If you know me, you know that one of my ultimate pastimes is crafting. I craft at work, at home, and on the go. Coming up with what to create with the materials I have is very exciting.

My ultimate escape is crochet. It has been a huge asset to my life and my mental health. Crochet to me is an escape from my poor overthinking brain and finding a way to focus on what I have in front of me. It has helped me believe in myself and dip into that creative side that I had once forgotten I had. I love seeing projects come together after creating all the tiny pieces. I am proud of every single project I make, big or small; because I get to grow and learn a little more every time.

When I tell people I crochet, or when they see me crocheting; I get two of the similar reactions: "WOW! That knitting looks so cool!" or "You do that? But you are not a grandmother?!"

They do tend to see me working on things like:

and also:

At this point, all I do is laugh. When they call it knitting, I correct them and tell them the difference between crochet and knit. When they see I am not a grandmother; I tell them that the art of crochet is not just for one group of people. Anyone can benefit from learning this beautiful craft. The next reaction goes along the lines of: "Yeah no, that's too hard!"
Is it hard to learn? Or does it seem hard because it's something we haven't been exposed to? My response to this is always: It's never too late to learn! Come take my class at the public library!

The more I code the more I see the similarities between these two worlds.

When people find out that I am learning how to code I get similar reactions; "WHAT? That's like hard no?" or "Oh! Ok! You don't seem like someone who'd learn that..."

Again, coding is not just for nerds ... ok yes it is for us, but what people picture as who is a "nerd" is not it. Coding seems hard to anyone not exposed to it. Just like crochet, coding is not just for one group of people. It's a skill that anyone willing to put in the work is able to acquire.

Both skills teach you resilience, patience, and creativity. In order to learn either skill you need to learn new vocabulary. Every new stitch is a new method; practicing it takes time and repetitiveness. When following a pattern for crochet, there are times you need to change it to fit your needs. Code you might find that what once worked doesn't anymore and you have to change it to fit your needs. Patterns have to be put through trials in order to find the errors. Code needs to be tested in order to find the bugs. The final projects are created after putting time and effort into smaller parts and adding everything together.

It's amazing how many similarities I continue to find along my coding journey. I like being able to alternate between the two when I need a little break. The goal would be to have an SE job that also gives me that life balance to continue with my crochet creations.

Tell me, what else should I crochet?