According to the BBC...

...crochet is the way to get creative in 2016.

See their article here.

I noted that they had changed the main image from the one that had originally appeared on the article - why you might ask - well the original photo was of bikes in a bike rack that had been yarn-bombed with...KNITTING. I do wonder sometimes where publications get their staff from...

That aside, crochet is becoming more popular because it works up more quickly than knitting (unless you decide on a very complicated pattern LOL).

It would also appear that searches on sites such as YouTube show that crochet is one of the most sought after crafts for instruction by folk wanting to learn.

Many of the folk that I follow on Blogger crochet - only yesterday, the lovely Julia Dunit (Stamping Ground) showed a photo of her desk for the weekly "WOYWW" and admitted that she had abandoned what she had been working on papercraft-wise for a spot of crochet on the sofa in front of the TV.

Debby over at a Scrappyjourney is also a regular crochet crafter and if you browse her blog you will find lots of cute toys that she has made as well as some lovely blankets made of Granny squares.

I was taught how to crochet when I was at primary school - our 'Dinner Lady' (the lady who kept an eye on us in the playground during the lunch break) offered to show us how if we came in with a crochet hook and a ball of yarn - the rest as they say is history.

I have made fancy doilies with fine cotton yarns but blankets are an easy/no stress/just sit and craft thing that I tend to do more often. I'm currently making another sparkly blanket in white/grey/black but it is now at the size that it is too big to take with me on the train so will only get worked on at home.

Both Debby & Julia make 'granny squares' which are very portable but I can't be faffing around with all the joining together so prefer to make my blankets in one large square.

When I moved into this house, my Mum made some lovely crochet panels for some of the tiny windows (downstairs loo, bathroom) as there wasn't the variety of pretty nets available in caravan/café sizes that there are now. These she made out of beautiful Italian cotton thread that she had bought whilst on holiday in Northern Italy. She also used many of the paper patterns that she bought at the same time - although she doesn't speak or read Italian, she was able to follow the diagrams quite easily and there was a much better variety of patterns available over there than you find here in the UK.

So as we head into 2016 it seems strange that something that I've been doing since I was a small child is suddenly rather trendy.

Southend-on-Sea is not a million miles away and it would appear that there are some ladies in that area that have been having fun with a bit of crochet yarn-bombing (there is a link at the bottom of the BBC article). Here in Stanford-le-Hope, I think we have some folk who are a little more restrained (**chuckle**) - since the Thurrock Blooming Marvels took over responsibility for the flower beds and baskets in the town centres of the borough, I've noticed that the posts that hold the hanging baskets have a ring of crochet flowers around them. Poppies, Sunflowers, Daisies...so pretty.

So crochet is the 'In' thing - do you crochet? Are you hoping to learn?

Why not join in the fun and give it a go..............................................................