At the second crochet workshop, I ended up completing my first row of stitches for the scarf. I was really proud of being able to follow the video and instructions. I did notice some places where I felt like the stitches could look more uniform and consistent. There’s always room to improve and I hope I can spend the summer strengthening my skill. As a pre-dental student I am always looking for fun ways that I can strengthen my manual dexterity. I love that with manual dexterity can be improved in so many ways— not just practicing shaping teeth or suturing. One of the reasons I love dentistry is being able to be creative and productive with your hands so I hope that crocheting can help me practice that before I actually get to dental school!

I had great fun with the first crocheting workshop and had just as much with this one as well. The project that I had started in the first workshop was well underway and now a little bit of time after the fact it is completed. It is rough and has plenty of mistakes in it. But I made it and that is what is important. It is awesome to have something like that which I made. You can so easily buy anything you want from the internet and yet this misshapen cowl is something that I hold very dear exactly for its imperfections.

Going into the second session of the crochet workshop, I had way more confidence in my abilities this time around. I worked fast through the single crochet and was able to start on double crocheting. Seeing other’s people’s progress from the first workshop motivated me to want to finish the project completely. I also really enjoyed talking to Ferra because she is very patient and understanding. I can’t wait to see what other crocheting projects I complete in the future.

This was my first time consistently working on a crochet project. During the workshop we started working on a cowl, which is similar to an infinity scarf. I am proud to say that I successfully completed the cowl after continuing to work on it weeks after the workshop. This is surprising to me because I was initially struggling to successfully complete the most simple and fundamental step of the project, which is making the initial chain. This step took me particularly long and resulted in me having to start over several times in order to get it right. Towards the end of the workshop I was still working on my chain and was feeling very discouraged when I saw other students already working towards beginning to add thickness to their cowl. However, because I saw that other students were able to successfully reach the latter steps of the project, it motivated me to complete the cowl. I think that it was easy for me to find the motivation because the process of crocheting was very de-stressing. It kept my hands and mind occupied during times of stress such as prelim-season. I realized that there are more hobbies that I should try because they can also serve to make me happier.

This was my second crochet workshop so I am now a veteran. It was a lot easier for me this time since I did not have to focus on the basics. It was a lot easier to follow along with the tutorial video. I was able to see how to make a slip knot and how to single crochet. I really hope that I can finish a scarf one day and gift it to someone. I think that being able to crochet is such a fun and honestly useful skill to have. I think that it also qualifies as a fun fact. Ferra is super nice and friendly, and I was able to talk with her and other Rose Scholars. Because I was not so focused on the basics, it was nice to feel more confident in my crochet skills and continue to converse and make new connections.

I really enjoyed crocheting! It was really fun to do something with my hands and distract myself from schoolwork. Ferra really helped all of us get the hang of the basics. Although I did not yet create a final product, I hope to do so over the summer. Seeing everyone’s progress from the first session was amazing and eye-opening. It has reminded me that it is possible to pick up new hobbies quite easily! This is important to remind myself, as I love trying new things but fear never actually picking them up. Sometimes you just have to let loose and see where this new hobby brings you! Maybe one day it’ll produce you a new scarf 🙂

Taking a break to exercise the creative side of my brain is always a nice change during the school year. I really enjoyed learning to crochet with other Rose Scholars during this fun and relaxing event. Such crafts are not only a way to express your personality and creativity, but also are a measure of persistence and hard work. I am curious as to how many loops and knots it takes to crochet an entire scarf! No matter what the exact number is, it certainly takes hours and persistence to make something large and soft from simply a ball of yarn. These are skills (and scarfs!) we can take with us to other aspects of our lives.

As someone who has seen my older sister knit an infinity scarf back in middle school, I knew I wanted to try something hands on and arts and crafts related as well. This event provided me the perfect opportunity to try something similar to knitting – crocheting! As I watched the video and tried to follow, I found myself getting frustrated in having to simultaneously make sure I had followed each step correctly but to also make sure that I did not miss a step as the video was playing. Not surprisingly, I found the people in the video to make the task look so easy but once I try, the task becomes 1000x harder. To ensure that I was comfortable with the first few steps, I played around/experimented with how tight or loose I should wrap the yarn around the needle so that I can figure out what works best for me. The lesson I got out of this event is that it is okay to go slower than others as it is important to go at whatever pace works best for you and would make you the most comfortable.

