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Okay. I am just going to admit it. I used to be a bit of a crochet....what should I call it? Ah, yes. A crochet snob. In my own defense, I have knitted for about half my life (in striking contrast to my music preferences, long before it became trendy) and never quite got the hang of crochet. Thus I deemed it an inferior craft to knitting, as it so obviously must have been since I couldn't do it.

My interest in crochet had been growing for the last few months, and I was particularly fascinated by all of the unbelievable 3-D structures that can so easily be crocheted. More than that, I started to be drawn to the texture of crocheted pieces, their weight and knotty appearance. However, I still had my reservations since I had not fully recovered from the trauma of Nick John's failed attempts to teach me how to crochet hacky-sacs during my freshman year at Wake.

But when I stumbled onto Norma Lynn's crocheted confections, I was so overcome with glee and lust that I vowed that I *would* teach myself to crochet, like it or not.

First of all, let me just tell you that Norma Lynn might just be the nicest lady to ever draw breath. I wrote to her in a panic after my first attempt at making her little cakes yielded a design akin to a large yarmulke. I told her it was her fault that I was in this mess because her patterns were just so daggum cute that I couldn't restrain myself. She wrote me back within hours, and not only did she give me some really excellent advice, she was so positively flattered that I would find her inspirational! Excuse me, Norma Lynn - have you seen your cakes? They are just the most fabulous crochet creations I have about ever laid eyes on. And she donates the proceeds to animal charities. If her little desserts were real, they could not be sweeter than Norma Lynn.

The first thing I crocheted became a little do-hickey for the table. Honestly, it was the top of a failed cake (art imitating life?) that was saved from being completely ripped up to salvage yarn.


The second thing I made was this little cake sachet (I know, it's lopsided and not quite done, but not too bad for my first real project, eh?).


My third project I did in about 40 minutes this afternoon, by myself, with not even a pattern to guide me. I just tried to duplicate one of Norma Lynn's precious desserts. It's really, really tiny.

I love crochet!!! Yea for Crochet!! I've only known how to do it for 2 days now but I think I am caught - crochet hook, line, and sinker.