Crocheting

Long-running personal craft and one of the things I'd do anywhere if the choice were mine. The patchwork cardigan shown is one of many; each square is an evening, a leftover skein, sometimes a project in itself before it became part of something bigger.

I taught a crochet class at Stanford, *Introduction to Crochet Construction and Textile*, in fall 2020. A short course covering basic stitches, granny squares, garment shaping, and a final project of the student's choice. Syllabus linked below.

What I like about crochet is that it's textile mechanics by hand. Every stitch is a small decision about geometry: the loop you draw through, the direction you wrap, the tension you hold. Each stitch is also one node in a chain-loop topology that gives crochet its characteristic mechanical behavior, anisotropic stretch, asymmetric drape, edges that curl unless you account for them. Those properties all derive from the stitch pattern at the millimeter scale, the same way a woven fabric's behavior derives from its weave. It's the same discipline as designing in software, just slower and warmer.