Crochet: Learning to make a Granny Square

I am so excited that I finally completed my first item resembling crochet.  It's a granny square and I love that my little hands made it.  Which NEVER would have happened without this class at The Stitch Lab.  I have a hard time imagining myself learning this on my own!

I really had fun this time - I felt more at ease. It was a different class atmosphere, we were all pretty quiet and heads down on the granny squares.  Since I'd been practicing for a week, I was more comfortable holding the hook and yarn and doing double crochet which helped.  So I could just concentrate on trying to read a pattern. 

The illustrious (and kind and patient),Vickie Howell, was our instructor again, and she introduced us to reading a crochet pattern and a diagram.  Reading a pattern was hard for me, but I liked the diagram.  Much easier for my mind to grasp.

I was mostly without emotional moments this time.  I did have one point where I thought things were going swimmingly, only to look at my square and realize it was more like a misshapen pentagon.  So I had to pull out an entire round and start it over - sickening watching all that work disappear. But I love learning that it is possible to go back and fix mistakes. I've had to use that new skill several times since then.

After class I brought home fried avocado tacos from Torchy's Tacos at the trailer park eatery on South 1st street in Austin and sat on the couch, watching 39 Steps on Masterpiece Theatre. Then I pulled out my hook and yarn and started crocheting again.  I wanted to get the rhythm, the pattern, burned in my mind.

I was overjoyed that I could still do it... And the second and third time I was faster, I didn't need to consult the pattern too much, and it looked better. I'm fascinated by the way that my mind is taking hold of this new information.  When I first tried these crochet stitches it felt so foreign, like a muddle of yarn, but now it just flows. There's something about it that's very soothing - making something so simple - so physical - so tangible.

Now I want to take my newfound abilities and work on a bigger project! So I've already started working on this Modern Alchemy afghan.  I have my first purple zig zag row done.

I spent some lovely hours checking out all the free patterns available on the Lion Brand yarn web site - and I'm thrilled to discover that now that I know a few basic stitches and how to read a pattern, so many of these are within my reach.  Now I can visualize all these things I can make from here to grannyhood.