I taught myself to crochet when I was about eleven or twelve. My Grandma was amazing at crochet and after watching her one day I asked if she could teach me how to do it. We were just leaving to go home and she popped upstairs and fetched me a crochet hook, some crochet cotton and an old Coats crochet instruction book so that I could have a go and see if I could do it.
Although Mum was a fab knitter she didn't know how to crochet so I sat by myself with the things Grandma had given me and I taught myself how to crochet from that little black and white book of wonder. Next time I saw Grandma I showed her my doubles, trebles and clusters and she showed me how to neaten things up and how to do a couple more stitches. I gave her the crochet book back and I bought my own copy which I still have.
Now, although I've always been able to crochet and have occasionally made the odd item here and there, I never liked it as much as knitting. My BFF Jen sent me Jan Eaton's '200 Crochet Blocks' for my birthday and these past few evenings I've been sat making squares aplenty. I'll stitch them together to make a blanket as soon as I have enough.
I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. The nice thing about crochet is the speed at which it grows; way faster than knitting. It's really good to be able to switch from working tight, intricate cables on a knitted sock to crocheting bold stripes and flowers within a blanket square. Crafty equilibrium.
