Note to my read­ers: This post was first pub­lished on March 26, 2011 under the title: “Crochet: the new social media.”

Whenever I travel, I almost always take my crochet with me, and today was no exception.

When I ventured out for a decadent and delicious meal at Dame’s Chicken & Waffles, I had a project handy just in case I needed to while away some time while waiting for a table.

As it happened, I arrived about 20 minutes in advance of the rush and was able to get a table almost immediately, but I still had to decide what to order and then, once my order was placed, I had to wait for my food.

I put the wait to good use and pulled my every present Etimo hooks and the beginnings of yet another stash bag out of my purse and set to work. That in turn prompted one woman to make eye contact with me, and that brief connection resulted in a conversation.

I learned that she is an avid yarn purchaser, and she understood completely my need to crochet bags to house my yarn collection. She had already seen the yarn in public places handiwork of the Off the Hook Crochet Guild, and was going to take her mother to see it after their chicken and waffles.

And while she doesn’t crochet (yet), I made a point of inviting her to our next guild meeting.

If I had not brought a project with me, and if I had not pulled it out of my bag, it is unlikely that I would have had the opportunity to speak to this woman, let alone share my love of crochet, and invite her to our next guild meeting.

For me, part of the magic of crochet is the ability of this craft to build connections between people who otherwise might not look up from their increasingly smarter phones long enough to say hello.

Photo Update: Here are two photos of the stash bag I was working on that morning at Dame’s Chicken & Waffles: