The comeback of yarn crafts
By Maggie Beidelman
Sure, bangles and leggings came back in style due to someone's unfortunate opinion, but crocheting and knitting -- who could've known?
It's true: Many students at Santa Clara have renewed the lost arts of the needles and the hook -- the crochet hook, that is. Apparently, the look of crafty scarves made with love is in.
Knitting and crocheting are the work of turning thread or yarn into cloth through a series of loops of strands pulled through other loops.
Sophomore crocheter Lizzie Carter described crocheting as "something that used to have the stigma of being an old person's activity" that has now become a contemporary fad.
"My friends from high school taught me how to crochet," said sophomore Lindsay Braun. "I mainly make scarves, and they make really good gifts."
Carter agreed: "It's easy (to make scarves) because it's a straight line." Braun and Carter crochet together with friend and fellow sophomore, Andrea Irland, who made three and a half scarves over winter break.
"We always knit while watching TV or movies," said Braun. "It's really relaxing."
The origins of crocheting are not entirely known, but it became especially popular during the couple of decades following World War II.
There are several different types of crocheting to try, including Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace, which are alternatives to the basic crochet method.
Similar to crochet, knitting dates back to 11th century Egypt and perhaps even earlier.
The popularity of knitting has made a revival in the 21st century.
According to the Craft Yarn Council of America, the number of women knitters in the United States ages 25 to 34 increased 150 percent between 2002 and 2004.
Carter learned how to crochet when she was little from her mom, who learned from Carter's grandmother.
But crocheting and knitting are no longer women's work as they have been categorized throughout history and even today.
Slowly, crocheting and knitting have crossed the gender boundary, as straight males everywhere have attempted these persisting arts.
Sophomore Dan Bates knits because "it's something to show for your time instead of just sitting around and watching television, and it's relaxing."
He and a close friend decided on a whim one day to learn how to knit, so they looked up how to do so on the Internet and got to work.
A friend of Braun, Carter and Irland, sophomore Max Hyatt, also knits and crochets.
"He's better than the rest of us," said Braun of Hyatt, who learned the arts from his grandmother.
Braun's iPod nestles comfortably in a red crocheted case, thanks to Hyatt's dexterity and cleverness.
"He just came up with the pattern (for the iPod case) on his own," she said.
The running back for the Boise State University football team, Ian Johnson, who scored the two-point conversion to win the Fiesta Bowl this past January, crochets in his free time. He used to sell his products to his teammates until the NCAA decided that this violated league regulations.
At first glance, the craft of crochet may appear fairly simple. But even with the assistance of an "I Taught Myself to Crochet" instructional booklet, I am lost to the intricate workings of delicate fingers and knotted yarn.
According to the yarn enthusiasts at Santa Clara, however, these skills are fairly simple to acquire for most people.
So grab a knot of friends, untangle a few directions, and get hooked on an art that refuses to unravel.
Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu.