I tiptoed towards the room where my mom was and just stood by the door. I watched as she graciously moved her limbs forwards and backwards on her foot pedal sewing machine. The sound coming from the machine was proof that the machine was in good shape. "After so many years!" I thought to myself.
"You know you would have to teach me how to sew some day," I said, breaking the silence. My mom, who didn't know I was standing by the door, was a bit startled.
"Mama, how long have you been standing there for?" She asked
"Not so long. Maybe two minutes"
"About what you said, you know that I shouldn't have to tie you down. If you indeed want to learn, then you should be by my side each time I'm on my machine" my mom said.
I knew she was right. I knew that if I really wanted to learn, I should be beside her all the time. I also knew that if I learnt how to sew, my mom would be extremely happy. But then again, the knack wasn't there. I wasn't drawn to it.
About two years after I had this conversation with my mom, a very close friend visited. She walked into t
our parlour with a bag big enough to hide a human being. I was curious. I wondered what was in the bag.
"Dhee, why is your bag so voluminous? Is someone's head in there?" I jokingly asked.
"You wish. It's just some of my tools. There's this dress that I have to deliver to a client and I'm way behind time. So, I thought that I could continue working on the dress in your house"
It was then that I remembered that my friend had recently started crocheting professionally. We made ourselves comfortable and I was carefully watching her. She brought out all the things she needed to work; crocheting hook, yarn needle, yarns, tapes, etc.
I didn't expect to get so captivated by tools. Before now, I had only heard about crocheting in movies, but there I was, awestruck.
Dhee must have noticed how amused I was and so she told me to give it a try. Without hesitation, I got the scrap yarn and crocheting hook she handed to me and started making wonky stitches.
"You're a natural. Where did you learn to crochet from?" she asked.
"I do not know. I just watched you for a few minutes and I guess I got a hang of it" I responded
"Impossible! I have over ten students that I'm currently training and none of them got a hang of it till a few days after. You probably learnt it from somewhere."
"In my dreams maybe" I said laughing hysterically.
I knew that I had never learnt crocheting, not even in my dreams, but there I was. To further test my competence, she showed me a pattern and asked me to replicate the pattern.
I tried to replicate this pattern for about thirty minutes but to no avail. The sweat dripping down my neck was evidence that I gave it my all. At this point, I was getting really frustrated so I wanted out. I told her that I had given up and I didn't want anything to do with crocheting again. At that time, I meant it.
About four months after this incident, I was arranging my disorganised room when I came across the crocheting hook Dhee gave to me.
"Incase you ever change your mind, here is a crocheting hook and a crocheting needle. You can start off with them." Dhee had said.
At that moment, I felt re-energized. I am not one to run away from challenges so I decided to perfect my crocheting skills. I sat all day trying to make different patterns. When I felt I had learnt lots of patterns, I ventured into my first project–a crochet beanie.
I was utterly elated at the completion of my first project. It turns out that I wasn't the only happy person. I showed the beanie to my mom and she was so pleased. She was pleased because although it wasn't sewing with a machine, I had finally made a choice. Given the fact that Dhee was a big motivation and a strong supporter of mine, I sent a few pictures of the beanie to her and I can still recall how she called me immediately and the first thing she did was scream with so much joy.
"I'm so proud of you!" Dhee said.
After that call, it was evident that I derived so much peace, joy and happiness from crocheting. I may as well keep at it.
All images used are mine except stated otherwise
