While Huntsville, Alabama, is perhaps best known for being home to Wernher von Braun and 117 of his rocket scientists friends who (at the end of World War II ) had surrendered to the Americans in an effort to escape advancing Soviet troops, it is also home to one-half of the team that comprises the crochet oasis that is Crochetville.
The joint venture of Donna Hulka and Amy Shelton, Crochetville is an online community focused on creating a forum for advancing and sharing crochet with crocheters of all ages.
Recently, while in Huntsville as part of my son’s annual trek to Space Camp, I was able to meet up with Amy Shelton who has called Huntsville home for many years.
At her suggestion, we met up at Yarn Expressions, an LYS in an unpresupposing building:
that houses an amazing array of yarns. While I did at times feel that my head might burst from sensory overload, I was eventually able to settle on a few things to purchase before Amy and I headed out to lunch.
Amy is enthusiastic about crochet, having first learned the craft when she was in the third grade, and it is this love of crochet that has propelled her and her business partner, Donna, to create an online community where other crocheters can share what they’ve done and learn more about the craft.
Recently, the look of Crochetville has changed a bit as Amy and Donna found that it was time to update software underlying the forum. Over lunch with Amy, I learned that she and Donna have some interesting plans for their site, and I am excited to see how it unfolds.
After a lovely afternoon with Amy, I got back to the “Put a cookie on it” prayer shawl with renewed energy, and as of sunset this evening, I was nearly to the halfway point with regard to width:
and had even gotten a start on over a dozen of the cookies that I will use to decorate it:
Just as the German rocket scientists could not foresee that their surrender would lead them to this particular corner of the United States, I never know where my crochet journeys will take me, but I know I want to go there.
