My desire to learn textile arts such as crochet and knit began in High School. At the time I didn’t really understand that crochet and knit were pretty different, and kind of assumed that if you knew one you probably knew the other. And… If I am being honest, I really wanted to learn how to knit. Maybe it was because I had been exposed to it the most, or maybe it was because at the time I couldn’t tell the difference between a knitted project and a crocheted one.
In Grade 11 (2005-2006 ) I purchased my first set of knitting needles and attempted to teach myself. I purchased a couple books and yarn, setting out to give it a try. I would never get really far though, most of the time I would get maybe 8 inches long before becoming frustrated and unraveling it. My tensions were always off! I would have several lines of great tension, followed by loose tension and so on. I tried for a few months before deciding I would never figure it out.
In September 2012 I started work at a before and after-school program called Summit Kids. I never knew it at the time, but here is where I would learn to crochet, teach others to crochet and even revisit knitting in the most ironic way.
In 2014 a lovely coworker of mine started teaching the kids how to crochet. I had never really seen people crochet before and it made me wonder if I could figure it out. So, I asked her if she would teach me!
At the time we both worked a split shift, meaning we had a roughly 5 hour break in the middle of our shift. This was also around the time I began carpooling and would stay at the school during my break. Before she left for her break one day she taught me two things… Chain stitch and single crochet. When she left me I could barely single crochet, but I had 5 hours and nothing better to do. Within maybe an hour I had figured out single crochet. It still wasn’t perfect, but I knew I wanted to learn more and that I wanted to do this at home. I walked to the closest Walmart, grabbed my own supplies and returned to finish my break. By the time my coworker had returned I had jumped down the crochet rabbit hole, learning more through You Tube and had taught myself how to double crochet.
Within a week I had made my first project and knew there was no stopping me now!
Within a few weeks I taught myself single crochet, double crochet, half double, and had ventured to stitches such as bobble.
I was slowly building skills and starting to collect a small number of completed projects…
My love of crochet only grew from here. I crochet regularly; almost daily in fact! This quickly became my norm. I wasn’t a knitter, I was a crocheter and my desire to learn textile arts was achieved.
In 2017, I decided I would teach the kids at Summit how to crochet. Myself and a small group of children would crochet most mornings. They didn’t make it easy for me either. They didn’t want to walk, they wanted to run! I wasn’t teaching them simple things… They were insisting on making Amigurumi’s. And they did, well in fact! This same group continued to crochet and more and more children gradually joined.
This school year 2019-2020, before the “normal” functioning school year came to an abrupt end (Covid 19) a few things happened with my students at Summit Kids. First, my “crochet kids” decided to crochet more then 30 cup cozies for a winter fundraiser we held. Second, they started to knit! I had not taught them, but they were all doing it. One of the students had taught the others. You see, her grandmother taught her how to knit after seeing how much she enjoyed crochet. My “crochet kids” had started knitting every morning, leaving me crocheting along side of them. They could knit and crochet, leaving me in the dust.
After a week or so of watching I decided to try to knit again. I had done it before, so why not try it again. I am still not good at knitting… but, sitting there surrounded by kids I taught to crochet as they encouraged me to continue to knit, praising me with how much better I was getting… It really came full circle. Crochet is still my preferred, but… I did buy my second set of knitting needles. Perhaps in time I will get more confident, and can return to crochet and knit with these kiddos again.