On January 1st, I embarked upon a crochet adventure. I had decided to crochet every day and to donate the creations that I made along the way to where ever I thought they could help. So far, I have completed two afghans, and I am working on my third.
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This is a work in progress, an afghan that is being made in hexagons. |
But there was a time when I thought that I would never be capable of learning to crochet. On my twelfth birthday, my parents gave me a “teach yourself to crochet” kit as a gift. I looked at that kit and I tried to figure out what to do with it. I took out the hook and the yarn and the written directions. And I tried reading the written directions. I would tell you what they said but I think that I managed to block them out of my memory. Needless to say, I managed to break the plastic hook, and I gave up on my career as a crocheter in sheer frustration.
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| Afghan number two was raffled off at the Zumbathon, and all funds raised there were donated to Relay for Life! |
Fast forward four years. Now there is a sixteen year old me. One day, my younger sister came home from school, and she announced that she was going to teach me how to crochet. I thought that she had gone mad. I was completely incapable of crocheting. But she insisted. She gave me a hook and some yarn, and she attempted to demonstrate crocheting to me. Right handed. My sister, however, is left handed. She started and stopped repeatly. It really was comical, but I tried not to laugh. Finally, she gave up on her abrupt shift from left handed to right handed.
“Do you mind if I teach you left handed?”
“I really don’t care,” I said, thinking that I could fail at left handed crochet, just as dramatically as I had failed at right handed crochet four years earlier.
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| This was my first afghan for 2019. I donated it to Roswell Park Compre- hensive Cancer Center. |
Diane then demonstrated crocheting to me, starting with the simple chain stitch, which I copied. Hmmm. Crocheting is very easy, I thought. She then taught me single crochet and double crochet. As I practiced my new skill, I discovered that I really enjoyed crocheting.
Five years later, I was making a granny square, and I thought to myself, “Aren’t I right handed? Shouldn’t I crochet right handed?” So I tried to switch hands. My efforts at crocheting right handed were pretty much on the same level of inept as were my attempts to follow the teach yourself to crochet book that I had gotten when I was twelve. In other words, it was a failure.
To this day, I cannot operate a crochet hook with my right hand. Anyway, that’s OK. Until I learned to crochet, I only permitted my left hand to do “stupid” tasks, such as operating a fork and a toothbrush and pour hot liquids (there is an element of eye-hand coordination in that). Once I learned to crochet, my left hand had a “smart” task. My left hand and my crochet hook have become best friends, in much the same way that my right hand and my set of paint brushes are buddies.
Question for you: Is there anything that you unsuccessfully tried the first time that you were able to do when you tried again, using a different approach?
This is a wonderful story. My late best friend, who was an expert crocheter, was also left handed. No, she didn't teach me – I was "somewhat" self taught after I learned chain and single crochet from another friend – back in 1970 when crochet vests were in style, was the push I needed to learn. I never have learned to knit, though although I've tried at least three times.
Well, I don't crochet- but I enjoy looking at them.
The first answer that came to mind was what often happens wheat having trouble writing. If I put it aside for a bit and then, try again at another time, it often comes out better than when I try to push through because I am trying to get it done.
If you can do it with your left hand but not your right hand then left hand it is.
I've tried so many things that I have failed at. Some I've never gotten right and others I eventually mastered.
Have a fabulous day. ♥