My earliest memory of doing needlework goes back over 40 years to when I was ten or eleven years old. That summer my mother taught me how to crochet. I don't recall asking her to teach me or even showing any particular interest in crocheting. One evening, though, under the yellowish glow of the living room lamp, I found myself sitting next to her, with a cool metal J crochet hook in my hand and a ball of yarn snuggled next to my thigh.

Mom taught me two things: how to crochet a chain and how to do the single crochet stitch. From there it was a simple leap to connecting the chain to make a circle, and then doing the single crochet stitch in each link of the chain, and then in each single crochet, around and around. She showed me I needed to put an extra stitch in now and then, else the circle