# 39 - Crochet Lessons

Shortly after announcing my quest to have 40 new adventures, my 2nd-cousin-in-law (at least that's what I've determined our relationship to be), Janea, offered to teach me to crochet.  This appealed to me immediately, I believe, because when I was a child, my mom attempted to teach me to knit but threw in the towel when she realized she had no idea how to teach left-handed knitting.

Janea was living in Arizona at the time of my 40th birthday, but she expected to move to Colorado this fall.  The move happened as planned, but our crochet lessons just didn't seem to have the same luck.  Twice we scheduled get-togethers only to have them both postponed due to various issues.  I absolutely still plan to connect with her, but when a co-worker learned of the delayed lessons, she brought a mobile crochet lesson to me at school so that I could fit it in before my 40 New Adventures clock expired.  Sue assurred me that learning the basics were easy (and I decided I've lived in a right-handed world long enough that I would tackle the project right-handed). Sure enough, in just a few minutes she had taught me several simple stitches.  Learning is easy: perfecting will take time.

 I am becoming familiar with the nuances of the stitches such as how tight to  make them and how to make each stitch the same size (or at least in the same ballpark).  I've been doing a lot of stitching, tearing it out (it is actually rather depressing how easily it comes out!) and restitching--making nothing in particular, but just practicing. I'm far from proficient. Have you ever watched someone crochet who has been doing it a while?  They can talk while stitching, watch TV while stitching, heck, I bet they could cook dinner while stitching.  I can almost stitch while I'm stitchin. Almost - not quite even there yet.  Each stitch requires a good deal of concentration on my part.

However, I am improving.  I got confident enough to go ahead and start what I decided would be my first crochet project:  a Steeler-colored baby blanket for my first grandchild---which, I should stress, has not been conceived yet, nor do I hope he/she will even be conceived for a good number of years yet.  However, I thought this would be a good project for a couple reasons: 1. if you're going to raise your grandchild to be a Steeler fan, you might as well get started right out of the womb, and 2. who better to not notice how bad, uneven, lumpy and asymmetric the baby blanket will be than an infant who's only going to puke on it anyway!  Of course, I didn't get any type of pattern before starting this blanket. I just started it. I'm going to wing the whole thing.  It may turn out to make a better potholder or dust rag than a baby blanket, but we'll have to let it unveil itself as I trudge along.

 I'm enjoying my crochet experience so far--at least sometimes--at other times I want to scream and throw it in a corner.  Yet, it is a new challenge, and a skill that I think could come in very handy during all the hours that I'll spend in bleachers watching football, basketball and track over the new few years. 

Did you notice I'm through #39?  Yep, that means just one more new adventures. That's actually very sad.  But, I'll save my reflections for later.  Tomorrow I head off to tackle #40. It's an adventure about which I'm quite excited.