Yarnfluenza. When did it strike you?

[Guest Yarnentangled]

My mother was a crochet/knitting/sewing/embroidery/ can/bake and all around crafty person. As a kid and a teen I couldn't care less about any of that stuff:U

 

Sometime in my mid twenties she taught me how to bake bread from scratch. Thats about all I was interested in. I still abhorred sewing and everything else pertaining to needle arts. Sewing and all the rest just wasn't my thing. I think, in my mind, it was for "old ladies".

 

One day out of the blue I got the twitch to turn yarn into fabric. Only mom isn't around to teach me:cry .

 

I am not sure but I guess its called irony. All those years when she was available and I wasn't interested at all. Then she passes away and suddenly it hits me that crochet is fun.

 

Anyway. This wasn't meant to be a "poor me" story. To this day I have no idea why I got the urge to crochet. It just hit me out of the blue. I didn't see some lovely thing on display. I didn't see a scarf and think "I can make that" ( I do now).

 

The only clue to my future was when, ten, years ago, I picked up a lovely, fuzzy dusty pink ball of yarn at a Air Force thriftstore.. For some reason I fell in love with it and took it home even though I had no needlecraft skills and no desire to learn.

 

I still have that pink yarn lovely. There is so little of it I don't know what to make with it. Its either sportweight or worsted. I can't tell. It feels like angora. Some day soon, I'll incorporate it into something as a tribute to the mysterious ways of the world or something corney like that.

 

Anyway, please share how you caught your strain of yarnfluenza.

[miki421]

I got yarnfluenza when I learned how to crochet. I think it goes hand in hand, yarn, crochet; crochet, yarn. How can you not get it. I love looking at yarn and touching yarn.

It's just amazing what you can do with it.

[Nay65]

I started getting into crafts about 16 years ago and I first became a stay at home mom. Not long after that, maybe about 4 years later, my grandmother cleaned out her closet and gave me all her scrap yarn, hooks, and a couple of old pattern books figuring I'd have a use for it. She thought, since I was teaching myself other crafts, I might like to try to crochet and since she no longer could, it was better than throwing all the stuff away. Been a crochet nut since.

[Guest SamplerLady]

My mother and her mother both crocheted and of course I wanted to be just like them. I bugged my mom and finally around age ten or so, she gave me a ball of yarn, taught me to chain and told me to chain it all. I did. Then she said rip it out and do it again. I must have chained that ball of yarn ten times. Then she taught me the rest of the stitches and how to read a pattern.

 

The nuns thought I was so talented cuz I could crochet a doily when I was in 5th grade.... Since then I've always done some kind of needlework: embroidery, crochet, cross stitch.. I taught myself to knit a year ago, but crocheting is so much faster, I put all that away and picked up my hooks again.

 

I really didn't know there was anything but acrylic yarn till EDs bead store added yarn to their inventory. OMG.... I decided I couldn't afford it so I learned to spin and make my own. Then I learned about the ease of Kool Aid dyeing. Here's a pic of my Easter Socks: the wool was dyed with left over egg dye, spun and crocheted.

[luvtocraft]

I learned to crochet a little over 5 years ago. I once knew how when I was about 11, but I forgot since that time.

 

I wanted to relearn, because I want to be more self-reliant. I wanted to be able to make things myself, rather than relying on buying everthing at the store. Learning sure has helped, because, now I can make things for others from the supplies I have on hand. So, when money is tight (which is always ) and I need a gift for something, I can go to my stash, pick out some yarn and whip up a gift. I love it!!!

[suttygirl2005]

I have crocheted on and off for years but it was only in the last year that I have started doing so full time. It was a solution to being depressed and needing something to keep my hands busy so my mind wouldn't dwell on other things and so it has become a life saving thing to me and I am VERY grateful for it and all the people on the web that I share with so thank you!!

[Kathleen]

I catch yarnfluenza everytime I go into a thrift store, yarn store/ craft store--etc. I have so much yarn, its crazy. A gal I work with asked me how much I thought I spent on yarn a month, and it was the first time I ever considered it. I just about died when I figured my average yarn allotment was about $110 month, and this includes cheap thrift store finds!

[Guest dhe52]

i've always been around crafts and yarn. my dad has had a knitting machine for as long as i can remember. so i've been putting together afghans and sweaters for about 30 years. my mom always had some project or another around but when i was home, i spent so much time putting things together that i never really got into actually making things on my own.

 

at 17 - i left home to join the Air Force, and never really thought about knitting or crocheting. i discovered cross stitch and crewel embroidery and loved the idea of 'painting with a needle'. so that's all i did for a while.

 

about 10 years ago, i took my girls home to california, and my mom was working on an afghan and she was having trouble. since i'm left-handed and she, poor thing, wasn't, i had to start one to help her try to figure it out. i was hooked! mom and i would spend hours on the phone working out patterns and talking about yarn. we would go to super yarn mart and just look.

