Intro
I only wish that I had thought to start a crochet diary sooner! I've done so many projects in the past few months that there's no way I'm going to remember how long they took me, how much it cost, what supplies were used. Ah. What a shame.
Eventually I'd like to start posting original patterns and pictures, but for now I'm going to stick with projects that I've been doing from other people's patterns. The driving force behind wanting to design my own patterns is that I'm a big girl. Now why would that matter you're wondering? Because I've found it next to impossible to find anything patterned to fit a large woman on the web. I can't afford to go out and buy patterns, so I use the resources available to me. I've to date only found two or three patterns that would fit me, and I'm hoping to be able to produce some attractive articles that larger ladies would actually want to wear!
Let's see...a little crochet background on me:
My step grandmother started teaching me to crochet when I was about five. She was impatient and unwilling to give me the time I needed to learn, so that ended pretty quickly. I forgot about learning, and didn't start becoming interested again until I was married. (Really...it was that boring!)
I picked up my hook again when I was about 20. I had no clue how to read a pattern, and I knew only the most basic of stitches (single crochet and double crochet were my limit!) When I was 22, my best friend taught me how to make a basic granny square, and that's really what piqued my interest in learning more.
Alas, I still couldn't read a pattern 3 years later. I would sit down and strain over the abbreviations and just when I thought I'd gotten the hang of it, I would get mixed up and throw my project down in disgust.
Believe it or not, I've only been reading patterns for about 3 months. In those 3 months I've made over 30 items. I really became hard core about learning patterns one day while my mother was visiting. She noticed a lapghan that my mother in law had given to me and she wanted it. I told her that she couldn't have it and she rebuffed with "Fine. Make me one." After explaining to her that I didn't know how to read a pattern, she dropped the subject, but I mulled it over in my head for days.
A friend had given me a crochet book and one night (after my mother and I had made a trip to Wal-mart and I'd cunningly tricked her in to picking out her own yarn colors) I sat down and proceeded to work and re-work the zigzag pattern until I'd figured it out. Very sore fingers and about 12 hours later, I had the first several rows of a zigzag lapghan!
After that fiasco, it started coming more naturally. It was hard, and it took time, but I pored over every pattern that interested me, until I was reading several new patterns a day. Though I don't claim to be an expert, I certainly feel accomplished and able to do even expert projects with a little time and lots of effort.
I'm sure that's enough of an intro. I applaud anyone who made it to the end.
Sometime within the next few entries, I'll try to post a basic stitch guide, and then maybe some specialty stitches.
I really hope everyone who finds my crochet diary will enjoy it.
