The Power of Fun

Posted in how to be more creative

The Power of Fun

How to Feel Alive Again

By: Catherine Price

This is another book that I was Megan Auman had on her reading list, and since it was available at the local library, I decided to try it. My main takeaway from the book was that it prompted me to be more thoughtful about how often I’m having fun or even attempting to have fun. There are many pros to working from home. However, there is also a huge con, and that is it’s easy to work A LOT, and while I do, for the most part, enjoy my work, I have stopped doing other things that I enjoy. 

Price worked hard to define true fun and explained it as a combination of playfulness, connection, and flow. She notes that you can still have fun even if you aren’t experiencing all three of these things at once but that you’re the most likely to have fun when the three come together.

After reading Vanishing Fleece and receiving a knitted scarf from a friend, I had a strong urge to pull out my yarn and crochet hook, realizing that I hadn’t crocheted in almost three years, something that I used to find very fun. Reflecting that I wanted to learn to crochet a basket this year, I gave in on a Saturday morning and started to crochet, only to realize that I didn’t have much yarn. But after a google search and a trip to a local yarn store, that problem was resolved. I spent the entire day crocheting and ended it with a completed basket. 

Along the way, I remembered how much fun it was to crochet. I didn’t look at my phone, computer, or anything other than the project. Crochet quickly pulls me into flow, and while I often do it alone, it makes me feel more connected to my grandmother, who taught me the beginnings of most of my fiber-related skills. 

2023 Learning Plan

Clara Parkes, the author of Vanishing Fleece, shared how she decided to create her syllabus and her program to learn about the lifecycle of wool. As someone who loves learning but isn’t interested in incurring student loans at this point in my life, the idea of creating my own pretend programs grabbed my attention. 

I’ll share more about the learning plan and how you can create one for yourself shortly, but for now, I’m going to share some notes about the first project from my learning plan. 

I’ve wanted to crochet a basket for years and have never taken the time to figure out how to do so. Since basket making is listed as an item on my learning plan, and I” m paying more attention to having fun, crocheting a basket seemed like a perfect start.

What I learned:

  • I remembered that I knew how to crochet a magic circle [ if you don’t know what it is, a quick search on youtube will provide many results]
  • While I did double the yarn, it still did not result in the sturdy structure that I wanted, especially if I wanted to create larger baskets, I do. So, I need to explore other material options.
  • I learned how to determine how quickly to add stitches when crocheting a circle; in the past, I’d just made it up, which I was pretty good at, but learning the actual math is helpful. 

Pattern that I created and followed

Row 1: Create a magic circle with 10 double crochet stitches

Row 2: Double crochet 2 stitches into each of the first row; you should now have 20 stitches

Row 3: 1 double crochet, then 2 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet ( continue until you make it all the way around

Row 4: 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet (repeat the whole way around)

Row 5: 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet ( repeat the whole way around)

Row 6: 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet (repeat the whole way around)

Row 7: 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet (repeat the whole way around)

Row 8: 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet (repeat the whole way around)

Once I determined that the basket was the height I wanted (aka I ran out of yarn), I tied off the end and flipped the basket inside out.

As I mentioned above, the structure could be sturdy. I used a large plastic protein powder container that I” d been saving for a moment like this, cut off the top, and inserted it into the crocheted basket. Now I have a form to hold my paint brushes, knitting needles, and crochet hooks.