During the summer and quarantine, I had the opportunity to find new hobbies. I have found many activities I enjoyed, such as creating bead bracelets and making desserts, but out of all the activities, I found crocheting to be the hobby that I enjoyed the most.
TikTok is an online platform where people can upload short clips they create and add music to them. Towards the end of summer vacation, I came across a TikTok video that was about crocheting. Amy Liang was showing herself crocheting a huge plush bee. Personally, I love stuffed animals and doing handicrafts, and I thought it would be a fun activity for me to enjoy during the many free hours of time I have each day. I have never tried crocheting, but I did knit in elementary school.
I went to a nearby Jo-Ann store to buy my supplies. As a beginner, I did not know what exactly to purchase, so I ended up making a few trips. I ended up purchasing a couple of yarns I liked and crochet needles. When I came home, I immediately watched a YouTube video on how to crochet a plush chick, but I found it difficult to follow along because my crochet needle was plastic and would not grab and pull through the yarn as well as I had expected it to. I went back and bought Clover’s Soft Touch Crochet Hook in the size G7 or 4.0mm. This aluminum hook made crocheting easy for me as a beginner, as it made the perfect-sized stitches for my project.
I rewatched videos several times until I could get the stitch correctly, even though it took me a couple of hours to finish my project. In addition, I had to adjust to the hand I was using to crochet. I am left-handed, but I decided to crochet with my right hand because I figured it was easier to look up creations I wanted to make. At first, crocheting with the right hand was not easy because I turned the stitches around once in a while. However, I got used to it, and now I am confident in using the right hand.
I started to crochet a week before school started, and I completed over five projects that week, which consisted of Hello Kitty plush dolls and bags. Even after online school started, I continued to enjoy my hobby. I made crocheting as my goal and motivation to finish my school assignments. This past week, I completed my assignments without procrastination and crocheted thirty minutes to an hour each school day and ended up completing a single bag at the end of the week. I plan on continuing this hobby, as it relieves the stress that I accumulate throughout the day, and I feel a sense of satisfaction after completing a project, which motivates me to start another one.
