First Garment

I was taught to crochet a basic granny square by my best friends mom when I was in high school.  Shortly after graduating and then marrying, I made several 12-inch blocks to put together for our full-size bed. Because I had never learned how to put them together,the blocks were packed away and brought with us when we moved from Alaska to Arkansas.  Eventually they were sold in a yard sale to a very lucky person because of my lack of knowledge.

Years later, I tried once again to pick up a hook but was unable to crochet because of the factory job I had.  Over the years I had devoloped tendonitis and overuse syndrome of both arms.   I would try to crochet and the pain would be excrutiating.  So, the hooks were tossed and I thought I would never crochet again.  

After working at the factory job for 14 1/2 years, I had enough.  My doctor recommended that I find something less stressful so I began driving school bus.  No stress there.  Ha!  Not physically anyway.  A couple of years later I began work at a local senior center as well.  

When I began working at the senior center, they were without a Meals on Wheels driver and that was part of my new job as Program Assistant to fill in where needed, as well as do my office duties.  I delivered meals for six weeks until another meal delivery person could be hired.  Talk about stress.  I think anyone else might have quit trying to learn two different jobs at the same time.  There were days I even thought, "I can't do this!"  Then I would think of all the homebound seniors that depended on me for a meal.  Heck, many of them didn't see anyone else at all during the day except for me.  I was their link to the outside world.  Although I was a bit stressed, I found my job to be fun and rewarding and stayed on.  Just seeing the smiles of the homebound seniors made my day.  

It was during one of my meal deliveries that I discovered one of the ladies crocheted.  I was really impressed with the number of different type of items she could make.  Then one day I was totally inspired by a baby dress she was finishing.  I told her that I had crocheted when I was younger but never had finished anything.  I'll never forget the smile on her face as she graciously offered me the loan of her pattern.  I told her that I didn't know how to read patterns and she told me I could learn.  I hesitantly accepted the pattern and told her I would return it and show her the finished dress too when I was done.

I immediately enlisted the help of my friend Linda that I had met through my bus job.  I had seen her crocheting before her afternoon bus run each day and asked her if she would help me learn how to read a pattern and crochet along with me.   I was so glad and thankful that she said yes.  I had many questions for her and she was so patient with me.  One day an amazing thing happened, she asked me a question about the pattern and I was able to help her with my answer.  Yippee!  There was hope for the pattern-challenged me after all.  I was ecstatic that I was able to complete the dress.  

When I returned the pattern and showed off my dress, I could see the pride beaming from the face of my senior friend.  She said, "I knew you could do it."  At that point, I knew I could do anything if I set my mind to it too.  Now I'm a crochet addict.  

The dress pictured is the first garmet I made and it is like the dress my senior friend inspired me with.  I thought what the heck, I'll enter it in the county fair.  I was thrilled when I was awarded with a blue ribbon for it and the socks with matching crochet trim.  I was also awarded with a special store gift card for Best Crochet item.  Yippee...more yarn for me.

The moral to this true story is, you can learn a lot from seniors and people that crochet in general.  Keep on hooking!