When I didn’t manage to reserve a spot in the first crochet workshop, I was really disappointed; when the second workshop was announced in the weekly email, I jumped at the chance to re-enroll. I managed to reserve a spot, which I’m very grateful for. Following my confirmation email, I received supplies in my mailbox: a crochet needle, a ball of yarn, some sewing scissors, and some plastic bits to mark my progress. These all came in a small bag, which was great news, because I had none of those supplies lying around my dorm room.

During the workshop itself, I learned some of the basics to crochet stitches. I worked for a while on how to get my piece started, which took up the first half of the workshop, because it was all so new to me. I worked for a while then on how to extend my first yarn chain, and by the end, I had gotten a solid start to a crochet piece!

I made more progress on my cowl that I’d been working on at the last workshop. I think it’s at a wearable length now! A lot of times, I have trouble finishing projects because I get busy, but the workshop was nice because I could dedicate some time to working on it. I think crocheting is neat because it can be practical as well as for fun. It’s exciting to be able to wear what I make. I’m hoping I’ll have time later this semester to keep up this hobby.

Since the last crocheting workshop, I worked tirelessly on my scarf.  I crocheted a little before bed, during meetings, and while I was waiting for my professors to start class.  But as I progressed, I realized that I made a mistake in all of my stitches.  And being the perfectionist that I am, I could not let that stand.  So I spent the first part of this workshop pulling apart my scarf as my friend who was new to the workshop was beginning her scarf.  I unraveled, she began her scarf.  It was fun going back to the beginning and helping my friend learn the stitches that I had learned last time (though I made sure not to make the same mistakes again).  It was also helpful to hear how everyone else was doing with their scarves.  Some other participants also had to start over several times to get it right.  But even though we had to start over, it is so much fun to crochet and it is a very calming activity.  I hope that I will have a new scarf soon to wear around campus!

I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Sunday’s crochet workshop. I had tried crocheting before and it was a very confusing experience. However, with the tutorials and Ferra’s help, I was able to make a chain to begin a crocheting a scarf. It was very relaxing and peaceful once i got the hang of it and I am very happy with how it is turning out.

For the week two of the crochet workshops I started a new scarf and I finished another Crowl that I made to be my mom’s mothers day gift. I have been going through some tough things recently and this has been really nice for me to be able to escape to!

I am a perfectionist, and as one, I get frustrated if the end product is not up to my personal standards. I get the thrill of seeing a project through, but I also see the many mistakes I made along the way. It gets under my skin and over time I begin to dislike what I made. One wrong stroke of paint and the color is off, or one slip-up cutting fabric and the cloth purse is malformed.

When I saw there was going to be a crochet workshop, I wanted to join because I wanted to challenge myself to craft without having expectations for myself. I am not going to make something “perfect” when I have not done it before. That is completely unrealistic, and perfect does not exist. Going into it having this mentality, I was able to enjoy my hour learning the fundamentals. I may have only done slip-knots and chain stitches, but I take pride in my ability to confidently do these stitches. I liked seeing my progress from being confused and uncoordinated to stitching at a reasonable rate. The stitches started out uneven, and they still are, but they are less uneven. I made progress, and by leaving my perfectionist tendencies for that hour, I got an idea of why people like crafting and are attracted to crocheting.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent my time crocheting outside with a friend of mine. Although I am not new to crocheting, it has been awhile since I last did it. In the beginning, I was able to get the slip knot and start my chain, but the real trouble came in when we took it to another level and added rows to it. I think this largely had to do with my first chain being very tight and my constant forgetfulness of the same step over and over.

Despite the difficulties I had, the help I was able to get from my friend and the fact that I was able to sit outside on one of the finer days of Ithaca’s ever-changing weather made up for it! I am definitely confident that with the right amount of practice, my next crochet project will show exponential growth from this one!

For a beginner or someone interested in crochet, my piece of advice is to watch a YouTube video and put on a slower speed (especially if it just so happened to be the video we were watching!), so you can learn more and go at your own pace!