Pray and Crochet

With the start of the semester, I also started holding weekly devotionals (I'm a Baha'i, in case you were wondering). Last week, one guest was asking about some of my work, and expressed an interest in learning how to crochet. My sister loved the idea, and came up with the slogan "Pray and Crochet".

Yesterday was out first meeting, but not the first time I've tried to teach people how to crochet. While I can explain my engineering courses in simple terms, I'm still learning to explain crocheting without using the technical jargon. The first time I tried to teach, I let my student crochet backwards (left to right instead of right to left). The second time, the students were super distracted and I'm not sure if they were even interested in learning. This time the students got frustrated with the crocheting before I did with them. Crocheting is challenging at the start, and it takes practice to become at ease with it. I'm so used to repeating the beginning stitches (slip knot, chain, single crochet) that I've forgotten how challenging it can be.

I'm hoping that those who started to learn this week will continue coming and becoming comfortable with crocheting. I'm not expecting to change any lives, but I'm hoping to transfer an appreciation of handicrafts to them.