 

when she died, dad called me and said he was sending me a box of yarn and some "hooks and stuff". i was thinking copy paper box. the box i got was from a three drawer file cabinet and it was full of yarn, hooks, and knitting needles. that was the start of my yarn addiction. before that i was very good about only buying what i need for the project i was working on.

 

there was also a beatuiful pink baby blanket that she was working on when she died. dad told me to finish it and save it for the fiirst of my daughters to have a girl. BUT IT'S KNITTED AND MY KNITTING IS AWFUL!! i'm getting better, so i hope to have it finished in time.

 

dail

[LI Roe]

I learned to crochet as a young kid when I used to follow my mom around and constantly ask her what she was doing when she was crocheting. I think she taught me just to keep me quiet. But it turned into a life long passion and my favorite craft of all.I love to find new colors and new patterns and am constantly buying more and more. My mom thinks it's great that I do so much with it. And not only for gifts or personal items, but a lot of charitable items. She was also a seamstress and taught me how to sew also. I bugged her about that too.

 

Yarnentangled, it is ironic that you started to become more interested in it after your mom passed away (sorry about your loss) but it is almost as if she knew when the right time would be for you to become involved in crocheting or any other needlework crafts. As for that little skein pink fuzzy yarn, what about making a little angel that you can dedicate to your moms' memory?? Just a thought.

 

LI Roe

[Guest Ket03]

I love hearing stories about this... sad but true I was raised with an un-crafty mother. I somehow picked up little things here and there and fell in love with arts and crafts. It wasn't until a few years ago that my grandmother was visiting and she was making an afghan and I wanted to learn how to crochet, She taught me the basics and I loved it... until I found out I had an allergic reaction to the type of yarn I was using. So I quit, until this year I decided to try again and thankfully I haven't had any reactions yet. But now I love to crochet and hope to learn more! I even email my grandma and show her the stuff.... she just loves it!

[Boopon]

Hey I use to work at Super Yarn Mart & if anyone wants any of the free patterns, I have many of them in my collection.

[angellady]

I was one of the few "unfortunate" kids in the mid-60's that had a working mother. After school and during the summer, my brother and I attended a "day care"...that wasn't what it was called then! The summer before we moved from Millington, TN to Barbers Point, Hawaii (my dad was in the Navy), we went to the summer "camp" at our "day care". One of the ladies there was teaching crochet. I think only 4 or 5 of us girls was interested, but that is where I learned the basics. Over the last 40 years, I've learned how to read all sorts of patterns, do filet and pick out yarns for the projects that I want to do. I'm not an expert, I'm more like an advanced beginner. I really started doing more crocheting in the last year or so, because I have more time since I've "retired". I make baby and regular afghans, ponchos, shawls, scarves, hats and purses/bags. I am currently working on my first real "wearable"...a sweater that I hope to wear to my 30 year HS reunion in October. I love going to stores and looking at/touching all the different yarns. Just wish I had the money to indulge in a real "stash"!

[cajunwhacko]

My mom knits and crochets, well, I guess that's more in the past tense, though she's picking it up again to fulfill her role as new family member stocking maker. Anyway, I remember to this day being about 4 or 5 years old and so badly wanting to turn yarn into fabric! I sat in my room and tried and tried, all I had was a ball of yarn and a plastic yarn needle lol. I finally decided I needed a piece to get me started that I could add on to. Somewhere or the other I dug up a scrap of white fabric, about 2 inches square, and I remember sewing all over it with that yarn.

 

Not long after that, mom caught on that I wanted to learn, and I have a much foggier memory of her trying to teach me to knit. It didn't last too long though, I seem to remember being too confused by it all. I do know that she taught me how to chain, and I had my own crochet hook. Every now and then I would dig my hook out and start making chains. She never taught me how to get any further though, and I remember making long chains and then getting a needle and thread and sewing them together, round and round like coasters. I guess that should have been a sign to teach me more, but she never did.

 

At some point she taught me to do cross stitch and then counted cross stitch. I don't even remember learning it was so long ago, but I know that by 8th grade I was doing adult advanced level work. We had to put our Saint's Names on red felt sashes for confirmation, and I decided to cross stitch mine. I'll never forget how proud I was of the reactions I got from the adults, and how weird I thought it was that they thought something so easy was so impressive. LOL

 

I did cross stitch for years and years, and at 16 I taught myself to quilt. The cross stitch kind of fizzled and I became a quilter - machine piece, hand quilt, and ONLY hand quilt. I remember being at college and being heartbroken because I had no way to work on my quilts.

