This was 48 hours before my flight to Kelowna, and it all began like this....
My Instagram and TikTok feeds for the past week and a half have been filled with pictures and photos of the cutest (emotional support) crocheted shrimps! And I'm a sucker for anything cute and out of the ordinary.
(Instagram post by @gheebeanscrafty)
The creatures managed to stay out of my mind until I stumbled upon one on social media, and then the wishful thinking hit, but I never ordered any. Fast forward a week and a half (48 hrs before flight) to an afternoon in Vancouver where my mom and I browsed interesting gift shops, and I spotted a booth at the back of a shop which, by sheer chance (or divine intervention), displayed many crocheted shrimps! The exact kind I've been seeing for days, and I died. The cuteness was overwhelming. I ran over and picked them up, deciding which I would bring home (I wanted all of them of course). They were so soft too, crocheted with baby yarn, and kind of floppy.
(photo taken by me)
I admired them for the longest time, and then it occurred to me that, as a crafter myself, I could totally make one (at least that's what my confident crafter self convinced me—I have never crocheted before in my life).
I reluctantly put the shrimps back, and as soon as we got back into town, I ran into Michaels to pick up crochet hooks, bead eyes, and stuffing (no yarn—I still have many of all kinds from my younger years of knitting, which I was super excited to pick up and use again!).
Then I settled down at the dining room table with all of my supplies, a dream, and a great deal of confidence (which ran out quickly). I committed to a YouTube tutorial by Twinkie Chan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAzJjijQVvA) and learned a few things. Over the next two hours I discovered that holding the yarn tightly makes it nearly impossible to crochet (put the hook through loops) and that if I held the yarn tight I would lose my hair, my sanity, and gain an impulse to throw everything across the room or out the window on my right! (And also get snappy with my family briefly, which led my mom to Google how hard it is to crochet a shrimp. Apparently, it's an intermediate project—and she kept that detail to herself, lest it make me throw everything away for good! Lol)
This was when the reality that I had no idea what I was doing or the experience to try an intermediate pattern set in. But I persevered!
I watched segment after segment over and over and over again until I started to understand, and as I understood, I learned all sorts of techniques. And after about 2 hours, I finished my first shrimp! Jeremy!
I've always jumped straight into the deep end when learning new skills (this does not apply to school, oh man). It helps me learn faster, even if the quality is terrible at first. When I first got into curling, I was put with a practice group higher than my level, but I learned more from the challenge than I ever would have if I was kept in the lower group (and I continued to ask and be put with the higher ups ever since, and until I became one).
Anyway... I wanted a crocheted shrimp, and I wanted to make it myself. So, I made it so (Picard reference). And now I have a new hobby! Crocheting is relaxing/ fun once you get comfortable with it I promise (mostly).
Although, my most prominent thought as I struggled and grew red-faced was, how do people do this to relax?
And then later that next day, as I finished my second, and greatly improved shrimp (I even made adjustments to the pattern myself on the fly based on what I wanted from the stitches), I found myself watching the tutorial without audio and listening to my own music instead, as I smiled and tapped out a beat with my foot, as the stitches became repetition instead of a challenge.
This is Jeffrey! My second shrimp.
And this will be Waldo, the third, when I have the time.
And I have a few new ideas of what to crochet next!
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