I first tried my hand at crochet when I was about 10. I have no idea what prompted me to give it a go. I don’t even know where I got the supplies, although I’m pretty sure they were already in our house (why, again no idea, cause my mom doesn’t crochet… at least not to my knowledge). I remember I was trying to learn to crochet from one of those little booklets from the craft store, and it was as old as I was, if not older. I had a skein of black acrylic yarn and a hook… a little hook. Some how I completely missed any mention the craft booklet may have had on gauge. Perhaps if I had read it I would be a crocheter today rather than a knitter.

I sat patiently on the floor of my bedroom looking at the pictures and reading the instructions, trying to following along. I don’t think I was trying to make anything, just trying to learn the movements. After getting beyond the basic problem of getting myself all tangled up while trying to hold the yarn in my left hand while working with the hook in my right hand, I began working in single crochet.

It was hard. It was frustrating. I could not comprehend why people did this on purpose. The pictures made it look as if the hook would simply slip into the right spot and come back out again wrapped in yarn.

This was not my experience.

I had to work the hook back and forth to fit it inbetween the strands of yarn. And getting it back out with the yarn still wrapped around the end was making me break out in a sweat.

After creating a strip of fabric 4 inches wide and 1 inch long I gave up. I accepted that I would never be a crocheter, and forgot about it.

Three and a half years ago I decided I needed a hobby and considered crochet for a moment, then passed it over after recollections of my previous experience. That’s when I took up knitting. Since then I’ve been operating under the presumption that I’m a knitter who can do enough crochet for a provisional cast on.

Now, I have been given a second chance at crochet. Itgirl sent me a sparkly crochet hook like hers. It’s a 5.5 inch wand of clear plastic filled with gold glitter; this of course means I must try my hand at crochet again for sparkles make everything better. She also sent along sparkly yarn… this may actually be fun.