My Pandemic Hobby: Crocheting

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I’ve never been the kind of person to have hobbies. I was on a few sports teams growing up, but I wasn’t particularly passionate about any of them. I’ve dabbled in various instruments, I’ve tried my hand at drawing and I’ve even attempted to take up running. Nothing ever seemed to stick for longer than a few months, and thankfully I was busy spending time with my friends and doing schoolwork. In March of 2020, when COVID-19 hit, I found myself stuck inside and unable to see any of my friends. I didn’t have a hobby to turn to, to help pass the time. My situation was not unique. It felt like there were countless amounts of people struggling with passing the time. There were so many people out there that were also trying to take up new hobbies. Whether it was baking bread or finally committing time to a passion project, people all over the world were finding time to explore their interests. 

It took me a long time to find a hobby that I truly loved and that I would stick with. This process was so aggravating at times that I found myself binging shows on Netflix day in and day out. I would scroll on TikTok for hours on end while procrastinating the work I should have actually been doing. It wasn’t until November that I found a hobby that I’m passionate about, and that hobby is crocheting! 

It all started when I saw a TikTok of a girl crocheting an extremely cute bumble bee. It was so extremely cute, but it was quite expensive to buy directly from her. As many people have done in the past, I turned to YouTube for some guidance. I was looking for a video tutorial on how to make a similar bumble bee, and it was surprisingly easy to find. Unfortunately, the crochet pattern was a little too difficult for me, so I explored crochet patterns for beginners. I found a great tutorial on making a crochet jellyfish keychain, and that’s where my obsession began. I made my first crochet project, which is pictured below, and I was hooked (no pun intended). I ended up making two more jellyfish just that first week alone, and I probably would have made even more if it wasn’t for finals getting close. 

The next week I decided to learn a new pattern, and I also spent some time learning a bit more about the style of crocheting I was doing. The new pattern was for a star keychain, and the style of crocheting I do is called ‘amigurumi.’ Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting. It translates to “crocheted stuffed doll” in English, and the style is unbelievably cute. There are a lot of people out there who have been crocheting in this style for years, so there is no shortage of cute crocheting patterns out there. I loved this style so much and I really loved crocheting, so I decided to invest in some professional crochet pattern collections as well as a plethora of yarn.

As of now, I’ve only been crocheting for two months, but I have already made a number of projects for my family and close friends. At this point, I pretty much have a pattern for just about anything. I have almost exclusively stayed in the small scale amigurumi project arena, but the next step is to try my hand at crocheting some clothes. Then, who knows, maybe I’ll open my own Etsy shop and run a small business. The proverbial crocheting world is my oyster, and as I’ve told my friends, it could be yours too. Crocheting is fun and easy to learn, so if you have ever thought about trying it, try it. What’s the worst that could happen?

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• crafts
• diy
• FSU
• Hobby
• quarantine