CraftyME:KCBW 2010 Day 1 ( KnitCroBlo1 )

So, as we all know by now, I spend an obscene amount of time visiting my online crackspot, Rav. Unlike in real life though, this crack is not whack. Wandering around that site, I have been inspired to try so many new things. And since I'm always looking for a place to belong, I've joined something else. In the tradition of the KAL/CAL my blog group,The Blog Hub has started a BAL. That's knit-along/crochet-along/blog-along for my noncrafty friends. Knittng and Crochet Blog Week 2010 is pretty much a way to increase not only our blogging skills but our sense of community as well.  For 7 days we will all write entries on the same topic. Special thanks to EskimmiKnits for putting the whole darn thing together. We will see how long I stick with it, we know how I do....

KnitCroBlo1: Starting OutHow and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?
 
My tale of how CraftyME was born began with an oops of sorts. I was a 20yr old away at college in Pittsburgh and my oops was being pregnant. Having grown up in a not especially tight-knit family (bad pun intended), I so wanted my baby to have a different life experience. I was determined to find something that I could pass down to my child. Something that we could share when he/she grew older or something they could have to share with their own child. I just didn't know what it would be, I didn't really know how to do anything.
One early-preggo,  particularly hormone filled day, around the first anniversary of my dad's death, I was sifting through my box o'nostalgia. I came across this looooooong yellow chain. I'm talking like a 25-50 ft or longer long, pale yellow crocheted chain.
 Years ago, when I was about 9 or 10, I spent a week with my Gram's sister while my Gram was away. About half way through the week I was extremely bored. Being the bookish, kinda nerdy child that I was, I had read all of the books I brought with me. My Aunt Cat attempted to occupy my time by teaching me to crochet. For some reason that I can't remember, all she did was show me how to start a chain. But at the time it was enough for me. I was gonna crochet something for my dad. I sat there for like 3 days chaining my life away. At the end of my stay I had a super-extra long yellow chain that i presented to my dad. And just as he did with every drawing, or card or whatever I gave him, he proudly displayed it in his living room. It wrapped 3/4's o the way around the room like a Christmas garland. It hung there for several years until he moved.
When cleaning out my dad's apartment after he passed, I opened the bottom drawer of his dresser. In it I discovered all of those old cards and drawings and the yellow chain. He had saved it all. Coming across it again that day,  I had my "A-Ha moment" as Oprah would say.
I was gonna make my baby the blanket that  my younger self envisioned making for my dad. I would learn to crochet. So I did what I so often did those days, waddled myself on over to the Carnegie library.  I checked out Crocheting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti, bought a ball of random baby looking yarn and a hook. I spent the next 7 months crocheting away I am happy to say that I did end up with 3 lovely blankets before MiniME was born. Not just feet upon feet of crochet chain. lol. And 11 years later I'm still hooked. (again bad pun intended)