With Hook in Hand, Enrich Your Spiritual Practice and Renew Your Awareness of the Connections of Creativity to Spirit
What can you learn about yourself through your crocheting? What deeper symbolism lies behind the loops and patterns that you create? How can this simple activity help you make your way down a spiritual path? Delve into these questions and more in this imaginative book that will become your spiritual friend, your teacher and your sanctuary. Follow the crochet journeys of the author and other crocheters to discover how they have used their crocheting to explore and strengthen their spiritual selves, and how you can do the same. In this joyful and engaging look at a time-honored craft, you will discover ways to:
- Tiffany R. Walsh, Catholic Library WorldFor those who love crafts, their connection to personal faith and spirituality is a natural fit. This is a refreshing spiritual book for practitioners of the beautiful craft of crochet, which is too often overshadowed by knitting. Contemplative Crochet author Cindy Crandall-Frazier comes from a Methodist background, and is now a practicing Quaker. Her work here intersperses a narrative examining the interconnectedness of crocheting to personal expression of faith, with short questions for contemplation, and even patterns for relevant projects.
The author's stated objective is to demonstrate that work done with our hands is sacred and serves a spiritual purpose both for creator and recipient. She addresses practical topics such as meditation while crocheting and use of prayer beads, as well as broader themes, such as finding one's spiritual and vocational path, and discovering personal creativity within one’s practice of crochet. The included patterns are designed in such a way that even beginning crocheters can partake—one only need know how to create single, double and half-double crochet stitches from a starting chain. The designs are for a diverse group of projects, from a traditional prayer shawl and prayer beads (not a rosary; rather, beads similar to an Eastern Christian chotki), to a small tea pot cozy and motif made of crocheted morning glories.
This is a well-written book on an inspirational and timely topic. It would make a thoughtful gift for a crocheter, and a nice addition to one’s spiritual reading list.
Index of Projects vi
Foreword vii
Introduction ix
1 • Roots and Wings: Soaring while Keeping Our Feet on the Ground 1
2 • Plenty: Finding a Sense of Fullness and Gratitude 15
3 • The Power of Limits: Having More within a Structure of Less 35
4 • Meditation Meets Prayer: Two Practices in One 51
5 • Circles and Cycles: The Art, Meaning, and Use of Mandalas 69
6 • Prayers on a String: Tools for Intensifying Practice 87
7 • Pathfinding: Finding Our Way with Crochet 107
8 • From Heart to Hand: Sharing Our Craft 123
9 • The Creative Spirit: Making Crochet Uniquely Ours 147
10 • The Blessings of Hands: An Appreciation of the Hand that Holds the Hook 165
A Concluding Letter 183
Acknowledgments 184
Suggestions for Further Reading 185
With Hook in Hand, Enrich Your Spiritual Practice and Renew Your Awareness of the Connections of Creativity to Spirit
What can you learn about yourself through your crocheting? What deeper symbolism lies behind the loops and patterns that you create? How can this simple activity help you make your way down a spiritual path? Delve into these questions and more in this imaginative book that will become your spiritual friend, your teacher and your sanctuary. Follow the crochet journeys of the author and other crocheters to discover how they have used their crocheting to explore and strengthen their spiritual selves, and how you can do the same. In this joyful and engaging look at a time-honored craft, you will discover ways to:
– Tiffany R. Walsh, Catholic Library WorldFor those who love crafts, their connection to personal faith and spirituality is a natural fit. This is a refreshing spiritual book for practitioners of the beautiful craft of crochet, which is too often overshadowed by knitting. Contemplative Crochet author Cindy Crandall-Frazier comes from a Methodist background, and is now a practicing Quaker. Her work here intersperses a narrative examining the interconnectedness of crocheting to personal expression of faith, with short questions for contemplation, and even patterns for relevant projects.
The author's stated objective is to demonstrate that work done with our hands is sacred and serves a spiritual purpose both for creator and recipient. She addresses practical topics such as meditation while crocheting and use of prayer beads, as well as broader themes, such as finding one's spiritual and vocational path, and discovering personal creativity within one’s practice of crochet. The included patterns are designed in such a way that even beginning crocheters can partake—one only need know how to create single, double and half-double crochet stitches from a starting chain. The designs are for a diverse group of projects, from a traditional prayer shawl and prayer beads (not a rosary; rather, beads similar to an Eastern Christian chotki), to a small tea pot cozy and motif made of crocheted morning glories.
This is a well-written book on an inspirational and timely topic. It would make a thoughtful gift for a crocheter, and a nice addition to one’s spiritual reading list.
Index of Projects vi
Foreword vii
Introduction ix
1 • Roots and Wings: Soaring while Keeping Our Feet on the Ground 1
2 • Plenty: Finding a Sense of Fullness and Gratitude 15
3 • The Power of Limits: Having More within a Structure of Less 35
4 • Meditation Meets Prayer: Two Practices in One 51
5 • Circles and Cycles: The Art, Meaning, and Use of Mandalas 69
6 • Prayers on a String: Tools for Intensifying Practice 87
7 • Pathfinding: Finding Our Way with Crochet 107
8 • From Heart to Hand: Sharing Our Craft 123
9 • The Creative Spirit: Making Crochet Uniquely Ours 147
10 • The Blessings of Hands: An Appreciation of the Hand that Holds the Hook 165
A Concluding Letter 183
Acknowledgments 184
Suggestions for Further Reading 185
