This Very Garden: December 2015

A Lesson In Crochet

Monday, December 14, 2015

I finally made myself do it, guys. I dreamed about learning to crochet for maybe a couple years now and it is glorious fun! But let me share a short tale about how I got to where I am right now:

The first week I did make some mistakes. And that's to be expected. Sure. I knew it'd take some time and patience. Maybe even more yarn pulling out and untangling than I thought, but still, a new experience requires, or demands, some work. So, I taught myself through the wonderful world of YouTube. I watched ladies from all ages twirl their hooks around beautiful colored yarn, and I thought I as getting the hang of it. I thought the stitches I placed were the same as the women in the effortless videos were. But after noticing that the design looked off, and that my pieces were tighter than what they should be, my heart sank. I had been doing so well for my first time, I thought. Not so much. I realized that maybe I needed more practice with the different stitches that one can use for crochet and made sure this time I could call the stitch by name, and remember how each one (that I have learned at the time) was properly done.

What was I thinking? Sheesh. That, I could just start something for the first time and be a natural? That I as going to whip out scarves here and there like an experienced older woman? Well... I wanted to believe it was true.

See, I have this part of me where I set my heart and soul on something and believe I can become a master within a short time. I feel as if I'm all over the place with how many interests that I NEED to try. Naturally, crocheting, and eventually knitting (oh, yeah), were on the list.

But guess what? I may be wildly enthusiastic about trying new things and I may have an unrealistic view on how much effort it takes to learn and grow into something, but I feel like that's okay. Or at least it can be. I don't feel bad about teaching myself mistakes for a week before I finally understood the slip stitch, the half-double crochet, and the single crochet. It takes a few tries and that's definitely what I needed. I guess I'm just a "learn by mistake" kind of person.