Old Hobby
I am attempting to learn to crochet once more. My mom and my grandmother have made beautiful crochet pieces as I grew up. It was part of my every day. My grandmother or my mom and sometimes both would sit and watch Spanish soaps on Telemundo or Univision and crochet a baby blanket border for a baby shower, or cover for the toilet lid with matching rug and toilet tank cover. I was fascinated and comforted by watching them work. My grandmother attempted to teach me when I was very young, maybe 5 or 6, but we are a lot alike. Neither of us has the patience to explain things that we just “get.” Unfortunately, I now live thousands of miles away from both my mom and my grandmother, so I have to rely on website tutorials and classes (if I had the money, that is!).
This is particularly sad because I could not ask my mom for advice while I learn. See, she learned from my grandmother and neither used patterns or gave names to the different stitches/crochets. My mom sees a finished article and can copy it or she has the pattern memorized as in the baby blankets she made for my niece and nephew and the baby blanket borders she made for baby showers. I would often see her counting the chains on the material she’s copying. Sometimes she could do it just by looking at a picture. After what I have seen and learned so far, this seems even more incredible to me now. Sadly, neither can crochet at all anymore. My grandmother’s arthritis is too painful, and my mom’s carpal tunnel have made it impossible to do the intricate work required.
I have found a site, Nexstitch, that has video clips with clear instructions that make a whole lot more sense than the first tutorial site I found. I will be attempting a pattern for a granny square pattern I found here. This pattern calls for changing of colors and a much thicker yarn, but I grew up with the fine yarn and small hooks. I realize that these are probably harder to learn, but I’m not interested in using the larger yarns or bigger hooks. I will post pictures of my progress. With the smaller yarn, it will probably take me a long time to get to a blanket size.
