The intersection of craft and technology always amazes me. When you come right down to it, you can’t get much less technology dependent than the basics of crochet. You need something stringlike and a bent piece of something (although if you don’t have that second item, you could probably get a fair bit of something made with your bent finger). So yarn + implement = craft, and sometimes, = art. It is the human input that makes crochet beautiful. Of course, in a lot of technological developments, human input = operator error. Human quirks are to be avoided rather than treasured.
One of the fine things that science has brought to almost all of us in the last couple of decades is the Internet. Not just the Internet, of course, but all of the tools that make it so easy to zip around cyberspace and communicate with others. We have social networking sites to chat with like-minded friends, shopping sites to buy things we like that would not otherwise be available to us, blogs to read, podcasts to listen to, and streaming videos to watch. We can have all of this information, from the ridiculous to the sublime, right at our fingertips in the privacy of our own homes. Not only do we not have to change out of our PJs to go online, but we can stay completely anonymous if we like. We can each be in charge of how much interaction we desire.
Crocheters, though, like community. We like to hang out with other crocheters, talk about crochet, and examine new yarns and new patterns. Like attracts like, and crocheters around the world are beginning to find one another. And it is good, because no crocheter in the world has to feel like she is alone in her obsession; there are thousands of yarn-addicted folks out there just like her, and she wants to meet them all! Forums, chat rooms, podcasts, photo streams, even videos … so much to see! So many people to hear from! More crochet information than she ever knew existed in the whole wide world and at her fingertips!
The problem now is, do you talk about crochet, or do you crochet? Do you get involved in all the heartfelt stories of those who are collecting crochet for various charities, or do you get out your hook, make something for the group you read about last week, and get it in the mail? Should you start the cute sweater that your favorite blogger showed on her blog yesterday, or should you keep searching because there might be something better out there? Should you download every episode of your favorite podcast, or see what the other podcasters are up to?
It’s called the Web because one thing leads to another with ease. You might start out in one little corner of cyberspace and after a few minutes (or let’s be honest, hours) of clicking, you are led elsewhere. I won’t say led astray, because there is no astray here—you are finding more and more fascinating things, so fascinating that it is very difficult to turn off the darn computer and go do something else. Like eat, or sleep, or crochet.
But I am going to tell you something for your own good. Most of that information will still be there tomorrow. And the next day. Archives are magical things and just because you found a cool blogger does not mean that at that exact moment you have to go back five years and read every post she ever wrote in order of date. You can pace yourself on yarn and book reviews and photos. You can’t start fifteen things at once, anyway. I wholeheartedly encourage you to discover all the magical crochet stuff that is now online. Just make sure you don’t forget to stop and use your crochet hooks from time to time. In the end, all we really need is some yarn and a hook.