Thank you Mrs. Phelps

People think I sit at home all day long in my comfy armchair wrapped in a crocheted granny square blanket with one cat in my lap and the other chasing the ball end of the yarn while I’m straining my eyes to make out the handwritten crochet pattern passed on to me by my great grandmother on a yellowed paper that had a lucky escape from the Russian occupiers in 1956 in Hungary sewed in her underskirt.

I can’t blame them - I used to think granny squares were called granny squares because they are for bored old people who have nothing to do. And there is a little truth in it - they indeed called granny squares because, in the Victorian era, grannies would save scraps of yarn to make squares to use as a washing cloth.

Where I was mistaken is that they were not bored. At that time, everything that was made by hand had a purpose and the creators were visionaries driving development.

Well, times changed and the stereotypical crocheter did too. Who are they? Let me introduce a couple of them to you:

A 9-year-old boy working towards his vision of making mini amigurumi Teddy bears one day. And his mothers who just came to support her son’s dream. And who can't stop crocheting ever since.

A 15-year-old teenager joyfully and aimlessly crocheting without any purpose. For the purpose of feeling joy. So happy to have her in the class and secretly hoping she would start a teenage crochet trend in New Mills.

A young mom trying to stay sane while struggling with insomnia at night.

A cleaner, a nurse, a primary teacher, a bartender, a bus driver. And of course, the crafty grandmothers and pensioners, are here too. It’s very likely I’ll become one of them one day, I can’t wait.

Mrs. Phelps was her name - the visioner in 1885, who, very possibly, was sitting in a comfy armchair wrapped in a blanket when an idea came to her: wouldn’t it be great if this blanket around me was a granny square one? And off she went on sitting till she brought her vision to life so that in 2023, a group of people in the vibrant town of New Mills can have a go at it at their crochet class. Just as she imagined it.

Isn’t it funny how learning the single crochet stitch takes a couple of weeks/months, getting the tension right, straightening the rows - and then when it comes to a new stitch: the double crochet one, we don’t only learn the stitch itself but transform it into a piece of art: a granny square during the same class.

Learning accelerates with time, and perseverance wins.

Thanks, Mrs. Phelps for this fun night - and to all attendees. Remember, 3 double crochets, 3 chains, 3 double crochets. Just as Mrs. Phelps visioned it.