My grandmother Jeanne passed along the craft of knitting to me when I was in middle school. She attempted to pass along her crochet skills, but at the time I never quite caught on to the mechanics of crochet.

Zoom forward to 2009. With a baby girl on her way to being born, I picked up a crochet hook and some yarn and attempted to make an afghan for my daughter before she was born. A few weeks later I was finished with my afghan and hooked on crochet.

As my skills increased, thanks to The Crochet Crowd ( http://www.crochetcrowd.com ) I ventured into making stuffed animals as well as trying my hands at scarves, socks, and more afghans.

In 2010 I donated what pieces I had made to The Crochet Crowd's baby blanket charity project as well as a local chapter of Project Linus.

Now, with half finished projects and other items needing my attention, I'm selling off pieces so that I can save up for a vacation for my family in Hawaii and supplement my husband's income as I take care of our two children as a stay at home mom.