Five Months Later: So THIS Is Happening

For a while, even before the start of the pandemic last year, I truly believed my “cro-jo” (crochet mojo) was no mo’. 

In February 2020, I started designing a project, simple enough construction: long strips of 2 rows of DC (warp) and shorter strips of 2 rows of DC (weft) to then be wovens together to form a colorful long runner for my galley style bathroom. 

Even though I was using the same weight yarn from different companies and the same size hook, my long strips were problematic. Obviously I’d count stitches as I hooked, but somewhere along the way the strips ended up being irregular. 

I not only abandoned this project, but I also fell into a pit of despair as the pandemic death numbers continued to climb, and by the beginning of April when my mom let me know the virus was in her nursing home until the beginning of May when she died, I truly felt lost. 

I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t sleep. And even to this day, I have yet to fully feel human again. 

In April we went to a cabin in the woods with a view of Lake George, to isolate with a better view (and crappier pillows), in an act of futility or hope, I packed a familiar project—the pattern that cast the die for my addiction to top down sweaters nearly a decade ago: Chevron Lace Cardigan by Milobo. 

I started hooking it. My muscle memory remained in tact. And soon, before I knew it, I had knocked out about 7 rows—nearly half of the yoke was complete. 

Upon our arrival back home, I became sick with a fever, and by day 3 I had a PCR test for COVID, which came back negative. 

The fever self resolved, and 11 days later I went for my first shot of Pfizer—it was at this point everything went sideways. I was sick but in a different way, and to this day, things have not been resolved. I see a liver specialist later today, and hopefully I will have more conclusive information later today. 

Anyway—all this is a preamble to the main event here on this blog. I’ve buried the lede, as it would appear. I resumed work on the cardigan. 

I am using the Arequipa (Plymouth Yarn) I bought during one of my last trips to Vermont. It is 90% Merino super wash and 10% Mulberry silk, and works up like a dream. 

Having my crojo back and a delightful project like this makes it very difficult on weeks I work from home, because clearly, I’d much rather be hooking than sitting in front of a laptop.