Teaching Crochet to Neighbors

Teaching Crochet to Neighbors

I'm quite behind in my crochet blogging. We recently moved to Missouri from Ohio in April and I've been very (very!) sick with the hypoadrenia, hypoglycemia, thyroid, and of course, the benzodiazepine issues for the past few months, unable to do anything but wait for my body to start working right. Makes for a lot of time crocheting though and also good time in the Word of God. Look a this gem I found that has been sustaining me lately:

"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." - Psalm 34:18,19

Ahhhh! And then one day:

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." - Revelation 21:4

Nice, huh?

So, just before Roger and I moved to Missouri, I was able to invite some neighbors to come by so I could teach them to crochet. That was fun! Both of the ladies are single moms. I can relate to their trials in life as I was a single mom for so long. I wanted to offer a day of learning the art of crochet. Carol is below learning how to do a seed stitch:

She already had some basic skills down, but the other neighbor, Carla, didn't know what crochet was, much less how to hold a crochet hook! This was quite a challenge for me.

My plan was to teach them how to make a simple dishcloth using a seed stitch like below:

Simple? Did I say simple? There were quite a few things to learn in one day:

1. How to hold a crochet hook,
2. How to hold the yarn,
3. Learning consistent tension while holding the hook and yarn (!),
4. How to make a chain, single crochet stitch, and double crochet stitch all while figuring out where to put that hook into the next stitch - where is that next stitch anyhow?!
5. Turning your work without losing your mind,
6. And finally how to sew in the tails which of course requires a new tool.

YIKES!

Yes, we laughed a lot as we all learned. Carla learned how to hold the hook; I learned how to be patient while we worked on how to make a chain. Oh my!

For our crochet gathering, I had bought some cotton yarn for both Carol and Carla, gave them a print out of my pattern, and off we went. You can see them below working hard on their dishcloths. Carol on left, Carla on right (sorry for the pictures being so dark; put a crochet hook in my hand and I'm fine, but put a camera in my hands and I'm a mess!):

I'm so grateful to my grandmother (Grandma Gum - long story!) who taught me very early on how to do some basic crocheting. I believe the Lord gave me a talent like this not just to sell crocheted pieces and not just to give gifts to friends, but to teach it to others. My grandmother did that for me many years ago.

Here's Carla below who had never held a crochet hook before. She was pretty excited to learn how to make her own dishcloth. She's wearing a slouchy hat I made for her:

Carol did it! She finished her dishcloth in red and was able to take it home with her that day. It was an awesome day!

I've decided to open up my Etsy Store again since I was able to get so many things crocheted lately. Some of the dishcloths I've made are below and can be ordered through my Etsy store or by emailing me if they aren't in the store yet.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE

You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com