November 5, 2023

This is future Maria adding some memories about this cowl. I’ve kept it, though I never wear it because it’s probably sock yarn and scratchy, and totally inappropriate for around the neck.

I had not crocheted in a very long time --the last project I had done was a flower granny square afghan for a doll from a kit (that I gave away) and a messy baby blanket for my youngest. My mother or grandmother had taught me the basics of crochet and knitting when I was a child (6 or 7) but I don’t remember the details, other than a green knit “coat” I had made for my favorite stuffed animal (a daisy-flowered pig) that was really just a rectangle that I stitched around him.

I remember my mother knitting occasionally, or more often sewing clothing. She probably used yarn crafts as one of the many activities she came up with to try to keep me entertained during the years when I was kept home from school in the 70s because of orthopedic issues in my legs. I have the muscle memory of crocheting, but I don’t actually remember any of things I made.

In the early 2000s, I had gone through a knitting phase where I made garter stitch scarves on too big needles with novelty yarn for all my friends and family. (It was a fad.) I also bought the “The Knitting Experience” books, by Sally Melville, and started a sweater that was way too ambitious. I even took a Community Ed knitting where it was my project, but I eventually I abandoned it and abandoned knitting.

In 2016, when my three kids were all teenagers, and one of them could even drive a car, I found myself with more available time. When signing up the next teen to Driver’s Ed on the Community Ed website, I noticed they had a crochet class. I decided to try crochet again because I knew it came easier to me than knitting. The “class” turned out to be just a drop in time when an experienced crocheter would help us with our projects. I brought in a random ball of yarn I had left over from my novelty knit scarf era, and started this V-stitch project on her advice of what to do with it.

I remember taking this to a Winter Guard show in Salem and working on it in the stands. When I brought it back to the class to show the instructor, I was a little shocked when I said I wasn’t sure how to turn it into a cowl and she whisked it out of my hands and sewed it up for me. That pretty much summed up her ability as an instructor, but someone in the class mentioned that YouTube had crochet videos, which opened a new world for me. I continued to attend the “class” which eventually evolved into meet-ups at cafes with friends who met at the class.

During this, I also remembered Ravelry, which I had learned about from someone (Dawn?) in Aggie Collettes, an email-based doll collecting group I belonged to. I hadn’t done anything in Ravelry since I had joined in its early days when you had to wait for an invitation. YouTube was the rabbit hole, and Ravelry was the “drink me” potion that turned my crochet interest into the big part of my life that it is now and has been with only a few short breaks for the last 8 years.