First Attempts

Crocheting was my first craft I ever really got into. I started crocheting at the age of 8, being taught by my next door neighbor.

She was from Mexico, and she had very broken English. Being only 8 years old, I really didn't understand what she was saying half of the time. I didn't really comprehend accents very well, due to never being exposed to many foreign people. She spoke very fast which caused me to have a hard time hearing her. With the language issue being present, I was also being taught with a teeny tiny crochet hook and Aunt Lydia’s crochet cotton. It was a very frustrating and difficult experience, as you could probably imagine.

She only liked to crochet doilies with Aunt Lydia's crochet cotton with tiny crochet hooks. So, that being what she had known to do, she taught me how to crochet a doily. My doily had not turned out correctly, as it shouldn't have been my first project anyway. Doilies are definitely not a beginner project, but at the time I was so proud of myself that I made something with, what was before, string! I was then ready for my first actual project.

A couple days after I was taught how to crochet on that tiny crochet hook and thread, she gave me some different yarn to work on. She got me an H hook, and regular acrylic yarn, most likely some Red Heart Super Saver or the like. I first crocheted a long crochet chain, probably close to 300 chains, then began to do my single crochet. I remember the yarn was super bright red. I had envisioned it becoming a huge crochet scarf. I kept crocheting on it, until the yarn had run out.

After using that ball of yarn, I ran over to my neighbors house to tell her I needed help of "finishing" my project. She opened the door, and I will never forget that look of disbelief on her face. I'm not sure if it was indeed a good look, or a terrible look. I soon found out.

She took ahold of the crochet, and examined it. She looked up to me, and said "Oh, darling, isn't that lovely? But, you know you weren't supposed to crochet through the back loop only, right?" I looked at my "scarf" again, and indeed saw the ridges that the fabric had due to the crocheting in the back loop. 

I asked her if it would be okay to wear, still. She shot me another look, "Do you know why it is curling? It's because you kept adding stitches."

I pondered. "But, that is what you told me to do, crochet two stitches in each stitch. Remember, when we started with the thread?"

"Oh, that was only because you were crocheting in the round, dear, when you crochet flat, you only knit one stitch in the stitch below," she stated. "You can still wear it as is, it will look lovely with that black coat you are wearing now. But, let us start you on a new project."

This is when I had found out that first attempts don't always go as you had planned.