I got my yarn (Stroll Tonal Gypsy) and wound it…  enlarged the chart for my selected pattern (Diamonds Shawl from Crochet so Fine)… got my crochet hook… and ready to go…   At first I started reading
the pattern since crochet charts were not familiar to me…  but I
ripped out several times and thought UGH!!!  so I tried the chart…    what a difference!  just like knitting charts make life easier, so do crochet charts, so don’t let them scare you away!  and a little hint: get a highlighting pen and mark the rows as you complete them…  makes it much easier to find your spot…  I also do counting a head of time on some of the larger repeats, so I don’t have to stop at each row…

I didn’t have a lot of crochet time this last weekend, but the time I did have, I was able to get the project going…

I can’t wait to really start digging into this project!

Adendum:  I wrote the above blog yesterday…  but a discovery this morning changes everything!!!  I “thought” I had checked my gauge… ugh!!!  I’m crocheting way too tight…  if I continue at this rate, when the shawl is done it might cover one arm!!!!  To save you the frustration I’m going through, swatch!  swatch! swatch!!!  (I should know better!!!)…  anyway, it looks like I’ll have to start over and go up 2 hook sizes…    I’ll let you know next week how this “learning experience” is going!!!