Crochet and Me

I never learned how to crochet, though not for lack of opportunity. My mom crochets beautifully. She made throw blankets, doilies, and beautiful crocheted coverlets for my bed and my brother’s bed. When I had my first child, she crocheted a beautiful blankie for us to cuddle under. She’s tried to teach me a couple of times, but I could never seem to get the hang of it.

Admittedly, most of the patterns I am drawn to are knitted, so this wasn’t really a huge problem. But every now and then, I’d see something– a blanket border or a jaunty flower– that was crocheted, and I’d think, I should learn how to do that. I even took a class at a local yarn shop, Cloverhill Yarn Shop, last fall. During the class, I got the hang of chaining, single crochet, and double crochet. Then I came home, put it down, and forgot about everything I’d learned. Sigh.

A tale of two washcloths...

So in the lull between Christmas and the start of the new year, I decided to make a couple of washcloths. Simple, square shapes that would still be useful, no matter how hideous they appeared. (Nothing like a positive attitude, right?!) I had some cotton/linen blend yarn laying around, so I picked up a hook and went to work.

The first one was just plain ugly. I did a few rows in SC, a few rows in HDC, and then used DC for most of the it. At the other end, I reversed the stitches. Although my rows were all the same width in the first and middle sections, they inexplicably narrowed through the last rounds of HDC and SC. I decided to call it a “design feature” (Trapezoidal washcloths! They’re the latest thing!), DC’d around the outside and called it a day.

For the second washcloth, I decided to make up a pattern.  I started with a SC, then alternated DC2 and SC2 across, ending DC2, SC.  On the next row, I reversed the pattern. I’m still working on this one, but it already looks a whole lot nicer than the first!

I’m not an expert at crochet now, by any means. But I can probably handle a granny square or a scalloped border, so I’m calling this one a win.

I should point out that my mom claims that she couldn’t learn how to knit, but she’s a crochet ace.  She also paints and does beautiful needlepoint.  I can’t draw a stick figure, and I am hopeless at needlepoint, but I love counted cross stitch. My mom hated counted cross stitch– too much counting, not enough artistic freedom. (My favorite “art pad” was a pad of graph paper. I suppose knitting charts were a natural progression?) So I guess it’s not a total surprise that my mom hated algebra, while I majored in mathematics in college. Me, left brain? Nahhhhhh. 🙂