Crocheting: My Journey

 Instead of breaking this post up, I'll just do it in one LONG post.  My crocheting adventure actually started about 6 years ago, when I bought a cheap crochet kit from Walmart because I wanted to learn to crochet.  I started to make a scarf, which to this day has yet to be finished.  I really should not have started with that scarf; it turned me off to crochet.  That scarf was the most boring project in the world, probably the biggest reason I stopped, in addition to the AZ weather.
Anyway, I put crocheting aside for several years. It wasn't until I saw some cute crochet baby caps on Etsy.  I wanted one for Elisa, but didn't want to pay the price.  I thought I could figure out how to make one by myself since I had a few basic crocheting skills.  I used some online tutorials and tried and tried, but I just couldn't figure out how to start the hat using a circular stitch.  Just could not!
I was fortunate to run across a stand (it was at a Community Christmas event in Peoria) where a woman was selling crochet caps for only $5.  I bought it immediately, I figured it was cheap enough for how much I failed at making her on myself:

 Super cute!

 It still bothered me though, that I couldn't for the life of me figure out something that several people told me was "easy" to make.  Since I had all my crochet stuff out already, I wanted to do something with it.  I swear my hands have A.D.D.  They always have to be in motion, whether it be working on some project or playing the piano.  I don't know how people can just SIT there and stare at a TV screen for hours on end.  At least sitting here at the computer, my hands are typing away furiously. But I digress, SOoooOOoo...where was I?  Oh yeah, crocheting.
So I was looking on youtube at some how-to crochet videos, and one in particular caught my attention because the guy's demo was so clear and straight forward that I thought it would be easy to follow.  It was a tutorial on how to crochet a baby sweater.   I followed it exactly and got a sweater that looked very much like the one in the tutorial, only doll sized.  Fail.  So I tried again.  Gauging stitches helps a lot: 

So cute as a church sweater!  Here is the link if you want to try making one yourself.  The tutorial is actually split into several different videos, the hardest part is knowing what order to watch them in!

Then I made this:

And realized I could make this instead:

 

Made one for me, too! 

So turns out crochet caps really ARE easy to make, especially if you've already crocheted a sweater!  The trick was figuring out how to start--working in rounds is a bit different than just straight stitches, but once you start it just makes itself.  I used the crochet hat I got Elisa as a guide, but other than that, I improvised and both hats turned out super cute.