The (Im)Perfect Stitch

When I was much younger, my mother taught me to crochet. Just a basic crochet stitch and I did it very poorly. It was one of those things that I would pick up and work on making something for a while, but it always took SOOO long and ended up very wonky, so I never kept at it very much. 

I would buy yarn for a whole blanket, make it through part of a skein and give up. I remember one time being very determined to complete a blanket. I decided to make small squares and then sew them together so that it wouldn’t be so daunting. That was the first blanket I completed, but the “squares” were anything but square! 

Shortly after getting married, I decided to try again. I re-taught myself how to do basic stitches and was able to make a whole blanket using the same stitch, over and over again. But every time I tried to follow a pattern, I got lost in the gobbledygook that they called a pattern! I could read three languages, but what on earth does “1tr in next 2sts, 1htr, 1dc, ch1, skip 1, 1dc, 1htr, 5tr, 1htr, 1dc, ch1, skip 1, 1dc, 1htr, 2tr” or “1hdc in first st, 1bptr in fptr 2 rows below, 1fptr in bptr 2 rows” mean?!?! So, I convinced myself that I could crochet, just not follow a pattern. 

Fast forward a few more years, and I found a yarn that I loved for crocheting. My hook didn’t get stuck in it, and I could keep the stitches even! I could do several rows without getting tired of it. Now that I had more confidence, I decided to try patterns again. I started with simple ones but suddenly they made more sense. Maybe having YouTube videos to watch helped too. And with this new information, off I went. I’ve now done blankets in V-Stitches, Lemon Peel, Elizabath, Grit, Chevrons, Moss and so many more. 

Sometimes I’ll pick up a blanket and try to figure out what stitch I used because I want to make a similar blanket, but each blanket ends up unique. I even tried my hand at Tunisian (or Afghan) crochet, which is a strange cross between crocheting and knitting, and successfully made a beautiful scarf. My friends and I will sit around and crochet and chat and laugh for hours. None of us crochet in quite the same way and people watching us don’t even think we’re doing the same craft. But you know, it doesn’t matter how you held the yarn when you end up with a beautiful warm blanket at the end.

I have quite the yarn stash at home, but can be found at Jo-Ann’s when my favorite yarn is on sale. (I even ran into a Mendoza faculty member and his daughter there once!) I take my work-in-progress with me just about anywhere I might be sitting and listening because It’s a great way to keep my hands busy and allow my mind to focus on the topic. 

I have made more blankets than I can count at this point. Many are placed around our house just in case someone is cold or wants to take a nap. Several have been gifted to friends, coworkers and family members. And oh, the baby blankets! I have even challenged myself to make a few hats for someone who was going through chemo. And now, I’m proud to have taught my daughter AND my son to crochet and they are both working on finishing up beautiful blankets of their own. 

There are definitely life lessons to be had from my experience with crocheting. As Eckman said in The Crochet Answer Book, "Being a 'good' crocheter is not about making perfectly stitched, elaborate, artful creations. It is rather a matter of confidence. You need to be sure of what you are doing and how to do it, and then have the confidence to figure out what to do if things aren't going quite right. Understanding why you do certain things and why they turn out the way they do increases confidence and leads to success." 

How many things in life can we apply that to? It’s not always about doing something perfect, but instead moving forward with confidence and learning how to maneuver through whatever life throws at you.

Kalynda Hamilton

Student Onboarding Coordinator, Mendoza Graduate Programs

Facilities & Program Operations