Genius Hour Blog Post #3

This week for Genius Hour, I started practicing the stitches that I will use to make my blanket.  Unfortunately, this was much more difficult than I was expecting which was incredibly frustrating.  As I mentioned in last week's blog post, the stitches used in the pattern that I chose, which can be found here are the chain stitch, the double crochet, and the slip stitch.  Since both the double crochet and the slip stitch are created off of a chain stitch, that was the first stitch that I worked on.  This is where my struggles began.  Just holding the crochet hook was so awkward that making a stitch took both hands - nothing like the instructions that made it look so easy.  Not ready to accept that this was as good as it would get, I looked up different ways to hold the hook and found some other methods here.  None of these methods were better, so I returned to the original instructions where I had an accidental breakthrough.  The instructions explained that the crochet hook should be held in the dominant hand, which is assumed to be the right hand.  Since I write with my right hand, I and these instructions were only for right-handed individuals, I followed the instructions without giving it much thought.  However, other than writing, I do everything with my left hand.  So, I went back to researching and found a video that showed how to crochet left-handed.  This was much more comfortable.  Learning that there are many different ways to crochet was my biggest lesson this week.  By persevering and being patient, I was able to find the way that worked best for me.
After switching to left-handed crochet, my tension was still uneven, meaning that my stitches were inconsistent.  The advice that I kept finding was to try holding the yarn different ways and to keep practicing.  While this was not as helpful as I was hoping for, it was better than nothing.
The next stitch that I worked on was the double crochet.  Knowing that the instructions included in my pattern would be for right-handed individuals, I went back to the YouTube channel where I found the previous video to look for instructions that would work for me.  I pretty quickly found a video that was relatively easy to folow.  I was surprised by how even my stitches looked and how much more quickly I learned this stitch than the chain stitch.
The last stitch to work on was the slip stitch.  This is a stitch that I doubt I would have been able to figure out using photos rather than a video because of the ways that it differs from the other two stitches.

Before next week's Genius Hour, I need to keep practicing the required stitches because I am still not entirely happy with the way that my stitches look.  I still wonder if there is anything else that I can do about my tension issue.  I want to keep researching to try to find this out.  The next step is to create my first two squares and learn how to join them.

References

Annie's Craft Store (2019).  Lesson 1: How to hold the crochet hook.  Retrieved from https://www.anniescatalog.com/crochet/content.html?content_id=591&type_id=S&scat_id=368

Sigoni Macaroni (2018).  How to hold your crochet hook and yarn: Tips on tension.  Retrieved from https://www.sigonimacaroni.com/how-to-hold-your-crochet-hook-and-yarn/

Solovay, A. (2019).  How to work the chain stitch in crochet.  Retrieved from https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/chain-stitch-crochet-photo-tutorial-979078

Thompson, B. [Crochet Guru].  (2012, August 7).  How to make a crochet chain - (left hand) beginner course: Lesson #5 [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOGv3f0sjJk

Thompson, B. [Crochet Guru].  (2012, October 23).  How to double crochet - (left hand) beginner course: Lesson #9 [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmuCc9IkocY&t=183s

Thompson, B. [Crochet Guru].  (2013, April 8).  How to crochet a slip stitch - (left hand) beginner course: Lesson #12 [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbtzTWfzNo

Vercillo, K. (2019).  How to crochet a classic granny square: Free pattern plus instructions, tips and hacks.  Retrieved from https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-crochet-classic-granny-square-3576784