Once upon a time in a small town, there lived a young girl with a very large family. All her siblings had different lives and different interests. Being one of the youngest, she took on projects with them as if she knew what she was doing. Two of her older sisters loved to play with Barbie dolls. Building homes and beauty parlors out of books and pillows. The girl enjoyed playing and dressing them up but quickly thought it silly and moved on. One of her older brothers had just turned 16 and was really getting into working on cars and finding different ways to make them “cool.” The girl would hand her brother tools and grab small pieces that fell under the car. Again though, she enjoyed it but felt as though it was just not for her. Her older sisters were more of the crafting type; one was a scrap-booker. Her older sister often made her own cards and posters for her friends. The young girl attempted to make valentines for her family, but they all ended up getting glued together. With discontent she started to feel like an elf who did not enjoy making toys or a dog that did not like to bark.
- Fig 1.1
- Bright-Colored Granny Square
Just as she was running out of siblings, she went to dinner at her eldest sister’s house. Her eldest sister crocheted and was very passionate about it. The young girl watched her sister make stitch after stitch, wondering how one string could be looped together to make “real” things that are useful. She so sweetly asked her sister to show her how to crochet and being very loving, her sister gladly agreed. The young girl started off with a simple single crochet stitch. She picked out some yarn and decided that she wanted to make a blanket. Because it was such a large project, the girl slowly lost interest and continued to try out different things. About a year later, she found the unfinished blanket buried under things in her bedroom closet. She decided to continue crocheting the blanket and thought that she may grow to like it. Sure enough, by the time the blanket was done, she was hooked. Realizing that beginning with such a large project made it difficult to see the progress and made her feel as if she had not accomplished anything <!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>, she decided to try smaller, simpler patterns before continuing large projects. As the girl began making smaller projects, it slowly built up her patience and content with herself in making more complex projects.
The next Christmas the girl decided to learn to knit. Her older, sister who taught her to crochet, got frustrated with knitting when someone attempted to teach her and she was not fond of it. Nevertheless, the young girl tried it out. To her surprise, she found it simpler than crocheting, at least for her, she encouraged her older sister to give it another try. Her older sister made a simple pot holder and was amazed at how much different it was compared to the last time she had attempted to knit. The first attempt to knit was instructions from a book and the second time she learned from online videos. The different learning methods made a tremendous difference on her ability to retain and enjoy the information given. Now, the young girl both crochets and knits, from patterns or her own designs, for her friends and family. She enjoys this wonderful pass time and continues to encourage others to learn and love it as well.