This blog is where I will be sharing my crochet journey and the yarn adventures I have, so what better topic to have as the focus of my first post after my welcome be than how I got here?

My crochet journey does not officially begin until March of 2015. However, looking back there were moments before then that hinted crocheting would become a part of my life.

As a young girl, I covered myself with an afghan crocheted by one of my grandmothers which was laid over the back of our couch. It was soft, warm, and I couldn’t resist peeking through the holes when covering my face while watching scary movies or pretending to be asleep.

My mom crocheted on very rare occasions and it was magical to me. My first “lesson” was in my mid-teens when she taught me how to chain.  My goal was to create a long chain that didn’t twist and had a uniform tension before moving on to anything else – I even bought my first hook, though I have no idea what ever happened to it or if it was Boye or Bates. But I didn’t get any further.

Yarn fascinated me from an early age – the different colors, the textures… One summer while visiting my cousins, they were finger knitting a long chain using a wide variety of yarns to make small chains and then connecting them to each other. They taught me and I didn’t want to stop – there was something magical about the long chain I was creating using only my hands and a ball of pink yarn. I even took it out to dinner with us and only stopped when it was absolutely necessary. If I remember correctly, that single chain was was at least three feet long by the time I cast off.

So why did it take me so long to finally really learn? I could give a million reasons why, ranging from lack of time, too many other interests, a lack of focus, etc., but it all adds up to one thing: I wasn’t ready, and not all the opportunities were there. My mom fully admits she never learned to crochet the “right way” and I surpassed her knowledge and ability within a couple of months. Books I picked up weren’t enough for me as a visual learner and videos couldn’t tell me what I was doing wrong or boost my confidence and assure me I was doing it correctly – I needed a teacher.

That all changed on March 28, 2015 when I enrolled in a class at my local JOANN store. My class was a week and a half later on April 7. It was a small class and we were all given basic supplies from Lion Brand Yarns – including a plastic hook I still have in my supply box, a skein of Vanna’s Choice in Pea Green, and a reusable tote bag. I was surprised by how easy it was for me to pick up with guidance and I was able to learn all the basic stitches from chaining and slip stitches all the way up to triple/treble crochet within the allotted two and a half hours. The instructor also took us out into the yarn section and taught us about different weights and types of yarn as well as all the different hooks and other supplies like tapestry needles and stitch markers. Then we were set loose!

I was so impressed by the level of instruction that the following weekend, when you could register for classes at a discount, I enrolled in two more crochet classes – one for a basket made in joined rounds and another for a pocket scarf with color changes. The more advanced class (the scarf) actually came first, but that was totally fine with me because what really jump-kicked me into signing up was my desire to make amigurumi and I was anxious to get started, so anything that would help me get to that point faster was very welcome in my book. That class also started my passion for gifting handmade items as once I finished my scarf and my mom fell in love with it, we went out to get the colors for hers and I made it straight away.

From there I was truly off and running, buying patterns, books, a wide variety of yarn, and attempting any and every type of project using worsted, bulky, and super bulky yarn. My stash was well on its way to overflowing, and my enthusiasm for everything crochet prompted me to take a fourth class at JOANN – a knitting basics one – that May.

This was not a very smart decision on my part as that February I had decided to go back to school after a nine year break between high school and college so I never was able to fall in love with knitting the way I did crocheting or even advance beyond the beginner stage. Whenever I get the urge to pick up my knitting needles again, I need to go back and watch YouTube videos to refresh my memory for how to cast on and make sure I’m purling right, etc.

However, my crocheting was able to continue to flourish. In March 2018 I shared my first make on my personal Instagram, a doll of Frida Kahlo (using patterns from the book AmiguruMe by Allison Hoffman) and shortly thereafter I displayed it at an art show on campus.  This prompted me to crochet a set of five AmiguruMe dolls for one of my classes, as the final project called for us to create our interpretation of Joan of Arc. Being a crochet addict, I crocheted her in five different stages of her life. During that time I also found out about and joined the 100 Days Project and went to work on starting to crochet some dolls based on the characters of Rick Riordan’s mythology books. To date I have completed almost 40 AmiguruMe dolls with many more in various stages of progress.

It was thanks to sharing these dolls on my Instagram and with my friends and family that I decided I wanted to find a way to share my passion of crocheting with more people, whether they were also crocheters or simply admirers. I began following makers on Instagram, talking and interacting with some, and then started toying with the idea of starting a blog – this blog – in the summer of 2018. Unfortunately, life was about to get crazy again as I entered my senior year of college and my plans ultimately got set back a year, but I am finally here! And, honestly, I could not be happier to be able to share my work with you. 💗