The stepchild of the fiber world gets some cred from the cool kids
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - April 28 2006
One misty evening in spring, Jennifer Hill flipped the "closed" sign on her yarn shop and led her staff of veteran knitters to nearby Targy's Tavern, which she fondly calls "the last bastion of crappiness on Queen Anne."
For the next four hours, as the Bud Lite flowed and Lynyrd Skynyrd rocked the jukebox, the 20-odd staffers of Hilltop Yarn & Needlepoint sank into beer-stained, backroom sofas and proceeded to embrace the dark side.
They learned to crochet.
Given the knit-crochet cultural divide, it was a little like PC loyalists taking a Mac-appreciation class. But the Hilltop crew learned what longtime "hookers" have known all along: that crochet is fun, fast and filled with creative potential.
"If I can learn to do it in a dark bar after work," Hill said, "anyone can do it."
For the first time in decades, crochet is on a fashion roll. You see it on runways and retail racks and, increasingly, in sophisticated patterns that needle crafters can stitch themselves. It's worth noting that Martha Stewart's famous prison poncho, made by a fellow inmate, was the product of a crochet hook. [more]
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