A couple of months ago, I was scrolling on my phone, like always, and I saw these teenage girls showing off the tote bags they made. I was intrigued and decided to look into it. I found out that they crocheted it! I was amazed! I have recently been trying to start a new hobby because quarantine has been extremely boring. The more and more I researched crocheting, the more I wanted to try it. About a week after, I went to my local Micheal’s to buy the yarn and needle. The second I got home I watched videos on videos to learn the stitches. I decided to do a single stitch tote bag because it was the easiest one I found. I worked on it for hours and hours each day. In about three days, I finished my tote bag. That was when I realized, due to popular belief, crocheting is an amazing hobby. 

When you think about hobbies, what first comes to mind is probably doing a sport, baking, reading, and even drawing. However when you hear the word “Crocheting” what first pops into your brain is an elderly grandma making some gloves for her grandchildren. Pretty boring if you ask me right? Wrong!

You might be wondering, why crocheting? Well when you crochet, it is relaxing, increases your creativity, and gives you a sense of accomplishment. Doesn’t that sound appealing to everyone? I don’t know about you, but I love feeling all of these reasons. 

So for starters, Crocheting gives you a sense of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a state in which you’re fully immersed in the present moment. You’re not worrying about what happened yesterday, last week, tomorrow, the week after, and more. Let’s say you have some assignment due, a test you didn’t study for, or even failed a test. Crocheting, for a split second in time, you stop thinking about your problems and can just get lost in your creation. 

Now, some people might be like crocheting isn’t a life skill. It’s not necessary to learn and it looks “hard”. Well, if you look into it, learning one simple stitch, the singlet stitch, is all you need to learn to make many items. I did a single stitch last week and I did that for multiple hours getting lost in it. I stitched that same stitch, which is literally under and over, for three hours. It was honestly really relaxing because I was able to watch my show on Netflix. When I almost finished, I did have to do another stitch at the end to put it all together. However, this stitch was like sewing. When you think of it, crocheting is very similar to sewing. Many people consider sewing a life skill and crocheting is not too far off. 

Moving on, when you crochet, there are endless possibilities. You can make sweaters, socks, gloves, hats, bucket hats, cardigans, and bags. So much that the list goes on. When I was crocheting, I felt like I wanted to make more and more because it was honestly addicting. ‘Cause, when you do the research, you find out there are so many things you can crochet and you just keep wanting to do it.

The feeling of accomplishment. Crocheting can take hours, days, weeks, however long or how complex your item is. But when you finish, you have this feeling where it makes you happy and sad at the same time. You are happy you finished but you are sad because now you have to move on. You dedicated so much time and effort to it. Seeing the final product, and it looks like how you imagined it, it honestly just feels so rewarding. You can now show it off, wear it out, and keep bragging and bragging. No one should have any say in how much you are bragging because it is YOUR creation. I mean, who doesn’t want to brag about something they made with their own two hands?

Alright, so you still have your doubts… Why? 

Let’s say you watch Netflix as you consider it as a hobby. You know, that’s cool. Well, having a hobby means you can put it on your resume or applications to get into University. Universities look at it as a unique way to show your personality besides what you do in school academically. I mean, is all you want to put in your application for colleges your grades, and that you binge-watch T.V shows every day?

You don’t want to make your items? Well, that is a possibility, there are malls and online stores that you can go to. However, when you make your items, you can give them to people. It could make them happy because it comes from your heart and it’s something they can always have around, whether it makes them a blanket or even some gloves. 

Okay so you still don’t believe me, what is the point in crocheting? Yes, these reasons are cool, but you want something that you can gain from this. Don’t you worry I have an answer for you! You can make a profit! You can sell it online to retail stores like Depop. Though you don’t have to overprice them, you can make a lot of money. Most of us are still not able to work a job yet, but more of us probably don’t even want to work in general. We all just want easy money. So, why not make money from something you do, such as crocheting?

In the end, crocheting is the best hobby because of how relaxing, creative, and its satisfying feeling it gives you.