathing oxygen!  :)

And speaking of Oxygen ... I received a note from Lily Chin ... she has my blog listed on the Oxygen network website as one of her favorite sites she loves to visit!  Thanks Lily! 


*Note: fiber with projectiles is known as bearding.  The more/thicker the projectiles, the larger the hook & more open stitch needed to give the fiber the "breathing room" it needs.