As the “back to school” week wraps up, I’ve been reflecting on what I learned over the summer. The steepest learning curve came from a project that arrived in my head one day in mid-June and came with a built-in deadline: a significant birthday in late July.
The idea began as a bit of a “notion” (in the Irish sense rather than the sewing sense). For context, last year I crocheted a small fabric dinosaur book as a first birthday present. I used a detailed pattern from a skilled crochet designer and had to redo several parts along the way. Even so, I came away thinking it would be reasonable to design my own book as a special birthday gift. An alphabet book, filled with words meaningful to the recipient, felt like the perfect choice.
Of course, it only hit me later how many letters there are in the alphabet. The dinosaur book had just four leaves—eight pages including the covers. An alphabet book is quite a bit longer!
Even identifying 26 significant words I could represent visually was a challenge. Once I had my list, I made quick sketches to figure out how to crochet each item, either as an applique or directly onto the page. That step made it clear I would have to learn some new skills along the way.
For a while, everything went smoothly. I crocheted the pages, a nice repetitive task that fit well with evenings in front of the TV with my family. Edging the pages was similarly straightforward. The early letters came together easily, and I felt confident this was a brilliant idea.
As the deadline loomed, I began to fully appreciate the magnitude of my ambition and fear that neither my skill nor my speed would be up to the task. With the birthday party scheduled for 3:00 p.m. (at my house), I had a very tense moment just after noon, still working frantically on the final two letters, knowing that all 18 pages still needed to be connected in pairs as ‘leaves’ and then the whole book bound together.
I had just completed W for Wine, featuring a pourable bottle that looked suspiciously like several other things, none of them immediately identifiable as wine. Then came the real crunch: I had planned V for Violin, but there was no way I could manage it in time. I called in my son for a quick brainstorming session. Eventually we settled on “vacant”, a blank page with a large crocheted V. It was fast, achievable, and got me back on track.
In the end, I managed it. The book was finished and wrapped by 2:45 p.m., a full fifteen minutes before the first guests arrived. Best of all, the birthday girl loved it. We christened it Anna’s Alphabet of Mystery and Wonder, since some pages required a bit of guesswork about what they represented. It sparked plenty of conversation, and the more personal references were immediately understood by Anna, which made the gift feel truly connected and meaningful.
Looking back, this project reinforced some valuable lessons that apply well beyond crochet:
- Be ambitious,
- have an immovable deadline,
- be prepared to learn new skills to get where you’re going,
- know that new skills will be imperfect and embrace the messiness,
- be willing to adapt the plan,
- done is better than perfect if done with love!