 

Then last summer we moved down to Florida, and not only did we not have a sewing machine out where we could use it, but there was no room for quilting and it was much too hot anyway. And then one of my best friends in the world, who was destined to become my bf/fi, was diagnosed with cancer. It got to the point where I needed to do something to keep my hands busy or I was going to pick my fingers off after picking my fingernails into oblivion, and because of the heat factor I decided I wanted to learn to crochet. She got an old hook out, and the only skein of yarn we could find, which was a hideous lime green. I swear you could see it with your eyes closed it was so dark. She finally taught me how to do stitches, although for a long time I could only do a slip stitch. You can imagine the fabric I ended up with!

 

Then for Christmas she got me a knitting/crochet book from Barnes and Noble. A few weeks later I bought yarn for a blanket for my niece who was born yesterday, got a book, and I went from slip stitching away with that horrible green yarn to doing a large baby blanket with a ruffle edge. It was my first project ever, and it turned out beautifully. Then I made a teddy bear with the scallop yarn, and then I decided to make a Pooh Bear for the baby, since they are having a Pooh Bear theme. Why start simple? LOL

 

Ever since Matt was diagnosed with cancer and I got that book, I've been a yarnaholic. My dad finally asked last week if I thought I had enough yarn yet, and I just looked at him and said, I'm getting there.

 

And that's the story of my life... lol. Well, at least it's long enough it seems like it!

[mudpie]

Mom taught me to crochet when I was 6. I was so "into" it that I carried a ball of thread and a hook with me to school and often crocheted on the playground instead of getting a little exercise. I even taught a fellow classmate (a boy) to crochet. My first project was a butterfly insertion for a towel. My mom was so proud of the fact that I could follow a pattern at such a young age. Over the years I have learned how to do most of the needle arts, but crochet remains my first love. Good yarn is scarce around here and I cannot pass a place that sells it without having a look (that usually translates into "buy some"). I am constantly reminding myself that I do not need any more yarn/thread, because the 5 Rubbermaid bins are full, but I always end up coming home with some anyway.

[kazily]

Twenty plus years ago I watched a friends grandmother make granny squares for a ghan. No one in my family was "into" craft making. It was fascinating to watch her make them. She taught me how to crochet a square & I practiced at home. I got a book at the library & learned more stitches. Of course that led to buying lots of yarn. I made quite a few things & I crocheted off & on until about 7 yrs ago & suddenly I lost interest. I made my youngest a baby blanket & that was the last thing I made 7 yrs ago until I picked crochet back up before last Christmas. It was a frugal intention for the holidays but the yarn & crochet bug bit me again. I'm so glad it did. I think it's funny that I learned how to make a granny square before I even learned to sc. She taught me a simple dc shell square.

[Chatty]

My mom taught me to crochet at about 9 years old. I learned to knit from one of her friends about the same time. I did both off and on since then but have never really kept a lot of yarn.

 

Just in the last year I've gotten back into both and have a small stash but I don't have the money to get a lot at a time so I pick up some here and there when I have some extra money.

 

I wish I could afford some of the stuff at my LYS, there's some gorgeous stuff in there. I wish I could afford to have a closetfull so when I want to make something I don't have to run to the store to get yarn, I can just run to my stash.

 

Maybe one day the yarn fairy will wave her magic and I'll have a stash I can be proud of.

 

[faithpa76]

My mom was very crafty - I was always intimidated by it. She was an avid (and very skilled) knitter and I always felt like I could never measure up. She tried to get me interested in crafts but it wasn't until this past October that I really got bitten. My dad says he thinks I finally found my niche.

[Chatty]

Yarnfluenza is contagious

 

Look what I bought at W-M today:

 

 

In my defense the Frenzy was $1.94 each

 

I've always wanted to try some novelty yarn but didn't want to pay the price for it, now I can play with it. I might go back and get some more if they still have it there next time I have some extra money.

 

[cajunwhacko]

Oh my!

 

I love the softee baby, it's what I'm making my round ripple that's going into my stash with. I'm keeping that sucker, even if I never have a girl (and the boy:girl ratio on Matt's side of the family is 5:1 )

 

That blue thread is great too, I'm using some of it for my bookmarks in that same color and I love it

[Chatty]

W-M doesn't have a big selection of colored thread so I got just the three balls, not sure yet which one I'll use on the doily yet.

 

I love the Softee Baby too, I'm making a cocoon, and two tank tops out of it, all in those colors.

 

[vernzap]

When I was in my last tri-mester with my first child I decided I wanted to make something for her. I thought a crocheted balnket would be perfect, but it turned out that I didn't have the time (or energy) to make it. Then I was absorbed with taking care of her. After that kid #2 came along. I would often think about how nice it would be to make something for them, and I'd go into craft stores just to look at the yarn. So one day I bit the bullet, bought a learn to crochet book and some yarn, and got started. The first blanket fell apart (it didn't state how to finish off or weave in the ends), but the second one I made turned out great (she calls it her mama blanket:)). Now my daughter goes into craft stores, strokes the yarn, and tells me which colors are the prettiest.

