Finding rhythm…

I’ve an old rhythm going. I’ve been crocheting again.

It is a blessed relief to return to something my hands know how to do instinctively. Knitting is a challenge I love with a fierce passion these days, but it still is not second nature as yet, and I must constantly focus and watch much of my work as I go. But crocheting, the first skill I learned involving sticks and string as a young women, is something I can do without much thinking.

There is a rhythm to crochet, it is by nature very repetitious act, especially when making blankets and afghan’s, and in those long rows a wonderful zen-like state takes over and before you know it I’m in the zone.

And so it was when I was suddenly presented with several hours of time in the car last Friday without a knitting project suitable for long repetitive rows while gazing out the windows at the scenery. At the last minute, as we loaded the car, I remembered my stash reduction commitment and a few more balls of Red Heart still lounging about, totally suitable for crocheting and equally good for the Ottawa Inuit Community Resource Center baby blankets I have been working on.

I grabbed two skeins and my crochet hook, and as we headed out the driveway I chained the foundation row, and began. I was startled to look down a time later, about a three-quarters of the way to our destination, to see how many rows I had accomplished. Darn near a quarter of the blanket was sitting in my lap! My fingers had worked steadily without thinking leaving my head free to enjoy the sunny countryside unfolding as we drove. It was the same for the drive home a day later.

This is the rhythm I still strive to achieve with my knitting. This total loss of time and effort, and complete feeling of ease and satisfaction that comes when your head no longer needs to engage in the activity of your hands. I know this peace will come with to my knitting in time, after all I have only been knitting a few years, and crocheting for more than 25 now, so it makes sense that I am not yet in the same place with my knitting as I am with crochet.

So every now and then it is a complete and total relief to return to the skill my hands know first without being told what to do.

Knit on…..