Granny Squares

We have a rule in our house. We only watch TV (or in our case Netflix) on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Why? Because TV is a giant time waster, and there are so many other things we could do with that time. And watching Telly generally leaves me feeling tired and sluggish and like I haven’t achieved anything. Probably because I haven’t. I don’t think finishing 6 seasons of Grimm counts as achieving something…

The problem is, I get to 7 o’clock at night and I’m knackered. I don’t have the brain power to keep editing or writing my book, I’m usually trying to ignore the fact that I have dishes to wash and washing to fold, and sometimes I’ve run out of reading material. Gasp!

So, I taught myself to crochet using YouTube tutorials. I’d tried to learn before, but hadn’t kept it up long enough for it to stick. This time I was determined. I was going to learn, and create pretty things, and be the crochet queen if it killed me. Thankfully it was actually pretty easy to pick up, and there was no death by crochet involved. By the end of one rainy weekend I was crocheting granny squares without too many re-do’s.

Fast forward several months and I can still only crochet granny squares. I’m sure I could actually branch out and try something new, but I can now do Granny Squares in my sleep and this has opened up a whole new use for crochet. It is no longer just something I can do at night time, but something I can also take with me during the day. Let me explain.

When I’m not at home writing books, I’m a nanny, (this is what pays the bills). I take my little charge to playgroup and the park, the aquarium and the swimming pool. It is generally a very rewarding job, but it can get lonely. Spending 3 hours a day at a playground may seem awesome, but when you’ve got no other adults to talk to it can really drag. And idle hands and an idle mind are not conducive to happiness. I end up thinking waaay too much, and it’s not usually about good things. And then I check my emails, look at Instagram, take photos of my little one and send them to his parents, and then I’m back to doing nothing.

Crochet has changed that. I can tuck the ball of wool under my arm, walk around the playground after him and keep my fingers busy. I have to concentrate on what I’m doing enough that my minds not going in circles, but not so much that I can’t interact with the world. And if he needs me I can simply drop it into my bag and pick it up again later. Even if some of it comes apart it’s not hard to fix.

But it’s so much more than that too. Learning to crochet has:

And every single one of these things helps boost your mood and strengthens your mental health. How awesome is that!

What started out as something to fill evenings has morphed into so much more. I never thought crochet of all things could lift my mood to the extent that it has.

So even though I look like a granny, I will continue to walk around the park with a ball of wool under my arm and a smile on my face. Come up and say hi if you see me and we’ll chat about your grandmother and her ugly woollen blankets.

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