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Why did you start crocheting


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Forgive me if this is not the right forum but I am just curious why did you start crocheting? I am just curious.

I think every person has a reason why they started that is important to them.

 

Me I started for something I can do with my mother. She learned from a friend at her job (before she had her stroke) and she taught me. Now I teach her new stitches and she is still working on a blanket for my neice. :crocheting One reason i want to keep it up is for one the memories and also I love making things that make people happy.

 

Again I awould like to know what inspired you to start crocheting:hook

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I have never been fully versed in the "womanly arts", and they are important to me. i.e. I wasn't taught how to be a good wife and mom, to cook and clean, schedule a day, as well as many other things. For years I felt like I was making bricks without straw! I wanted to be able to share the fruit of my hands with my family and loved ones. Crochet fits the bill sooo nicely! (((((HUGS))))) sandi

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When i was young, (6) the Irish crochet hot pads in pink/grn/wht were all the rage. I drove my gramma and aunt Jane crazy until they showed me how to make those beautiful roses.

 

There had been a craze just before that to make crochet pineapple sachets with silk finishings. I just had to be able to make all that beauty too. :dreaming

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I originally learned how to crochet from my aunt's housekeeper. I was being a rebelious teenager, in that my mother had taught me how to knit, but frowned upon crocheting as being one of the lower forms of yarnwork. I abandoned it in my early twenties.

 

How I came to take it up again was quite bizarre. We were in Walmart one day and we passed by the craft section. For some reason, I was drawn to the crochet hooks and the yarn and had an overwhelming urge to try my hand at crocheting again. I bought myself a Boye G hook and a skein of Red Heart SS in Cherry Red. You guessed it...I returned the next day for a larger hook. :lol

 

I found, this time around, that there were a lot of stitches I hadn't learned, but a funny thing had happened between 1984 and 2005...The Internet. I was able to find all sorts of on-line help with just about any stitch I wanted to try, and tons and tons of patterns.

 

The rest, as they say is history. :c9

 

This is why I'm so disappointed that so many Walmart stores are abandoning their craft sections. If that craft department hadn't been there that day, would I even have thought of crocheting again?

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Interesting question. When I was a young girl, we had the polio scare when we were told to not go to public places like movie theatres, pools, libraries, etc. My mother taught me the basic chain stitch to give me something to do all day since I had to stay in, but all I ever did was chains. I had mile long chains all over the house! Later as an adult, when my father was in intensive care for weeks, I bought a basic baby afghan kit to work on in between visits to see him. I finished the afghan but did not have a baby for about 7 years. I then used it with my children, and now my grandson. I have picked up crocheting again since retiring.

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Thank you EeDeeBird for the question.

--I was first introduced to crochet at age 7 while we were living in Canada. One of the men who worked with my father was married to a woman from the Netherlands. Ms. Carla and my mom were friends. When Ms. Carla found out she was expecting her first child she was knitting and crocheting all the time while visiting. I still remember this red shell blanket she was making out of cotton thread...maybe size 10? I asked her to teach me, so she brought me a "4"hook and some small balls of scrap yarn. I learned to chain and double crochet and made a hair band. Then, after we moved back to the states, I never progressed with crochet as my mother did not do this type of work or anyone else that we knew.

 

Flash foward to age 21. I had just gotten married, and needed something "creative" to do (I did many things for my wedding), as I was still in school, using my analyitcal brain way too much. So, I picked up a kit from Michaels, and started practicing stitches. Then, a friend became pregnanet, so I decided to make a blakent and sweater. It took me 6 tries to get a half way decent sweater. Then, I found out I was pregnant, and then I really got into it! So, for 2 years, I have been "really" crocheting, However, if if hadn't been for Ms. Carla, I may never have begun crocheting!

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Both my grandma's crocheted. My grandma that was left-handed tried to teach me but of course at the age of 11 I had very little interest. I think I made a scarf and that was it.

For some reason last fall I got the urge to learn again and went on youtube and watched the lefthanded tutorials and have been crocheting ever since. There isn't a day that goes by that I dont work on something.

