A stranger at the yarn swap convinced me to try crochet again

I gave up crochet 8 years ago after a disaster with a granny square blanket that came out more triangle than square. Last month at a swap in Portland, this older lady saw me staring at her finished shawl and just handed it to me, said 'feel the rhythm, not the tension.' I sat down with her for 20 minutes and she showed me a simple loop trick that fixed everything. Has anyone else had a random stranger reignite a hobby you'd buried for good?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewmartin11d ago

and that's exactly what happened to me with knitting, but it was at a bus stop in the rain. I had quit years before because my scarves always curled up into these sad little tubes, and I swore off it completely. This woman next to me was knitting something gorgeous and I just blurted out how much I hated it, and she laughed and showed me how to loosen my purl stitches. It sounds so dumb but it was like a light switch flipped, I went home and finished a scarf that weekend that actually looked like a scarf. There's something about a stranger who has zero stake in your success, they just want you to enjoy the craft, and that takes all the pressure off. I think the 'feel the rhythm' thing is real too, I was gripping the needles like they were going to run away from me. Good on you for giving it another shot, sometimes you need the right teacher at the right time.

young.nora11d ago

Bullshit. That stranger helped you because she had nothing to lose, but most people who quit knitting do it because they hate the process, not the tension. The light switch only flips if you actually enjoy the damn thing, and one rainy afternoon isn't proof everyone's one bad teacher away from a hobby they secretly love.