In December 2015, I decided to start crocheting. When I told my mother a few weeks later, she reminded me that I crocheted in middle school, but I have no memory of that. I knitted some in high school, but quickly tired of it, and that’s the extent of my prior yarn creations. I’m not sure exactly what set me on this path recently, but it roughly coincided with the release of some new Xbox game my husband had been anticipating, which gave me plenty of time to spend crocheting.

At that time, we were living in Istanbul, Turkey, and my access to various types of yarn and hooks were limited, so I had to make adjustments. Because of this, I learned more quickly how the weight of the yarn and the size of the hook affect a piece, and how to accommodate for those differences.

In my early weeks of learning to crochet, the blogs of other more seasoned crocheters were invaluable to me. There are many others who have great beginner patterns, instructional videos, and the like. For my first project, I settled on making a lap blanket, using one of Melanie Ham’s patterns for a baby blanket. I selected a yarn based almost entirely on the marbled colors, but it ended up turning out alright. I used James Brett Marble Chunky Yarn, in color MC52, which I can’t find listed online, but Amazon carries other colors of the same yarn.

To make the blanket long enough for my 6’4″ husband to fit under, I used four of the 200g balls of yarn. The only variations I made to Melanie’s pattern were to increase the initial chain from 42 to 78, and to use a 10mm (US size N) hook. This hook made the stitches a little tighter, as I was using a chunky yarn instead of a super chunky baby yarn.

As an encouragement to other beginners, you should know that I crocheted, pulled out, and re-crocheted the first ball of yarn three separate times before I was happy the with consistency in my stitches and the width of the blanket. There is something to be said for finishing projects, especially your first ones, without pulling out stitches, as no matter how messy it looks, the sense of accomplishment will encourage you in your next project. However, there is also no shame in having a few hours of practice. Learning anything takes practice, and imperfections in your projects shouldn’t discourage you from continuing. Just make sure to find a balance between the two, which will be different for each person.