Leslie Klatt learned to crochet because of her mother, who was a knitter. Sixty years later she knits, crochets, and tats. She has made toys and clothing for fifteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren over the last thirty-three years. And she still makes a tension swatch before she starts anything, then turns those swatches into baby blankets. Here is her story.
Learning From a Knitter
Leslie's mother was a knitter, and it was her mother who put crochet in front of her. Leslie kept both. She knits as well as crochets, and she tats too, which is a craft far fewer people carry with them these days.
Sixty years on, all three are still in use.
Most of It Goes Out the Door
Ask Leslie what she makes and the answer is mostly things for other people, and mostly for people she will never meet.
The bulk of her crochet goes to an outreach program for pregnant teenagers. She makes baby booties for them. She also makes lap blankets for seniors. Over the last few years her output has been booties and hats for babies, and toys for her own youngsters.
Thirty-three years of toys and clothing, spread across fifteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, is a considerable amount of crochet to have given away.
Read the Pattern First
Asked for the one piece of advice she would give above all others, Leslie did not hesitate.
Read your pattern before you start. Then make sure you know the stitches you will be using.
That second half is where her method comes in. She used to make tension swatches that contained every stitch she would need in the project, so that each one was familiar by the time she got to it. After sixty years, she still does.
And Then the Swatches Become Blankets
Here is the part that makes crocheters sit up. Leslie does not throw the swatches away. She makes blankets out of them.
They make lovely car seat blankets, she says. Sixty years of practice squares, joined up and handed on to a baby. Nothing she makes goes to waste, including the parts that were never meant to be a finished object at all.
Two Dolls That Live at Grandma's House
Leslie chose two Crochetree dolls and made a deliberate decision about them. They are not gifts. They stay at her house, so the children have something to play with when they come to visit.
Her great-grandchildren love them. She really enjoyed making them, and she is looking forward to making others.
Sixty Years, One Habit
There is something quietly instructive in Leslie's story. Six decades in, with three crafts and more finished pieces than she could count, she has not decided she is above the basics. She still reads the pattern first. She still swatches. She still practices the stitches before she needs them.
And she still finds a use for the practice.
Start Your Own Crochet Journey
If you are at the beginning of your own sixty years, Crochetree's Crochet Basics Beginner Course covers every stitch you need to read a pattern with confidence. And when you want a doll that can be handled by small hands, Hazel in Red is a good place to start, or browse the whole collection of doll patterns and pick the one your grandchildren would choose.
Read it through, swatch it out, and one stitch at a time, you can craft this.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do before starting a new crochet pattern?
Read the whole pattern first, then make sure you know every stitch it uses. Leslie has followed that rule for sixty years and still does. Reading ahead tells you what is coming, how the pieces fit together, and which techniques you need to practice before you are halfway into a project.
What is a tension swatch and do I really need one?
A tension swatch, also called a gauge swatch, is a small test square worked before the real project so you can check your stitch size and practice the stitches. Leslie makes hers containing every stitch the pattern uses, so the techniques are familiar by the time she needs them. After sixty years of crochet she still does it.
What can I do with leftover crochet swatches?
Join them. Leslie sews her tension swatches together into blankets, and says they make lovely car seat blankets for babies. Swatches are already the same yarn weight and roughly the same size, so they join into a patchwork throw with almost no planning.
Are crochet dolls suitable for young children to play with?
They can be, and Crochetree dolls are made with embroidered eyes rather than buttons or safety eyes, which removes the most common choking hazard. Leslie keeps two of hers at her house specifically for her great-grandchildren to play with when they visit. Firm stuffing, tight stitches, and securely sewn parts do the rest.
