Everyone has their own reasons for crocheting. They may have learned from a relative, picked it up by chance, or learned it in Home Economics in school and just fell in love with it. With all these reasons come their own stories, so I wanted to share mine.

I did not have any relative who taught me. In fact, my family is very bereft of any crafters, which is quite sad now that I'm older. I only picked up crochet when I started college. I have always been a homebody, so it was quite a change of pace for me to decide to attend a college that was hours away from my family. It left me without a nearby, readily available support system. I also have general and social anxiety, so I was learning how to manage that in an entirely new environment. I knew I needed a way to help manage it and make myself relax and not stress so much.

One of my roommates crocheted, and when I asked, she helped me get started. I spent a day I really should have been studying learning the basics: how to hold a hook, chaining, single crochet, how to crochet in a round, sewing in the ends, et.c., et.c. It was not hard for me to fall in love with it! I used YouTube to find ways to learn and easy patterns to do. Crochet quickly became my favorite hobby.

Flash forward two years, and the pandemic hit. I was suddenly forced to go back home, not leave the house, and attend classes online. It was difficult to adjust, and my anxiety was flaring back up, this time with a side of depression.  I turned to crochet more than ever. My family grew used to seeing me all over the house with a hook, yarn, and project in hand. I grew to depend on it more than ever, and my love for crochet grew even more.

Soon after, I began to design my own patterns. I started an Instagram account and created a linktr.ee in order to share my creations and journey. Eventually, I decided to start this blog, too, after much time hyping myself up about actually writing blog posts! Most of all, I wanted another way of connecting with the crochet communty.

What about you? What was the start of you crochet journey?