#WIPWednesday

Published on March 11, 2026

Crochet

A vertical colour photograph of a crochet work. This is a close-up of a colour change with the hook holding the yarn. The old yarn in white, the new one is creamish pink colour. The work rests on my knee in burgundy corduroy. Behind, blurred is a living room with a TV turned off.

I have not been well this past week. One day in the office and my body collapsed. I was not expecting this but by now I know how to respond to such event. I took it very easy and worked from home the remainder of my week.

In between tasks, I settled away from the laptop, and crocheted a few rows on my niece's shawl. Only my brain was not fully working. When the instructions are treble crochet (UK term) in every stitch, margins for errors are low even if my brain is mush, but the last row of the repeat is not treble crochet in every stitch. The diagram says to treble crochet one stitch, chain one, skip a stich, repeat. For some reason, my brain read that as treble crochet one stich, skip a stitch.

At the end of this row, I needed to change colour. I looked up a tutorial, managed not to dissolve into brain fog. I was proud of myself for learning a new technique but then confusion happened. The pattern of yarn I was facing appeared nothing like the previous repeats. It took me a moment but eventually I realised my mistake: all the missed chains. I laughed, embraced the errors bound to happen when long covid is wreaking havoc in my body and mind. I frogged back to where I knew was correct, and started again, a little slower, a little more focused.

A vertical colour photograph of a crochet shawl in progress. The shawl is mostly white with two rows of creamish pink colour. It drapes over a carboard box on a grey sofa bed.

Since introducing the new colour, I have not crocheted a whole lot. Partly because I have been too fatigued, partly because my attention diverted to learning to knit.

Granny squares blanket

No progress.

Knitting

Learning to knit

As mentioned in the crochet section, I have not been well this week. This has made it difficult to focus on learning new skills. Still, I have persisted with a little practice here and there, adding a knit row to the small practice work on the needles.

A vertical colour photograph of a small knitted work on wooden needles. The yarn is blue. The ball rests in my legs. My legs are covered by a yellow and grey wool blanket.

By Friday evening, I felt a little disheartened at not having been able to learn the purl stitch and so in spite of not having a lot of energy, I opened my two knitting books to the purl stitch sections. Words jumbled and mingled and I could make no sense of the instructions. I left the books on the sofa bed with the needles and yarn, and went to bed with Mill on the Floss by George Eliot instead.

The following day, I returned to the sofa bed and found that I had been staring confusingly at the English style instructions! I have so far been learning continental style so it's no wonder the instructions were a jumble of nonsense to me.

Invigorated by this discovery (and a night sleep), I poured over the words and images, slowly attempting to transfer them into movements of yarn and needles. This time, it did not take long to complete a purl row.

A vertical colour photograph of a small knitting work on colourful wooden needles. The yarn is grey. The work rests on a book opened on a page with purl stitch instructions.

The gestures felt a little easier than when I learned the knit stitch, the motions a little more natural, and I soon fell into a rhythm. On Sunday, my partner and I drove to our local arboretum. I shoved the small ball of yarn and the two needles into the side pocket of my bag for practice amongst trees and flowers. I settled on a bench, made a knit stitch row, stared into the distance at flowers and birds, made a purl stitch row, stared into the distance at trees and drank tea, and repeat.

Now to figure out a project to put those newly acquired skills to work - suggestions welcome as long as it's not a scarf (we are already drowning in scarves in my household).