Part 1: Youthful Beginnings
"My first blanket and pillow set is still a source of pride and joy for me."
I grew up watching my mother crochet and I was fascinated. Around the impressionable age of 5, I decided that I wanted to learn. That mother-daughter bonding experiment did not go as expected. It was a real fiasco—the teaching part that is. Mom was extremely talented but patient she was not. Her stint as a teacher lasted less than 24-hours with yarn and needle gracing the trash can.
In my early teen, I caught the bug again but this time I took the initiative and taught myself how to read crochet books, then the technique of crochet stitches. It came more naturally to me than I expected and I gained confidence. I shared my interest with an older cousin who then taught me a very simple square pattern, which I used to crochet my first project: a yellow, blue and white blanket with matching pillow.
I don’t think that Mom ever discovered that I cut up her pillowcase to create the lining for my pillow—and I’m still not telling. This project fueled my entrepreneurial spirit and before long I was selling custom pillow sets to my neighbors. I think a few more pillow cases disappeared during that business venture.
My first blanket and pillow set is still a source of pride and joy for me. It makes me smile every time I think about or look at it. I have no idea why I chose those colors, but I do remember many, many hours spent in the living room calculating how many squares I needed of each color and patiently weaving life into my little masterpiece.
Yes, I still love it.
