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Crocheting When the Power is Out

Real Deal

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Real Deal Grand Master

Real Deal

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My power went out in the middle of the night, Sunday night, when a tree came down on the power lines 2 houses away from me.

 

After lighting candles and putting new batteries in the flashlights, unplugging the computer and air conditioners, and checking that everything was OK, I sat down and said "Now what?"

 

Of course I wanted to crochet, so I set up 2 candles in front of me on the kitchen table and put a piece of aluminum foil across behind them for a little more reflected light. Unfortunately, I discovered it was going to be very difficult to work on my current projects, even though the colors weren't super dark in them. I was so disappointed.

 

Then I remembered ~ I had a cone of white Peaches & Creme cotton for making facecloths! I just bought it last week, and the strange thing is, I rarely use white for anything at all, so I don't usually have white in my stash for any reason.

 

I opened the white cotton and began, and WOW! What a difference! It was astonishing! I had 4 hours to go until daylight and I was able to work on the white with no eye strain. I honestly never would have thought changing over to the white would make that much of a difference, but it certainly did.

 

From now on, I'm going to make sure I keep white on hand for emergency situations. Otherwise, I would have been bored to tears, because even reading by candle light is quite a strain on the eyes if it's for hours. This was fine. So I thought I'd let all of you know ~ in case of a blackout, keep some white yarn on hand!

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rashidah Collaborator

rashidah

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I like that. I learned how to crochet when I was 9 years old and do not remember a time when I was not crocheting. My grandmother told me a blind woman that she knew showed me how. I can crochet a granny square blanket without looking at my work. So when blackouts do occur I grab my crochet hook and go for it. Know they have crochet hooks that lite up. I am going to get a few and you should to.

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Navymomx2 Collaborator

Navymomx2

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The last time we had a power outage that involved the night we lit the Hurricanes Lamps and also a Lantern. The lantern lit the house up big time and I had plenty of light to crochet by. I just make sure we have air circulation by having windows cracked open and a small fan going to be safe. Don't have to worry abt heat if it is cold out since we have a wood burning fireplace.

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adagio Apprentice

adagio

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I had the opportunity just this last weekend! About 3:15 pm the power went out as Ike roared over. As it grew darker inside, I had several coping mechanisms. I used a shake-up type flashlight for a while, but that was awkward. I used lighted hooks for a while, till I remembered I didn't have any replacement batteries. And there was no telling how long the power would be out. I have candles, but don't like using them. A while back I had found a flashlight mounted on an elastic band, like someone would use for running, or something like that. Had to change out the batteries (fortunately I had lots of AAA on hand!). And crocheted my heart out! And I was using dark colors, too.

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Real Deal Grand Master

Real Deal

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Crocheting by the light of candles absolutely puts me in awe of what all the women of our past made. I have thread doilies and a tablecloth from my great grandmother, plus quilts. And I know there was no electricity.

 

My grandmother told us stories about how she, as a child, had the chore of cleaning the oil lamps each day, so they would be ready for that evening. She hated this job because it was stinky, but it had to be done. She wasn't allowed to change this chore with one of the other children because it was her task and that was that.

 

She remembered when electricity began to be put in houses. Only the very wealthy had it, and it was considered a novelty, a frivolity. Nobody thought it was going to become something useful.

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Feederofthepack Collaborator

Feederofthepack

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I keep a supply of those book lights with the bendy heads and the clamps on the end. The ones I like are only $1 at Walmart and they are easy to clamp to the shoulder of my shirt! Very nice for the car or dark rooms :)

 

Yep! Had to pull mine out this week since we lost power for 2 days. I have lighted hooks but not in the right size.:hook

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