With the long, cold winter coming, it is time for a new hobby. My wonderful cousin had asked me if I wanted to learn how to Crochet. I thought, what better hobby for the winter? I pictured my grandmother sitting in front of the TV crocheting us all beautiful afghans and warm cozy socks. I pictured myself sitting in front of my fireplace crocheting my little heart out and I was hooked, no pun intended. I thought I could make matching hats & scarves for everyone because you can never have too many.
The main difference between Crocheting & Knitting is the use of one hook in Crocheting vs. two needles in Knitting. Most patterns will give you directions for both methods so you can virtually make the same things. I prefer Crocheting over Knitting. The two needles threw me off. You just have to test for yourself which you are more comfortable with. You may be able to grasp both and then you are limitless to the products you can make!
Another obstacle I had to overcome was the fact that I am a lefty and my teacher (said cousin) is a righty. However, being lefty in a righty's world, there are many obstacles we have to overcome, (my lefty readers know what I'm talking about).
The easiest way to learn is to look in the mirror while the teacher demonstrates the stitches. I decided to learn righty and then I could just reverse it once I understood the whole concept. It actually wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to hold the hook in my right hand so I decided to just stick to it as a righty!
For my first project I chose to make a simple wool hat and scarf for myself. It was surprisingly fast once I got the pattern down and was very relaxing too. There are many tutorials on You Tube if you ever get stuck with how to learn a new stitch or how to finish off your project or how to incorporate your second scane once you run out of the first one. It is very helpful. The patterns you find will also tell you the type of yarn to get and the hook you will need. Also helpful for a beginner.
I had so much fun with this project, that I went to the library for inspiration to expand into other things like dish towels, pillows, and shawls. I now have a basket full of yarn, a folder full of patterns and tote full of hooks.
