Quarantine Crochet

December 6, 2020 Sunday

Quarantine crochet: Around the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, I coincidentally subscribed to a monthly crochet kit. I love to crochet but recently I had not made any time to sit down and do it. So, I thought this monthly kit would pace me nicely and be a reminder each month to crochet. Little did I know I would have SOOOOO much time on my hands to do it. This pattern is for an afghan made of 30 squares. Each square has a unique pattern. I thought this would also be a fun way to practice different patterns and have this afghan serve as a bit of a sampler to refer to later. 

Every time I begin a new crochet project I read the instructions very carefully. Sometimes, I have to take it one stitch at a time to make sure that I’m doing it just right. Often, each row has a repeating motif, so when I get in the swing of things I can put the instructions aside and just crochet. But I always check in again with the instructions when I get to the end of a row to make sure that I know how to finish it off and get ready for the next row. These squares also have larger repeats, like “for rows 7-18, repeat rows 3-6, 3 times.” When you get to this point, you’ve completed the design once and then you just have to do it again (and again! And AGAIN!!) 

At the beginning of the instructions, the overall design is usually unclear to me. Even when there is a picture of what it’s supposed to look like, I can’t always tell how the stitches I am making will become the final design. By the time I get through the repeating pattern once, the design is more clear and I have greater confidence that I understand what I’m doing. The rows become familiar and I just need a little reminder at the beginning of each. Then I can set the instructions aside again and just enjoy crocheting. 

Sometimes I make huge mistakes! Today I picked up a square from last week. There was something terribly wrong, but I was only about 5 rows into it. I wasn’t quite sure where I had gone wrong, but I could see that I needed to start over completely. So, I grabbed the yarn and started to pull. It’s sad and yet oddly satisfying at the same time to unravel your work. It comes apart way too easily & quickly! But, with the experience of attempting this new pattern once already, I looked at the pattern with fresh eyes and began a new chain. This time, the pattern made much more sense. I realized that I had been distracted the last time I worked it and that had led to the misshapen disaster that I had to pull apart. The new block came together more easily the second time and ended up being beautiful.

So here are some of the analogies I’ve pulled from my Quarantine Crochet project.

Each block is different, like the seasons of our lives. Unlike real life, each block pattern is rated with a difficulty level - if only we had a warning at the beginning of each month (or life season) about the difficulty level that life is about to throw at us! 

When I am unsure, I read the instructions very carefully. This reminded me that I do the same thing when life is unsure. I find peace and comfort in reading God’s instructions in the Bible and Book of Mormon. When I am feeling more confident again, and spiritually fed, I can go forward and enjoy life and serve others; just like the ease of crocheting when I understand the pattern. And just like I have trust that whoever wrote down the crochet pattern knew what they were doing, I trust that the Lord knows the big picture of my life and will help me. I can trust the instructions.

I feel like the end of each row is sort of like the way I get to check in with myself and the Lord each Sunday as I renew my baptismal covenants and take the sacrament. It’s good to just check the “instructions” again and make sure that I’m headed in the right direction. 

When I make a mistake, I can unravel and start again! Change seems hard in real life. Repentance seems like a punishment sometimes. But the reality is, like the ease of unraveling my crochet work, the Savior can make change and repentance a joy. The hardest part is that first moment when you are not sure that you want to pull the string, unravel and start over again. But it is worth it!

The monthly kit contained 3 squares per month. I started off “on schedule” but was not able to maintain it. I know, I should have had plenty of time in quarantine right? But other life events took priority: a daughter’s marriage, a daughter’s mission call, and a daughter’s first semester at college. And that’s ok. The extra yarn and patterns are sitting in my closet, waiting for me. Because after all, our best plans and schedules sometimes need to change to make us available for the people in our lives.

Final lesson: My squares don’t have to be perfect! I like the variety of patterns in each block. They each look pretty good individually. But if you look at my blocks together, it’s easy to see that they are NOT all perfect squares (I’m not sure that any of them are!) Some are definitely rectangles and at least one became a rhombus. But you know what? Just like the seasons of my life - they are not all the same. I can look back at who I was 10, 20, 30, and yes even 40 years ago and appreciate each block of time for what it was. I can appreciate ME for who I was and how I have grown and changed. It’s the unique pattern of each that makes it beautiful. And when I am finished with all of my squares, I will stitch them together in a beautiful afghan to warm my loved ones. And I will be proud of my completed Quarantine Crochet project and all of the life lessons that it taught me.