Thursday, March 31, 2005

National Crochet Month

Well, here it is, the last day of the month and I just found out that March has been National Crochet Month. During the month I went back to working on a rainbow colored, crocheted wrap I started last year, so I guess I've celebrated sufficiently.
Lots of media outlets seem to be hyping the hipness of knitting (NYT, need a password for the link) for the past year or so now. I've been knitting since high school. It was a popular thing to do at that preppy, private school, probably in no small part due to the fact that one of my friend's mother's owned a yarn shop in town. I remember going into the shop that sat right over the little falls of the Squamscott River and buying a pattern for a Portuguese fisherman's sweater and a bunch of purple yarn. The sweater had a cool little lace up thing at the neck and some simple pattern around the yoke. It was a pretty ambitious first project, but I finished it and wore it for years. I've knittied on and off since then and have made several sweaters and many hats, scarves and pairs of mittens.
I never really cared if knitting or crocheting was "cool" or not. It's relaxing and productive at the same time. I can't think of too many other things that fit that description. Kind of feels like the antithesis of work, which at times seems both pressured and non-productive.

4 comments:

YouWho said...

Interesting, the Starbucks in Portsmouth has a knitting club or knitting night thing. I thought it was kind of a random thing for them to have. I didn't realize it was trendy right now.

I grew up on Cape Cod, where there is a large community of Portuguese fishermen in Provincetown. I have to say I don't think I ever saw any of them wearing a sweater with lace on it -- or purple for that matter. (There are however plenty of other men in town wearing both purple and lace, although they would never be caught dead in anything as bulky or form-hiding as a sweater).

Pam said...

I went to Provincetown once with my mom during a spring vacation when i was in high school. I had never been to Cape Cod before that (or since, actually). It was kind of neat being there in the off season.Everything was probably much more low-key than at the height of the season.
I grew up in Portsmouth and nothing happens there now unless it's already subtley trendy somewhere else. ;)

Anonymous said...

Pam: Do you still have your Portuguese Fisherman's Sweater pattern? Was it one that could be sized from baby through either big child or adult? Though now in Berkeley, I spent all my summers in Westport, Mass., and got a pattern from a yarn shop there that fits your description. I'm new to the blogsphere and don't know the proper etiquette, but would it be possible to get a copy of the pattern if you have it? I made two identical ones almost 29 years ago, for my twin daughters, and now would like to make two more, for their two kids, one of whom is one, the other newly minted. Thanks! -- Sarah

Pam said...

I eventually found a yarn shop with online ordering selling the pattern. Here is the link-- http://www.nakedsheep.com/porfispulpat.html
I ordered the pattern sometime last year but haven't made the sweater yet. I bought some yarn for it when we stopped at the Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine in October. One of these days I'll actually start knitting it!