Confronting the inner crochet snob

So we’ve got a few days away camping in the country. Looking forward to some fresh air, long relaxing walks, gourmet camping meals and spending time with my family. Looking forward to a getaway from the suburban heat and busi-ness of life.

We go away camping quite often. My skills and passion are mostly centred around my sewing machine so it is always a challenge for me to think of things I can do whilst I am away without electricity. I usually drag a couple of magazines along with me to flick through looking at pictures and getting ideas. And whilst I would hate to downplay the importance of pouring over beautiful magazines to stimulate the creative juices, it is hardly a replacement for actually making things.

So this camping trip I have decided to challenge myself.

I have a confession. I am a crochet snob. I have always thought it to be an old fashioned, out-of-date and something that nannas do. I have seen other people’s blogs showing their latest granny squares or other crochet creations and commented “lovely bright colours!” or ‘how creative!”, but I have always thought deep down, crochet is not for me. I do cool stuff, not crochet. I have seen a picture of somethingerother, and thought how cool and different it was. Then read the print underneath only to find out it is crochet, so I loose interest. Oh, I don’t think it is so cool after all – its crochet.

So now. I’ve decided its time to confront my inner crochet snob.
I am armed with:
- Meet Me at Mikes craft book (a very thoughtful Christmas present) with Pip Lincoln’s ‘how to crochet’ instructions (this will also fulfil the need to pour over beautiful pictures and inspirational ideas without actually doing anything)
- a ball of lovely speckled yellow yarn
- a metal crochet hook (according to Pip, for ‘extra slipperiness’)
- my Mum who used to crochet once upon a time, who thinks that she might remember again
- a long weekend away with plenty of time for relaxing and fiddling around with learning new techniques

I am not sure what I want to make yet, but figure I will play around for a bit and see what turns out.

Wish me luck. If all else fails, by the end of writing this post I have finally learnt to type crochet rather than crotchet. So I have at least gained something!

Eds note: oops, this post was meant to be posted before we went away. We're back now so the results coming soon...