About me and this blog

I had a grandmother who was Irish, and a grandmother who did lovely thread crochet, but they were not one and the same. And I did not learn to crochet at my grandmother's knee, since my crocheting grandmother died shortly after her first glimpse of my newborn self.

Instead, when I was eleven, my best friend and I started taking a summer recreation program crochet class, but I was abducted for the family road trip before I learned anything beyond the chain stitch (which was pleasantly addictive to execute, but not terribly useful in isolation). While on vacation, I discovered a learn-to-crochet kit in a small town dime store, and by pestering my mother with this item during every errand to the store, I wore down her resistance until she bought me off. Although I never made the ugly blue hat, I used the yarn to unravel the mysteries of single, double and treble crochet, and thus I was fully equipped to generate my share of ugly early '70's acrylic granny squares, which doubtless persist in some distant landfill, resisting decomposition for centuries to come.

When I showed an unsuspected ability to sit still, read instructions, and stubbornly tweak at a project until I finally figured out how to make the stupid thing work, my parents observed that this quietly obsessive behavior on my part was far preferable to the wall-bouncing, attention-seeking alternative, and therefore made sure there was no shortage of needlework supplies in my tween to teen life. Instead my mother developed the irritating habit of saying "You could make that," whenever I coveted any sort of lovely textile.

Years and years later, that streak of stubborn persistence came in handy when decyphering instructions in turn-of-the-century Irish Crochet patterns. The stitch names not only differed from modern American usage, but also varied from book to book, and while it's logical that patterns might seem the most vague or obscure when describing the most interesting and unfamiliar maneuvers, it was still quite frustrating to experience on a repeated basis.

So it occurred to me that it might be useful for someone starting to explore Irish Crochet, if I took step-by-step photos as I reviewed how to make various Irish crochet motifs from turn-of-the-century instructions. Over the years I've gradually gotten over my intimidation and frustration with those old patterns, and branched out from roses and leaves into learning to manage my padding cord.

I must confess that I still haven't tried putting motifs together with a background mesh, but first I want to remind myself how to sculpt the motifs. The word on the street is that combining background and motifs is the hardest part, and I don't feel ready for that yet!

Let me restate at the beginning that I don't want to present myself an authority on Irish Crochet, just a relatively experienced crocheter who enjoys the challenges that this style of crochet provides -- plus I also enjoy making websites. There exists a decrepit old thread crochet site I made 10 years ago, and wow, I wanted and needed so badly to add demo pics when making that site, but we lacked a digital camera.

Next entry will feature the "photographic studio" I've contrived adjacent to my comfy crocheting chair, for taking pictures of the motifs as I go.