My wife is a hooker,
Of this she’s mighty proud,
And the stories of her exploits,
Are legends in our town.
She’s shameless with her talents,
She’ll go hooking anywhere,
And if people want to watch her,
She really doesn’t care.
It seems to be a family thing,

Her mother taught her how.
Seems her grandma was a hooker,
and my daughter’s hooking now.
She goes to Hookers’ meetings,
to learn the new techniques.
She starts hooking in a frenzy,
and won’t talk to me for weeks.
She doesn’t do the housework,
She doesn’t make the beds,
No she doesn’t have time for that,
She’d rather hook instead.
My wife, she is a hooker,
and I curse that awful day,
when she first picked up the hook and yarn,
and learned how to crochet!!

– Unknown

Until I read this surprising poem, I never thought the word “hooker” might be used to describe a respectable woman. I certainly would have believed “Christian hooker” to be an oxymoron of the highest degree! However, in the wonderful world of needlework, anyone can “hook” to their heart’s content with no harm done (except perhaps to the pocketbook). Crocheting is a delightful hobby, and as the poem portrays, highly addictive!

Many girls are taught the art of crochet by their mother, grandmother, aunt, or another elder woman. As for me, I was taught at the age of fourteen by my dear friend, Laney, who was thirteen at the time. You would think my friend was born with a crochet hook in her hand, for she could whip up a first-rate project faster than most women who had practiced for decades. Under her watchful eye, I learned how to chain, single crochet, double crochet, etc. She taught me a skill that has been close to my heart ever since, even during times where projects lay untouched for months due to the time restraints of adult life. I will always be thankful for her patient guidance.

A few months ago, after quite a long reprieve, I got the itch to get back into my yarn stash and begin a new project. It sent our family on a hooking frenzy…from the eldest to the youngest. Anyone who knows my detail-oriented husband will not be surprised to hear that he does beautiful work! Our ten and eleven year old have caught on with lightning-speed as well. With this crochet fever running rampant in our home, I find myself impelled to seek spiritual truths from the crochet basket.

The first thing to be mindful of in both crochet and Christianity is your…


And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. – Colossians 3:14

The first letter in our acrostic is simple to remember…the very stitch itself! Every crocheter knows that without stitches, a project is irrelevant. In fact, without stitches, there can be no project at all! We can buy all the yarn, hooks, and accessories that money can buy; but until the stitches come together under the creative hand of the crocheter, we have nothing more than a wasted pile of potential. It is through the joining of many stitches that a useful, completed project of beauty can be attained.

The same is true of Christians. The Creator of mankind can only make a project of us when we submit under His hand and join forces with other stitches of His grand tapestry. When we bind ourselves together with other Christians, the opportunities are endless! We the church, can only fulfill His plan for our lives when we are held together by the perfect bond of Christ’s love.

The second thing to be mindful of in both crochet and Christianity is your…


Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
– Philippians 4:5

One important trait of a skilled crocheter is the ability to control tension. This simply means that their stitches are consistent and balanced throughout…not too tight, and not too loose. Make your stitches too tight, and you will have a stiff creation with no give, one that’s very difficult to work with. Make your stitches too loose, and you will have a floppy mess with no definition. A happy medium is key.

The same is true of Christians. We are neither to be too legalistic, nor too liberal. Our Savior rebuked those Pharisees who bound areas meant to be loosed…and likewise, He admonished sinners who loosed areas meant to be bound. In order to prevent veering left or right, we should strive to be a people who follow scripture – not opinions. The opinions of a judgmental mind lead to legalism, while the opinions of a wicked mind lead to liberalism. Let us hold the proper tension: not too tight, and not too loose.

