Hello! I've been thinking over a conversation I had a few years back with the owner of a yarn shop. I walked in, had a look round, took in the wide variety of acrylic yarn on display, then interupted the assistant who was sitting with her head bowed over her knitting to ask "do you have any pure wool?". She answered, "No, nobody wants pure wool anymore" before burying her head back in her knitting. I was determined to find something good about this shop, so I walked over to the binders full of patterns. A quick glance told me they were full of knitting patterns, so I had another attempt at engaging the surly woman behind the counter - "do you have any crochet patterns?", I asked. "No, nobody crochets anymore" she said, shaking her head.
REALLY? Had she done any market research or even looked at the magazine aisle? Also, here was a potential customer in front of her, was she not even curious? I'm pleased to report the shop has now changed hands and is so much better!
Crochet always seems to play second fiddle to knitting which is a real shame because it's such a versatile craft that, in my opinion anyway, deserves an equal amount of attention.
I love that publications, such as Moorit magazine, are doing their best to raise its awareness. Fay Daspher-Hughes (@crochet_circle_podcast) and Claudia Carpenter (@crochetluna) were live together on Instagram a couple of weeks ago talking about the profile of crochet (the replay is still available to watch if you're interested, it's a really good chat). Fay's advice was to stress at the checkout what you're going to be CROCHETING with your purchase. If we all did this, we could just make a difference.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing knitting here! If you've been following me, you'll know I love to knit too. I simply feel that crochet is so often perceived as the lesser of the two crafts.
Last week I was fortunate to visit a fantastic yarn shop in Aberdeen called Wool For Ewe and it's a real gem of a shop which I love to visit whenever I'm in the city. They stock a good balance of yarns, from acrylics, to cottons, to skeins of pure wool, crochet & knitting patterns and all the little nick nacks too! I bought 2 skeins of Baa Ram Ewe Titus (50% Wensleydale Longwool, 20% Blue Faced Leicester/ 30% UK Alpaca) and 2 balls of Wendy Knit's Recyled (98% recyled bottles/ 2% viscose). Here's a photo of me and my purchases with the Kaye, the daughter of the mother and daughter team.
Follow me on Instagram to find out what I crochet with this lovely yarn - www.instagram.com/marta.mitchell.designs
Until, next time, happy crocheting,
Marta xx
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