A Happy Hooker

Jo asked me to teach her to crochet about a year ago. I was happy to oblige and showed her my go-to stitch - the stitch that I've used for everything from scarves to baby blankets since I was a little girl - the triple-crochet stitch. She quickly got frustrated with the all loop/pull/loop steps so I backed up and had her just do chain stitches. She was, well, hooked. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.) Night after night she'd bring her crochet work to bed for a little stitching while she listened to audio books. She'd proudly present me or Alan with a couple feet of chain-stitched yarn and I'd wonder what the heck I was going to do with it all. The other morning she handed me a neatly wound ball of YARDS of chain-stitching. YARDS! It was actually enough to crochet her a little scarflette, but it was also the sign that she was ready for more. She was ready to actually crochet something. She remembered the last time she tried it and resisted at first, but I pushed her and it actually worked! All that chain-stitching had given her a good feel for how to handle the yarn and the hook. She did a lot of accidental reducing and enlarging at first, then she did a bunch on purpose because she liked the weird shapes she ended up with. But now she's started making a scarf for Alan and she's doing a great job!
I foresee a LOT of doll blankets and scarves this year. Fun!