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I cross stitched and ran out of people to give things to. So I decided to try yarn stuffs. I went to Michael's, contemplated the Susan Bates learn to crochet and knit kits and decided on crochet since it only had 1 hook. I much prefer crocheting to cross stitching now.

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I learned from my grandmother when I was a teenager. Then I put it aside for a while. After my second child was born, I needed a stress reducer and found that in crochet. He's now 16 and I haven't put down my hook yet!

 

:manyheart

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I have a afghan that my maternal Grandma gave me when my mom had me back in 76. it's a full size bed afghan but it was meant to be a gift i could have a lifetime... I till today still have that afghan. and growing up i alays loved Handmade blankets. They are my favorite. My Fathers Mother would always crochet/knit me doll dress's for my Cabagepatch kids. when my Dads mom passed.. i had no one to crochet things for me anymores as my Mom's mom lived in Calif and us i NY. yrs later. My then BFF and i met and her mom's roommate crochet.. and I bought her a bunch of yarn an aked her to make me a new blanket. and she asked me if iwanted to learn.. of course me being a teen said NAaaaa.. but soon after graduation I met my husband. and not long afer that we found we were preggy. and i so wanted to learn to ake my own baby blankets.

 

I picked up a learn 2 crochet book at walmart and some Pratice yarn. and tryed and tryed..

could not figure it out for the life of me.. then one day i was my my freidns g-ma's and II saw a unfinished project on her sofa. and I asked her to show me wht i did wrong. after she showed me.. the book made sence an i was ble to understand the diffrent stiches. been going alont since.. I still have spurts where i do not do anything at all.. then spurts where i crohet my fingers raw

 

afer this most recent Hihatus My little girl started the signs of Tricatillmaina and I not having much money thought i'd have to go find a way to buy hats to cover her head. and hubby said> "that yarn stuffed in the drawers in our room.? why cant you just make her hhats?" i told him cuse i do not know how... he said Your to smart you figure it out. look it up online. so i did.. not the crochet bug has me agin. and since finding this site. i see so many more hings i wntt o try to make lol.. so i have lots to keep me busy.. just not finding way to get the money to buy yarn to do it all LOL

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In a box in the attic of our house was a book full of beautiful crochet work. Found out later it belonged to my grandmother. But I would sit for hours looking at all that beauty and wanted so much to learn it. This book had it all, clothing baby items, edgings, doilies, tablecloths, bedspreads, toys, household items. Irish crochet. It was all there spread out like veritable smörgåsbord of crochet. Unfortunately my mother doesn't crochet and couldn't teach me. I tried to learn myself but with a size 13 hook being the only one in the box and size 50 thread I found it impossible especially since all the instructions were for right handers and I am a Lefty. I finally had the opportunity to learn when my great aunt came to visit and I begged her to teach me when I found out she knew how and was left handed. She gave me a K hook and taught me to ch and sc, from there I taught myself. But it was enough to get me started and I thank my blessing for that book and my aunt. I now have a copy of that book that I treasure and have actually made many items from it. It's one of my more precious possessions.

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My Mother taught or tried to teach all 3 of us girls when we were young. I took to knitting, just could not get crochet down. My oldest sister took to Crocheting and sewing. My youngest sister wanted nothing to do with any of it.

One year my nephew was getting married and I wanted to make something special, that they would never get. Dh and I went to the store and found a pattern for a 13" musical Bed Doll that was crocheted. Being the optimist that he is, he said, "You can do that right". Not wanting to disappoint, I said yes. Bought the pattern, the yarn, the hook and of course a book of crochet stitches. Once I got the hook in my hand, I remembered what my Mom taught me. Now I love making Dolls and totes and ornies.

My Mom would be very happy with my skill today. I still have a table cover and bed spread she made me when I was younger.:hook

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With me, I have always been into fiber arts. It started with my Mother and embroidery then it went to crochet as a young adult. My Great Grand Mother crocheted I remember as a child, but she passed when I was still very young and my mother thinks that I remember and got the bug from her. Since then I have learned to knit, weave and I am trying to learn to spin. It is more difficult than it looks.

