If you've got the time you can crochet just about anything

I think I was about seven the first time I tried to learn how to crochet.  My aunt and my grandmother used to sit in the living room together and crochet and talk for hours on end and it looked like something I could learn how to do.  So they sat me down and taught me how to crochet a chain out of yarn.  Did you know that you don't even need a crochet hook to make a chain?  I made an entire ball of yarn into one long crocheted chain.... and then I never crocheted again until I was in my twenties.

The second time I tried to learn how to crochet was when I was in college.  One of my friends was crocheting a blanket and I wanted to learn how.  She taught me a simple pattern and showed me how to make corners.  At first it seemed simple and the blanket grew quickly, but as the sides got longer, the time it took became longer as well.  Needless to say, I lost interest.  The blanket sat unfinished for two years before I picked it up again.  When it was done (when I gave up) it was only big enough to cover one person.

Since the blanket experience seemed so dull, I decided to go out and get a book to teach myself more.

 I learned how to read patterns and made several attempts at many patterns and learned that not all patterns are created equally.  Finally another of my friends showed me how to make a hat. 

There is not a hard and fast way to crochet a hat, just a basic rule to follow to make the top, then keep going until it is hat sized. After that I was hooked....literally. I have since made dozens of hats, some with matching scarves and mittens. It became my newest addiction. I even bought another book about crocheting. This one had lots of patterns and ideas for all sorts of things you could crochet. With my pattern book I also branched out and made several attempts at some cute tops though I still need to work on figuring out how to size things properly. 

I think this top is probably an extra small even though the pattern I used said it would make a large.  It's hard for me to breathe in this top and I'm tiny.  Maybe I just need to try a stretchier yarn for tops, or maybe a bigger hook.