Don't ask me why. I tried to learn how to crochet at least two other times in the past year, but I never got it. Not that it was highly confusing, but when I looked at one instruction book and then compared it to another one, the two didn't seem to agree with each other, and I got very frustrated. However, thanks to the ladies at my "knitting group" (it's actually a crochet group, but most everyone knits) I learned that unlike knitting, there are many ways to crochet.
Now, if you're astute, you would notice that I have in the past stated that there are many ways to knit. Yes, yes, but they all end up looking the same. The same is not true for crocheting, as I'm told. It seems that some teachers think you should poke a crochet hook through the front loop of a crochet chain, others think you should poke it through the back, and others through both loops. I could be wrong on this take on crocheting, also, but one thing I know was that I couldn't get it when I was trying to learn because everything I read seemed to contradict itself. Plus, either I was really stupid (I'm a PhD student; I highly doubt this) or the illustrations in the books were really bad: I couldn't figure out how the text-instructions related to the pictures that were supposed to correspond with them.
For some inexplicable reason, on Saturday I woke up after a gruelling week of Much Stress and Work at the lab, and decided, "Today I am going to go buy some crochet hooks and really learn how to crochet." Not sure what got into me. However, I did just that. I ended up purchasing a learn-it-yourself kit from JoAnn - the one made by Lion Brand. This is the same kit I'd used to learn how to knit. I was pleased to find incredibly easy-to-understand pictures and instructions, and before I knew it...I had made this:
Okay, well...that's not really so impressive. It is supposed to be a granny square, but as you can probably tell it's not exactly a square... But hey - it's the first thing I made, and I'm keeping it!I was so enamored by this new skill that I started making something else...
That's much better (it's the start of a washcloth), but technically it's supposed to be about 10.5 inches...and as you may notice, it's only 6. Hm... I will have to work on the gauge thing here.And this is also something with a bit of a screwed up gauge, but I'm using totally the wrong yarn, so I can deal. This IS a square (and it's supposed to be):
...although I did have to re-do a few parts of it multiple times and finally was required to put those colored marker things in where you see them because I kept crocheting into the wrong holes over and over again and ended up with a non-square several times. BUT - the point is, I figured it out. (If you happen to know which garment this is a part of, kudos. But please don't tell anyone! Thanks.)AND...I've decided that crochet isn't really that bad. It's certainly not the same as knitting. There are many, many items I would never, ever choose to make with crochet that I would be very motivated to knit. But, crochet is really fast! People tell me it uses less yarn to get to the same dimensions as something knit. And you can make things that you can't make with knitting.
So, that's what I've been up to. And I have been doing some knitting, too. Like...I've been working on the Brioce Bodice.
And I've been swatching a few things here and there. Maybe I should just finish one of my other projects that have been on the needles for a year...! Ho, hum...
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