Crochet on the BBC's Call the Midwife

One advantage to having crochet as my primary activity is that I get to keep up with lots of shows and movies on Netflix. We don't own a television, and I've found that my laptop is all I need. Through much practice my tension is even enough that I can half pay attention to what I'm doing and still end up with a great finished object. Pattern writing requires more work and dedicated head-space, but sometimes I'll be working on a portion of a pattern that repeats and can watch movies and television shows then as well. 

If you like period pieces, babies, women, nurses or any combination of those and haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend Call the Midwife. I love to crochet while I'm watching it. As if the show wasn't likable enough, it often features crochet! Here are several crochet snippets (plus some knitting) that I caught in a single episode, and there were many more I simply didn't screen capture because I was too involved in the story to pause.

I don't want to give too much away, but the final shot shows the women crocheting together during a very tense moment. I find it particularly beautiful. The show is set in the UK during the 1950s. As thankful as I am to live in this modern age, especially with regards to the concerns raised by the show, I do get all dreamy over the idea of crochet being so widespread. So many of the little babies born on Call the Midwife have sweet crochet blankets, bonnets, booties, etc. lovingly made for them by their families. I think it would be quite nice if knowledge of the leisure arts was still so widespread and valued, passed down through generations. Until then I guess I'll just have to crochet along with the ladies on the show.

Note: All screen captures were taken by me and I would like to reference the Fair Use Act with regards to criticism and comment.

Homespun Granny Square Baby Blanket

Ah, Homespun. Both a gift and a curse to crochet. This yarn makes a nice finished product that is soft, attractive, glossy, and best of all quite washable! It is ideal for blankets and baby projects for those reasons. However...it is such a pain to work with! The zigzag texture of the yarn is created by a thin thread that is wrapped around the body of the yarn. This thread's main goal in life is to impede the process by getting caught on your crochet hook. Ugh! For me, it's always a struggle weighing the pros and cons of using Homespun.

Having been gifted three skeins by a family friend, I decided to use the yarn in a traditional granny square baby blanket. The simplicity of the blanket made working with the yarn a little less hellish.

To make a traditional granny square, start by forming a ring - chain four and slip stitch together. Alternatively you could use a magic circle, which I prefer and will explain in another post. Chain 3 to count as the first double crochet. Next do 2 double crochet stitches into the ring. Chain 2, 3 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet. Complete the first round with a slip stitch into the top of the turning chain. You should have something that looks roughly like this:

Congratulations! You have completed the most difficult part of the granny square. It's true! Next, do two slip stitches across your first two double crochet stitches. Time for round two! Chain 3, do 2 dc into the first corner chain space, chain 2, do 3 more dc into the same corner chain. Chain 1. Into the next corner chain, do 3dc, chain 2, 3dc, then ch 1 again. Finish the round in this manner until you reach your turning chain, then slip stitch to join. Simply slip stitch across the first two dc of the second round, chain 3 again to count as the first dc, and off you go! Every time you reach a corner do 3dc+ch2+3dc+ch1, and every time you reach a ch 1 space do 3dc+ch1. Slip stitch across at the end of each row then round and round and round you go! You can make the blanket as big or as small as you like.

I gave this blanket to a friend of mine for her newborn son. It was well received, and she even used it as a photo prop in her son's professional baby pictures. What an honor!

Happy stitching!