Yarnin'

Yarnin' is what my granddaughter Mattie called knitting when she was three.  She was always wanting to 'yarn' with me so I would give her a fat crochet hook and a ball of yarn and she would wrap it around and around the hook.  She's 9 now and over the years we've progressed to a bit clumsy but recognizable version of crocheting and knitting, although her attention span has not progressed enough to actually make something.  I'm guessing that will come soon enough and when it does I will rejoice in the fact that I've FINALLY won someone in my family over to the wooly side!

I learned to crochet when I was about 10 years old.  We were visiting my Aunt & Uncle in Security, Colorado and on the long drive from Ohio I had brought along a spool of string with which to make a very long chain.  I didn't know it was crocheting and I was using my fingers to reach through the loop and pull the string through.  My Aunt Linda gave me my first crochet hook and showed me how to use it to, not only create the chain, but to make the turns to create rows of single crochet.  I was hooked!!! (No pun intended...  well, maybe a little)  So the trip back was spent getting the knack of using the hook and perfecting my single crochet stitch.  Although at the time I didn't know that you were supposed to chain one at the beginning and so my projects always took the shape of a lop-sided triangle.  Eventually I bought a book and it was all downhill from there.

Crocheting was fun and relaxing and creative!  And I was constantly making something...  arm chair protectors, afghans, doilies, baby blankets...  I even designed and crocheted curtains for my back door.  Once I made a lace table cloth which turned out beautifully!  Unfortunately that was back before I knew about yarn weights and gauges and when I was finished it touched the floor all the way around the table.  Thinking back, I wonder how it was that it never occurred to me to measure the size of the project against the size of the table I was making it for.  But then again, at the time I was a strict pattern follower so I just kept on going.  No coloring outside of the lines for me!  For a time I used the table cloth as a decorative bedspread but now it just sits in a beautiful pile in the corner of my closet.

Some day I'll figure out something to do with it, or maybe I'll just will it to Mattie.