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When I was about 11 or 12, I asked my dad's cousin (who was like an aunt to me) if she'd teach me to crochet. She made the most beautiful doilies and I wanted to make them too! But she insisted that crochet would be too hard for me to learn, and taught me how to knit instead. Well! Since knitting wasn't what I wanted to do, it didn't stick, so I abandoned yarn and went back to my embroidery. (My maternal grandmother crocheted a bit, but wasn't patient enough to teach me - loved that woman dearly, but patient she was not!)

 

Fast forward about 15 years. My job was stressful, and I was developing some health problems from it, and I wanted something more than embroidery to relax me. The wife of one of my co-workers was a very talented knitter and crocheter, and I remembered, "Hey, I always wanted to learn how to do that!" So I went to Michael's and bought a Susan Bates learn to crochet kit. I struggled with my first couple projects, then I needed a hook that hadn't been in the kit, and I bought a Boye hook - and the heavens opened! :lol That was 4 years ago, and it's been pretty much non-stop crochet ever since.

 

Ironically, those doilies I wanted to learn so many years ago? I've yet to make one. :lol

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My gramma taught me when I was young how to crochet, cross stitch and plastic canvas. I got away from all of it for years, then a couple years back I got back into cross stitch. I'm impatient and cross stitch just takes too long, so I was looking for something else to do. I found a turtle crochet pattern and I was off and running. It was pretty ambitious since all I knew how to do were granny squares and they never turned out very nice. Then I find the 'Ville. Everyone helped me so much from how to read a pattern to where to find turtorials on stitches for lefties. So basically its all the 'Ville's fault and I love it! :hug

 

:turtle:vheart

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My grandma started to teach me crochet when I was about 13 but I didn't learn much and forgot everything.

 

Last year over the summer my husband had to go to Maryland to work for the summer. I went with him and while we were hanging out with a few of the people staying at the motel we were at someone was crocheting and my husband heard me say that I'd like to learn again. A few months ago after we moved for his job. I was bored all the time. We were staying in an efficiency apt in a motel (still are). This was before I had my computer. Me and my daughter we stuck in the motel all day with very little to do since I don't have a vehicle. One day he was on his way home from work and stopped at walmart and picked me up a "I Taught Myself Crochet" kit and 2 multi-colors skeins of yarn. I've done so many different crafts and I have always said that someday I want to open a store to sell items I've made. I've always loved creating things to give as gifts or just to use for myself. My main reason for crocheting rightnow is to keep me busy and keep my hands doing something so I don't go crazy with boredom.

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When I was in my early teens, ponchos were all the rage and I wanted to learn how to make one. There were a few girls at my school who crocheted and knitted. I took a few knitting lessons and tried knitting a poncho first but I got frustrated because it took so long. I frogged it and an aunt of my step-mother's taught me how to crochet--and I ended up with a neon pink shawl instead of a poncho. I didn't crochet too much in my 20s and 30s but picked it up again in my 40s and now that I'm in my 50s I always have a project I'm working on.

Oh, I never did go back to knitting but it's on my mind to give it a try again someday.

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I was (and am) a sewer and began to do cross-stitch when on bed rest with my second child. Later, I attended a crochet class with my mother. It was OK, we made a drawstring purse but it didn't really grab me. A few years later my son started playing soccer (when he was six). I knew that I would be sitting through two practices and a game every week and would go nuts with nothing to do. Obviously I couldn't bring a sewing machine and was afraid I would mess up my cross-stitch if I didn't pay attention to it, so I decided to make a granny square afghan while sitting through soccer. He continued playing through eighth grade and after that many years I was hooked!

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Okay, I'll jump in here too. In 72 when I was 10 my mom and I went to the states for the summer. We live in Guam. One of my aunties we visited crocheted. I saw the poncho she made for her daughter and I wished I had one like it. She showed me the basic chain and sc stitch. I never forgot it. As I was growing up I wanted so much to crochet that I would get a piece of branch and just cut a notch :hook in it and use that to crochet :crocheting a simple belt. Then in JR. High I had a crochet class and learned DC from that. Everything else I know is self-taught. Since getting our first computer and internet I have learned so much more. Alot of the things I always thought I couldn't do I now can do. I'm in only one crochet group on the net and here on the ville and I've learned alot from everyone here. :yes Sad to say I haven't done anything since my mom passed away in 07. I still have the baby star blanket I finished not long before she died that she would watch me while I was working on it. Now I'm trying to get myself to just get out the yarn I need to make myself some potholders I really need for my kitchen. One day I will. :)