The third thing to be mindful of in both crochet and Christianity is your…


He must increase, but I must decrease. – John 3:30

The only way to make a crochet project expand is to increase your stitch count. If I continually crochet 50 stitches per row in a project, it stands to reason that I will produce an article that has 50 stitches per row…the same size throughout. I can not logically expect to broaden my rows unless I increase my stitch count to 51 or more. At the same time, I can not expect my rows to decrease in size unless I decrease my stitch count to 49 or less. If I want a smaller or larger piece, I must plan accordingly.

The same is true of Christians. The Lord will only increase in our life if we make a concerted effort to grow our faith. Likewise, we will not decrease unless we consciously decide to quench our old ways and put sin behind us. We can not forsake our bibles, prayer time, and worship, and yet expect God to be increased in our lives. It’s not logical. Neither can we keep on living any old way and expect our old man to die a natural death…he must be crucified. Nothing will change until we decide to make it happen.

The fourth thing to be mindful of in both crochet and Christianity is your…


You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.
– Deuteronomy 22:11 (NASB)

Have you ever tried to mix two completely different types of yarn together…differing either by weight or by material? I have, and the result was most unappealing! Whether you try mixing cotton and polyester, polyester and wool, wool and acrylic, or any other manner of combinations…it is very evident to even an untrained eye that something is amiss. Now, a mixture of color is a beautiful thing, but you don’t want to go mixing textiles!

The same is true of Christians. The Old Testament verse cited above may seem to have been an odd and unreasonable law. One might wonder if such a law was really necessary?! Yet, just as with all the Mosaic laws…God was shadowing an important spiritual truth through a physical manifestation. The meaning for New Testament Christians is the importance of purity and unity in the faith. We have the liberty in Christ to express our unique personalities through various arrays of color…but when it comes down to our basic makeup (what we believe about Christ and act out in faithful obedience), we are to be perfectly one and the same as our brother.

The fifth thing to be mindful of in both crochet and Christianity is your…


According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Your chain is the foundation upon which your entire crochet project is built upon. As all crocheters have learned the hard way, to do a shoddy job on the foundation chain is to doom your entire project to inferiority. Even if it takes time to get it right, it’s better to get your chain right the first time than have to unravel rows and rows of stitches because that faulty foundation chain is twisting up your whole project.

The same is true of Christians. It is vital that we lay our foundation after Christ, for as the scripture says…it’s the only acceptable way to build. We can do so much beautiful work…day after day, but our project will be all twisted if we don’t lay the right foundation. It won’t be right with God. Good works are futile unless we are sincerely saved. Save yourself the work of unraveling all your work by getting your faith right from the beginning! If you have any questions on how to be saved, please refer to this article: Buy Four, Get One Free.

The sixth thing to be mindful of in both crochet and Christianity is your…


Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:13

For our final point, we will consider the hook which we choose for our project. Crochet hooks can vary in size from the B hook at a mere 2.25 mm, all the way up to a U hook at a whopping 25 mm! As you can imagine, these measurements are very important when choosing which hook corresponds to which yarn. A hook that is too large will destroy thin, delicate yarn…and a hook that is too small will be unable to grip a bulky yarn. It’s important to select a Goldilocks hook for every project…the one that is “just right”, of course. A foolproof method is to simply read the directions on your yarn skein (if you remembered to save the wrapper)!

The same is true of Christians. We can try to match our size up with Christ by merely guessing, but that leaves our measurements off every time. When we skip the guesswork and humbly read the directions (God’s word), we will find the measurements to be just right. As the scripture highlights, we need unity with Him and knowledge of Him in order to be linked up to Him. Once the sizing is right, things will be much more smooth sailing until the finalization of your mutual project.


In conclusion…

To be “Hooked on Him”, always be mindful of:

Your Stitch
Your Tension
Your Increase
Your Textile
Your Chain
Your Hook

For, as the old saying goes… “A stitch in time may save nine!”

For God’s Glory,
Mrs. Dustin Bolks


Mrs. Dustin Bolks is a church of Christ preacher’s wife, and the home educating mother of two children. She and her family currently reside in Northwest Iowa.

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