In The Beginning...

Throughout my life I have always enjoyed arts and crafts. Growing up I did a lot of drawing, painting and coloring. As I got into my teens I attempted crochet, but the book I had bought was not at all helpful and I quit promptly. I remember failing horribly at crocheting a simple chain stitch. In my early twenties I started learning to sew using a sewing machine. My best friend's mom Pat helped teach me and I really enjoyed that. I plan to continue it some more once I get my sewing machine fixed, and have a good place to sew again. I also picked up knitting a bit at the beginning of last year. I like knitting, but when I picked up crochet in December of last year I really found my nitch.

I had decided in December of 2012 that I wanted to try my hand at crochet again. I knew my previous encounter as a teen was disastrous, but I thought that maybe I would get the hang of it this time. I asked for Joanne Fabrics gift cards for Christmas so that I could begin my crochet journey. I was so excited to get started, and I wanted to make sure I did it right this time.

When I went to Joanne with my Christmas money I first looked at the books and DVDs that taught crochet. There are a lot... I flipped through the books to make check if they had step by step pictures, and one that told you want you needed in order to start. I was surprised to find that many did not tell you what to purchase in order to start learning. The book I decided on was "Learn to Crochet the Easy Way" by Jean Leinhauser. It looked a little out dated, but it was a good price, it contained the information I thought I needed, and it had some patterns to start off with. I purchased what it required, and the items I needed for my first project.

When I got home I could not wait to get started. The book recommended waiting for a 2 hour uninterrupted time slot to begin the lessons, so I waited until I got my son to bed. This time, I was able to get my chain going with much more ease than my first attempt. I learned the single crochet stitch, the double, half double, triple, and slip stitch. I also learned how to read patterns, and how to do some edging stitches. It only took me about two-three days to get through all of the lessons. Although, after I finished the lessons I found it hard to believe that this was enough information to get started. I knew there were many more crochet stitches, and I was afraid that I would not be able to complete a pattern. However I continued on to start my first project.


My first real project was a Granny Ripple Afghan. I do not recommend starting off with such a large project ha ha. I started in December and did not finish until the end of January. It is a great little afghan, but I took quite a while to finish it because I was getting bored. It was the same stitch over and over again, and I felt like it was going to take forever. I was making the afghan for my husband Brad and he kept insisting I needed to make it bigger. He wanted it to cover him completely. Mind you, my husband is 6' 4" 180lbs. He wanted to be able to stretch his arms and legs out and still be completely covered. I laughed at him and told him I would go insane if I tried to make it that large. I promised that I would try to add on to it in the future though. Thankfully, it did not take forever and I was able to move on to other projects in February.

p.s. The picture of the entire afghan on the right looks a lot smaller than it is in person.




Well, that is the how my journey began. I will post again later to show my 2nd and 3rd projects which were both prayer shawls. They were a lot more fun to make, and turned out beautifully.

Thanks for reading!

Jen