Dear Child of Mine,

You should know that your mother can  be crafty, but most of the time she chooses not to be.

I have scrapbooked, made jewelry, learned rudimentary knitting in college (haven’t touched those needles since), and crocheted. My craftiness goes in spurts –which I attest to in my Occasional Crafter board on Pinterest — and the past few weeks have certainly been a crochet kick for me.

Freshmen year of college, at least half of the girls on my dormitory floor could be found watching movies and crocheting at any given time. I was riveted by this newfound craft, having only worked with yarn in the context of plastic canvas with Grandma Mary. One of my friends taught me how to half double crochet and I was off on scarf after scarf. I lost stitches left and right, but eventually completed a few rectangular, pattern-less projects.

I didn’t crochet much after that year. But 2 and 1/2 years ago, when I found out my friend, Debbie, was expecting a little one I got the urge to try my hand at a baby blanket pattern. I tried my darndest to follow the instructions but all of the abbreviations (dc, slst, sc, tr, hldc) were lost on me. When my mother-in-law was visiting that fall, I asked her for skilled assistance. She is a very accomplished crochet artist, and was more than willing to give me a hand.

Pretty quickly into our mentoring session, we discovered nearly every step of my crochet process was incorrect. I held the hook wrong, I held the yarn wrong, I didn’t yarn over correctly, and I had no idea how to read a pattern. Starting again from the very beginning was a very good thing, indeed. Within a few hours, I was improving my “crochet posture” (for lack of a better term), was using better tension, and felt increasingly confident in the rhythm of the craft.

I managed to complete that baby blanket in time for the birth of little Miss Hayleigh and though it wasn’t perfect, Debbie tells me it was a favorite of theirs. :)

This brings me to present day. In the past week or two I have learned how to Front Post (and Back Post) Double Crochet, how to work an Adjustable Ring, and how to incorporate Double Crochet, Triple/Treble Crochet, FPDC/BPDC, and FPTB into a Cabling Pattern for this hat which I’m in the process of creating right now. I have also had a blast making five different Flowered Ear Warmers for a few special girls who made the request after seeing the one I had made for myself. I actually ended up combining two different patterns to create the end result (the band from this pattern and the flower from this one). I love these! I hope they do too!

More than anything I love NOT BEING AFRAID of a pattern! It’s so exciting to learn and master new techniques and to watch the pattern take shape before your very eyes.

Looking forward to crocheting lovely booties and blankets and hats for you, My Child, and one day teaching you this ever-evolving craft.

Always Learning,

Your Mama