From reading knitting blogs, I have absorbed quite a bit of the fun, light-hearted, knit-vs-crochet snobbery. To knitters, knitting is for the hip and trendy crafter, while crochet is the art of toilet-paper-cozies (although, truth be told, knitting definitely has its share of gauche terrors). It seems easier to pick up knitting vs. crocheting. Not necessarily because of the technique (once you get down to it, crocheting is probably easier), but the availability of knitting resources out there: there’s your knittinghelp.com, as well as your free knitting magazines online. I sort of half learned crocheting from my stepmom a few months ago, but never really quite got the hang of it until I tried to teach my obstinate roommate, Simon, how to crochet.

Resisting my attempts to win him over to the dark side (I’ve successfully bullied about 80% of my friends into learning how to knit so far! Watch out, other 20%.), he’d poked fun at my crafty elitism, saying that he’d rather learn to crochet. Well, he would soon eat his words when I got it out: the hook. The pink hook of DOOM.

Simon broke under the pressure and capitulated to the knitting side (I’m a much better teacher of knitting than crocheting, of course), but for some reason, something clicked for me. The yarn I was teaching with was from a huge stash of Shine worsted, which I’d make the mistake of ordering before looking at any KnitPicks color cards (the color was called “Watermelon.” Watermelon. Why was I so naive to trust that it would be the lovely shade of blush red that appeared on my monitor?). To make matters worse, I had double the amount I’d ordered, because my package had been lost / late and I’d requested a replacement package from KnitPicks (the packages ended up arriving within a day of each other).

The yarn by itself? Not working for any project I had in mind. Previous attempts at crochet? Also bleh. The yarn and the crochet hook? For some baffling, mysterious reason I cannot even begin to analyze, I cannot put down the hook when working with this yarn:

It doesn’t look that impressive in photos, even to my enchanted eyes, but for some reason the texture created by the crochet stitches, combined with the shiny cotton-y yarn, is really resonating with me. I can’t stop petting it! I only know how to do one stitch, and I don’t even know what it is called (single stitch?), but it’s pleasant and easy enough, like a completely garter-stitch project. A good break from the mental puzzle of the boyfriend sweater. The fabric is so shiny and, for lack of a better word, sturdy. I’ll probably make this into some sort of market bag for groceries.

* Despite my newly formed excitement with crocheting, I probably won’t start a separate category for crochet. Yet.