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I started in fiber arts very young living on the farm and being in 4H with my Aunt as a 4H leader. My grandmother and Aunt crocheted, embroidered, quilted, you get the picture. So, by the time I was a teen, I could already sew clothes and get blue ribbons for. Embroidery I loved doing and handmade (didn't have sewing machine) all my first born's flannel kimonos and embroidered and did crocheted borders on them. I can't remember what got me started, CRS, but I do remember loving to make baby clothes. I didn't learn to quilt for many many years but I did make all my kids and exes clothing including 3piece glen plaid suits. I do NOT sew clothes any more *LOL* I HATE to do hems and mending but give me hook and yarn and watch me go! It soothes my soul.

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Well when I was younger not sure the exact age my grandma tried to teach me to crochet but I got impatient so all I managed to do was chains it wasn't until I met my boyfriend now my fiance and went to Meijer's thought I would try to crochet didn't get it at first so then I stopped later his mom said why doesn't she crochet then I got a Teach YOurself Visually to crochet from the library but I still wasn't catching on then later I took a class and Joann's and from there it just stuck

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:crochetingMy grandmother crocheted all the time- she made beautiful doilies, scarves, hats, and I'll never forget a beautiful red poncho she made for me when I was 13! She tried to teach me, and I made a scarf, but then lost interest. When I was in my 20's, one of my co-workers taught me the ripple and I made each of my DD's a ripple baby blanket when they were born. Fast forward to now- this past February, having finally finished my college degree and having lots of free time (when I was in school and working full time I didn't have a second of free time) I decided I wanted to re-learn how to crochet. It was my Dh who suggested you-tube- the video tutorials are great..and I've been hooking ever since. My DD's- now young adults---tell me I'm addicted!!! But:crocheting is a good addiction- I love it!!!:yes

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I was 19, homesick, and living in a Marine Corps barracks on the other side of the country from my family. All the women in my family, excepting my mother, made things. They knit, crocheted, embroidered, quilted, made clothes, and even painted. I was lonely and missed them so much! I needed something to do that didn't take up much space and I could pick up or put down as my life demanded.

 

I went to the local store and they carried crochet supplies; no knitting needles or cross stitch kits. ( They did carry fabric but where would I put a sewing machine in a barracks room?) So I bought an afghan pattern booklet, a hook and enough yarn to make an afghan. I worked on the afghan at night after classes and felt connected to my family. When I got stuck, one of the Marines would ask his wife and tell me the next day what to do. So he learned to crochet along with me! It's a good thing I can learn by reading! :lol

 

Over the years, I taught myself everything else about crochet. I love those sampler stitch books, because so many patterns are included. Once I became a SAHM I learned to knit, embroider, quilt and tat. I love learning new skills.

Michelle in Southern AZ

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Great question, EeDeeBird - I started crocheting in my early childhood, learning from my grandmom and aunt because I was curious, having watched them wield their hooks. There was then a lonnng respite while I was active with my schooling, work, extra curricular activities and socializing. It wasn't until I matured a bit and could sit long enough for my wheels to stop spinning that I revisited this wonderful craft and became more proficient.

 

Anyway, although curiosity lured me in, the ability to create is what yarned me over. There's just something about taking a simple hook to just as simple a thread and working it into...well, 'something'!

A skein is just a skein, until I get my hooks into it that is, and that still amazes me when I take a minute to think.

And your question did just that -made me think...and as I sit here tonight, looking over my laptop at my slipper-clad feet propped up on the ottoman beyond, I think about how these crocheted footies were once just a hank of yarn in a wrapper...And then...♫ ~just one hook, is all it took~ :yes

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I had no choice!! :lol :lol When I was in Home Ec.(I don't remember if it was Jr. High or High School :think), that was something we had to learn, besides knitting,sewing, cooking, macrame, etc. All I remember making were a pair of "knit" slippers and a doily. :)

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