Sophie's Universe

What is the thing that makes you shine? What is the thing that makes your heart sing a song so brilliant that it touches other hearts? If you find that thing, do that thing, and share that thing with absolute passion, it has the power to change the world.

For me, that thing is crochet. No, that's not quite right. It is not JUST crochet. It is empowering other people by teaching them everything I know and love about it.

It is giving them the tools and encouragement to create items way beyond their perceived skill set. It is pushing them out of their comfort zone and cheering for them when they let go of their fear and realise that they can do so much more than they thought they could. It is in rediscovering the 'Look At What I Made' moment that peppered our childhoods.

Before I fell headlong in love with crochet, I used to feel incredibly lonely and unhappy. I felt like people did not really 'get' me, and how could they when I didn't 'get' myself?

And then I started crocheting. Small things at first. Mainly because I was pregnant with my second son, and we were so broke that we couldn't buy him anything new, but also because I needed some form of expression.

I decided that he had to have SOMETHING new, so I bought the cheapest acrylic I could find in the most eye-piercing primal colours. I spent two months crocheting him a blanket that had more holes than it had yarn.

To this day, that simple blanket is one of my happiest makes. It reminds me of sitting on my bed cross-legged, resting my arms on my bulging belly as I crocheted, little foot kicking at my arm every so often if I leaned forward too much. It reminds me of playing hide and seek with a toddler and a baby; of their squeals as they hid under the blanket, oblivious to the fact that we could see straight through it (holes, as mentioned). It reminds me of the start of a journey that has changed our lives (and others) in so many ways.

Fast forward five years and I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat! I was waking up at five to design/crochet before work and going to bed at silly o'clock.

When I DID fall asleep, I dreamed of patterns – often waking to scribble them down in the notebook I kept next to my bed.

And then I designed a mandala based on a square from a designer I admired. That mandala grew and grew. And then I turned it into a square, which became an octagonish shape, which became a giant square.

The design was intricate, but if I could make it, winging it as I went along and learning so many tips and tricks along the way, then anyone could!

The resulting blanket is called Sophie's Universe. It is a crash course in crochet and colour-work and reaching beyond your means.

It is safe to say that this design, this single design, has touched hundreds of thousands of lives. And let me say, before we continue, that I do not say this lightly or with any inflated pride. I take no credit for the phenomenon this blanket became. It was the perfect marriage of mystery, community, and COLOUR! It had – and still has – a life entirely of its own.

**Time Out**

Here my husband gives his 10 cents and says why are you not talking about the warmth of a crochet blanket… the love conveyed in the making and received in the using? Why are you not telling the real story?

And he is right. But I do not want to go into all of that. I don’t want to tell you about all the deathbed vigils this blanket attended or all the happy and sad messages I received about the journeys it helped people through. I don’t want to talk about the cancer journeys and the lost babies and the depression (I am not exempt) and the hurricanes.

I want to make this story about hope and joy and resilience... and I don’t know… maybe he is right. Of course, he is right. I just don’t have the worlds to explain the magnitude. It’s just crochet, after all… or is it?

**End Time Out**

People didn't know how complicated the project would be when it started (because I was still designing it), and once they had done the first few parts, they began to realise that they already had the skills to complete it. As new people started asking questions about it, the 'veterans' would say, with crystal confidence: 'You can, baby, yes you can!'

Fast forward five more years, and Sophie has proven to be the gift that keeps on giving.

In 2016, on the back of Sophie's Universe, my boys, husband, and I went to South Africa (our homeland) for four weeks while I taught crochet workshops.

In 2017, Scheepjes agreed to release the pattern as a 216-page (!!!) step-by-step book (despite being available for free online).

In 2019, this design allowed me to teach workshops on a cruise ship between Australia and New Zealand, allowing my mother, sister, and I to spend three glorious weeks together on the trip of a lifetime.

When we had almost wrapped up my first workshop on the cruise, a man came over to us, asking to talk to me. He told me that his wife had tried to book the workshops but wasn't able to.

They had decided to come on the cruise anyway, hoping that they could meet me to say thank you for the joy I'd brought her. What ensued was a powerful and very tear-filled conversation. Reading between the lines then (and confirmed now), his wife was very sick, and crochet had gotten her through some very rough times.

I wish that I could make you privy to that moment – when a man is choked up beyond words, and you stand there knowing that you have somehow (miraculously) been allowed to supply joy!

Sue DID come to the workshops, and she bought me my first ever Bloody Mary (on a ship!!!!!).

"Each stitch is just a stitch," I often say to assure people that any pattern, no matter how complicated, is achievable. If you take it one stitch at a time, you can create miracles!

Miracles?

From crochet? Yes! Hundreds of tiny miracle moments.

When a craft lifts us up like this, engrosses us like this, challenges us like this, and comforts us like this… When it makes us burn our rice and makes our partners stroll over to comment (over and over again) about our skills and the beauty of our creation… Would you not call that a small miracle?

Crochet, for me, is so much more than a hobby. It is a lifesaving panacea, a necessary creative outlet, a calming tool and a rewarding passion. My reward is usually not tangible, but it is immense: I get to share in others' joy and sadness, their elation (and frustration), and their growth and subsequent blossoming.

One of the most important things crochet has given me is people. Strangers to me once upon a time have become dear and treasured friends. They have shared their joys and sadness with me, and they have allowed me to share mine with them. When I think of them, I think LOVE. I see people who have touched the lives of others in ways that they cannot even begin to fathom. I see courage and wisdom.

I have collected so many stories and memories that have shaped my life and the lives of others and will domino-shape the life of my boys/friends/acquaintances and theirs.

Never underestimate the role you play in this life. You have NO IDEA what ripple effect the simplest act of yours will have. I feel so incredibly blessed to carry all these stories around with me. I have cried for many strangers and acquaintances, and friends. I have held vigil at death beds, and I have welcomed new life into this world. I have and raged and meditated and rejoiced.

It is a price, I have found, that I will gladly pay.

So yes, every stitch is just a stitch.

But every stitch is also SO. MUCH. MORE.

We are all dealing with heightened levels of fear at the moment, and fear is contagious. But so is joy!