A refresher course in crocheting

Crocheted coaster 10/7/08

I have fond memories of my mom crocheting when I was growing up. I remember she would take it with her different places when she knew there would be down-time or if we went to the country to visit family, there she'd be with her yarn and hooks. She was always making coaster, table runners, doilies, squares for bedspreads and so on.

She taught me how to crochet when I was much younger and I remember making a few projects with spare yarn she had left over from her various projects. I've dabbled with many different crafts throughout the years. I have enjoyed embroidering, latch hook, crocheting, finger weaving, friendship bracelets, painting, old skool scrapbooking (with those big books bound with string and big black pages and scotch tape), contemporary scrapbooking (complete with top loading pages, cutting tools and tape runners), rubber stamping, card making, sewing and knitting, just to name a few. We even did those ones where you use fabric paint in different colors in a dot pattern to make pictures. Basically, if it was crafty, I enjoyed it or atleast wanted to try it!

Recently, I've been wanting to get back to some other crafts I've enjoyed in the past. I came across an old tote back from when I was a child and inside I found a group of white embroidery squares that were partially completed. So I worked on that for a while and really enjoyed it! I just need some new patterns for that. My decorating tastes have changed since then. I've also tried crewel in the past. Crewel is a mix of stitches and threads on a preprinted picture to add embellishment. I really enjoyed that type. I'm just so bad about starting something and NEVER going back to finish it! Books, crafts, cleaning and so on and so on.

I've been on my mom lately about refreshing my memory on how to crochet, so Tuesday night that's what we did. After a couple of bad starts, I finally got er' going pretty good and made a nice coaster for my desk at work (see photo above)! It didn't take long for my carpal tunnel to overtake my grip and my right hand began to go numb. Just like in knitting, I have to take frequent breaks...which allows distraction to set in and hence, I'm less likely to finish a project. However, I was happy to complete the coaster and we'll see what other crafts I can get myelf involved in. I have a sewing project for a couple a church to finish soon, it's way overdue.