Mark Roseboom - Crochet Journey: A Global Crochet Adventure from the Guy with the Hook

CROCHET JOURNEY

A GLOBAL CROCHET ADVENTURE FROM THE GUY WITH THE HOOK

MARK ROSEBOOM

www.davidandcharles.com

PREFACE

I understand that youre keen to start exploring the pages of this book, dive into the patterns Ive created, and read the stories of my travels. However, there are some things Id like to say before you do that.

I have two main passions in life that have helped me develop as a persontraveling and crochet. Both of these have helped me to grow on many levels and have given me experiences that have made me stronger and wiser over the years.

For the past decade, Ive spent my days working for just one reasonto save money to buy a ticket to an unknown destination. The world has always fascinated me; there is always so much to explore and learn from in each place you visit. This might simply be your village or country, or it could be a destination thousands of miles away. My goal was to visit the rarest and most unique places in our world and soak up all the culture, lessons, and experiences that each place delivered. We can learn so much from finding out about other religions, cultures, and ways of life, and doing this has given me some of the most memorable experiences of my life; I saw little miracles happen and cherished even the smallest of things. For me, traveling doesnt mean being in the best places, staying at a five-star hotel, or wandering around the tourist trails. Often people find this is their comfort zone, but I always relish the adventure of taking another road or path which isnt that obvious. I like to see how locals do things and see unexplored nature and small wonders around me. My travel experiences have turned me into the person I am today.

As well as traveling as much as I can, I also crochet and knit and have done for a long time now. Working with yarn has always been my meditation moment of the day. We often experience daily life as being busy, full of people who want something from us, and full of tasks we set ourselves to finish. When I take my crochet hook and start designing, its like I enter another dimension where nobody can reach out to or join me. It is my little zen-bubble. For this reason, it has always been important to me to keep a balance in my daily life; however, a few years ago I started designing, and this took me in a different direction. My meditation moment became work and, as a result, the balance was off. It took some time to get this balance back and restore the peace I had in my mind when I crochet. Nowadays, crocheting gives me the same comfort that it used to, even when I design and work out my patterns. That same inner sense of calm gave me the idea to merge my two passions, and this book is the result.

Between these pages you can enjoy my designs and my most treasured travel stories. Each pattern is inspired by a memory I have, so this book is something very personal and precious to me. I hope you enjoy crocheting the patterns and reading my travel tales from all over the world.

Mark

As I am a left-handed crocheter, I know how difficult it can sometimes be to crochet from a pattern. When writing and drawing out my designs, I always like to make sure my work is mirrored in order to make it easier to follow for both left- and right-handers. So, if you are left-handed, make sure you read the diagrams and charts in this book the opposite way. If you find this hard, a small mirror will help you see the correct version for a left-handed crocheter. When crocheting patterns in the Round, your result will have to be mirrored.

To start many of the patterns in this book, you will need to make a magic loop. Although this this a very well-known technique, if you have trouble making one as a beginner, then you dont need to use one. You can simply use the old-fashioned method of making ch6 and working a ss into the first ch of the 6. In this way, you create a ring to start your work. Decide for yourself if you need a smaller or larger circle to begin with if you decide not to use a magic loop.