Meet the Soldier Who Learned to Crochet While in Afghanistan

We featured David Muir on our Facebook page earlier this month, which received an overwhelming positive response. We asked him a few questions about himself and how he got interested in crocheting. 1. Tell me a little bit about yourself, like where you’re from and why you decided to join the military. I’m originally from Easton, Maryland but I call Pooler, Georgia home now. I joined the Army because of the “adventure” and “awesome toys” — eventually it became more than that. I worked with a group of individuals that became my great friends, and my family. I was in the Army for 10 years until I decided to seek new adventures. Many of us were stationed together for 6+ years. At that point, others started getting out or changing duty station. It just changed. It wasn’t the same. I needed to try something new. When I got out of the Army in July 2011 I lived in Spain for the summer. I even worked at a scuba dive shop just for fun.

David Muir and his first afghan, made with Hometown USA.

After that I moved to Pooler, GA where I lived with my brother, Danny. I worked for Gulfstream as a Quality Engineer but soon missed my Army brothers. When I heard my old unit was deploying to Afghanistan, I decided to look for a job with the slight chance I’ll see them again. Working on the Apache Helicopter is my specialty so our field is quite small. Unfortunately I didn’t get the same base as my old unit, so I’m not in the military anymore. Now I work for DynCorp Aviation.

2. What made you decide to take up crocheting?

Two reasons: it’s impossible to find an afghan that you completely love and want to decorate a room; and I have two Boston Terriers that hate the cold. They have a few outfits for the slight winter in GA, but it’s hard to find something that fits either of them. Then one day I saw a book online for making dog clothes and thought, “I can do that.” I also thought something for Krista would be even better. So making Afghans is where I decided to start crocheting.

3. Why was Lion Brand you yarn of choice?

My sister-in-law Christina does all sorts of projects with yarn and gave me the idea for crocheting while out here. I understood there are many different kinds of stitches depending on the pattern, but not complicated like something to fit a dog. Once I started looking online for patterns, I got completely overwhelmed with the crochet language. Then I stumbled upon Lion brand’s website. I found patterns for all sorts of projects, a lot are free and all the materials (yarn, needle size etc.) are given and easily able to transfer to my cart to purchase. The definite plus is the Lion Brand support that can help with patterns. Also shipping to an APO was a must!

My first Afghan was the LSU colors, purple and gold for Krista. The next one I’m working on is a bit more tough but will be yellow (Krista’s favorite color). She has shown me a few other patterns from the Lion Brand website; they venture out of the “Afghan” category but I will be up for the challenge soon enough. The most complicated part is waiting two weeks to get the yarn to the base in Afghanistan. Not much of a choice, so patience is a virtue.

4. Tell me a little bit about the lucky girl who you’re sending your afghans to. How did you guys meet?

Krista and I met at a wedding shower. My best friend’s sister, Melanie was getting married in a few weeks and I volunteered to help setup for the shower. Next thing I knew people were arriving. There was food delivered, beer, and music playing. My buddy asked me to stay so I couldn’t turn him down. Krista is a good friend to Melanie and showed up a while later (as a nurse so her work schedule isn’t always 9-5). She wore a white dress with black polkadots. I will never forget that. She looked amazing, and I immediately had to know more about her. She was more interested in her friend getting married and I knew not to interrupt that. A week or so later I was invited to a party and saw her there.
We hit it off chatting all night and had a great time. A long story short, she is the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. She is my best friend and my love. She supports decisions I make and ideas I have just as much as I do for her. We don’t believe in stereotypes or care what others think. She likes football, I like crocheting.