[Tiggzie]

Anyway, please share how you caught your strain of yarnfluenza.

 

I joined crochetville. Seriously, I learned to crochet when I was 16 but only did it every once in a while. I had only tried red heart regular (and was only interested in red heart regular) and making scarves/hats until I joined the LJ crochet community. That's how I found this place. Anyway, I started making a lot of cooler, more experimental, stuff, lurked here and then joined.

 

So really it's only been this past year that I went from crocheting occasionally to drooling and having to pet yarn whenever I pass by it. I even inspect friends curtains and tablecloths for design ideas. I'm hooked.

[KSCrocheter]

My mother was a crochet/knitting/sewing/embroidery/ can/bake and all around crafty person. As a kid and a teen I couldn't care less about any of that stuff:U

 

Sometime in my mid twenties she taught me how to bake bread from scratch. Thats about all I was interested in. I still abhorred sewing and everything else pertaining to needle arts. Sewing and all the rest just wasn't my thing. I think, in my mind, it was for "old ladies".

 

One day out of the blue I got the twitch to turn yarn into fabric. Only mom isn't around to teach me:cry .

 

I am not sure but I guess its called irony. All those years when she was available and I wasn't interested at all. Then she passes away and suddenly it hits me that crochet is fun.

 

Anyway. This wasn't meant to be a "poor me" story. To this day I have no idea why I got the urge to crochet. It just hit me out of the blue. I didn't see some lovely thing on display. I didn't see a scarf and think "I can make that" ( I do now).

 

The only clue to my future was when, ten, years ago, I picked up a lovely, fuzzy dusty pink ball of yarn at a Air Force thriftstore.. For some reason I fell in love with it and took it home even though I had no needlecraft skills and no desire to learn.

 

I still have that pink yarn lovely. There is so little of it I don't know what to make with it. Its either sportweight or worsted. I can't tell. It feels like angora. Some day soon, I'll incorporate it into something as a tribute to the mysterious ways of the world or something corney like that.

 

Anyway, please share how you caught your strain of yarnfluenza.

 

Okay, first and foremost..my late Mom was more of a cook,but not a baker- or so my brother tells me. It was her sister, my Aunt Hester, that was the creative genius in terms of needle arts. I've heard that my Grandmother Love used to crochet, but, I've never saw her do it...so, who knows???

 

For me, it was when I began learning to crochet- but was TOTALLY bored with Granny Squares- for the longest, it was ALL I knew how to do in terms of crocheting! - The story behind that can be summed up as being a total fluke, and quirk of circumstance. But, it boiled down to me being SO determined that yet again, I was going to prove my stepmother utterly wrong! ( She refused to believe that me, being a lefty, AND possessing a learning Disability...- would be capable to learn ANY form of needlework!) Yay me! I DID prove her wrong TWICE- I learned to crochet, and I learned to do Counted Cross Stitch. Just to spite her and infuriate her...Which I did- to my Dad's delight, apparently!)

 

Now, the yarn bug? That didn't come into being until the fall of 2002...when I decided that I was either going to QUIT crocheting because I was bored making JUST basic Granny Square afghans, OR, I was going to sit down, make myself have the patience to learn HOW to read a pattern, and properly learn more than I knew about crochet at that point! So, I began with discloths..and getting a little stock pile of Cotton Worsted yarn. It progessed from there. As I learned to read patterns..I slowly began making a stock pile of acrylic worsted, in addition TO the cotton yarn I had on hand! Next came searching it out at yard sales and the Salvation Army Red Shield,too...As it stands, now, I have a small stock pile of baby yarn, two three drawer storage units full of cotton worsted ( Around 50 balls of Sugar n cream or Peaches n cream... and three cones of peaches in cream..) as well as FOUR good sized storage tubs full of Acrylic Worsted. - Enough to start a war, basically!

 

Nita

[KSCrocheter]

I like the softee baby too! But, I've only made one baby sweater with it, though. ( I think I've got like four or five balls of the pink, and ONE ball of the blue denim marls???- something like that.)

 

Nita

[quirkyvirgo]

I'm with Tiggzie, I think Crochetville is a carrier site for yarnfluenza. I learned to crochet at age 10 from my ggmother, picked it up again at about 20, then again last year. Found C'ville this year and one thing leads to another and I'm now a full blown yarnaholic. Can't make any business trips without mapping out LYS and visiting each one. Have to pet any yarn I pass and now have a nice little stash building up. Seriously, if I'm down, I just go into the spare room-turned yarn hole and look at the stash I've built up! Just made my first thrifty purchase this weekend when I happened on an estate sale and got 7 skeins of rust colored acrylic (can use for squares) and 2 skeins of white acrylic for 2.50. I'm now hooked on that too. It's now officially crossed over from a hobby to an obsession.

 

Tandi