Thursday, May 6, 2010

Hooked

I have officially become a hooker. (My real-life, non-yarnie friends reading this need not be alarmed--it's not what you think.) Up to this point, I had been struggling every time a pattern called for a bit of crochet. I learned little tricks like picking up stitches and binding off on the very next row, rather than finishing off a neckline or armhole with crochet. To me, all a hook was good for was for making repairs after I dropped stitches. I kept telling myself that I needed to be more adept at crochet, but put off doing anything about it.

Finally this week, I took a private class with Ann (Rav link) at my LYS. Since my arms had been bothering me, I went on a self-imposed knitting hiatus the week before the class so that I wouldn't risk not being able to do it. It was worth the wait because Ann was a great teacher! In the first hour, I learned the basics. My ah-ha! moment (actually, it was more of a duh! moment) came when I realized that you are supposed to hold the base of your work with your left thumb and middle finger. No wonder why I always thought it was so difficult and unmanageable! Everything would flop around and be so hard to manipulate. I *cannot* believe I didn't realize such a simple and seemingly intuitive thing, but I just didn't. Well, once that clicked, I was off and running.


In the second hour, I showed Ann the pattern I aspired to eventually make...the Anne scarf (Rav link). I credit Janet with the inspiration and the nudge and Ann for making it happen for me.




Ta da! My very first crochet project. Yes, I am happy. And yes, I have been trolling Rav for inspiration to make other crochet projects. I am hooked.

Details are on Ravelry. BTW, now that Rav project pages can be made public, I am going to stop updating the Gallery. I'll decide later what I want to do with it.

8 comments:

  1. Great crochet project. Way to go you hooker :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm super-impressed! I had hoped that you would enjoy it -- if nothing else for the "no- longer-befuddled factor" -- thumbs are actually good for so many things :-)

    Your scarf is so beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats and welcome to the hooker family, hehe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. gorgeous scarf!! I'm hoping to become a happy hooker one day, too! P

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good for you! Crochet is very useful, it's perfect for borders and edges, great for household items. I use it often for seams. Isn't it great that you can fix mistakes so easily--just rip back to the mistake, put that one loop on the needle and off you go. It goes so quickly, too.
    Happy hooking!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I must make this right now, so cute!

    ReplyDelete
  7. OMG I love it!! I've been trying to get the hang of crochet, but struggling with it...you've got me re-inspired though! :)

    ReplyDelete