When I was 6 years old, my father brought home a skein of a multicolor yarn that must have contained every color in the 24-count Crayola Crayon box and handed it to me with a crochet hook, stating, "Learn to do something with this" and walked away.

Little did I realize at the time that many of my job training experiences as an adult would be similar (e.g. "Here is your work station; have a nice day.")

At any rate, I unravelled some of the yarn - "Multi-Mex" I think it was called - and began making chains in it with my fingers for an hour or two. My mother walked by and I asked her if this is what I was to do with the yarn.

She replied that she did not know how to make things of yarn (indeed, my father did the sewing in the house), but her own grandmother had crocheted and the chains of yarn I had made with my fingers looked like the beginning chains her grandma had made with a crochet hook. I made a few more chains and then un-chained the yarn and rolled it back up on the skein. Now I know that many people call tearing out your work "FROGGING" because you "rip it, rip it" out.

In a couple of days of practicing, I could not figure out how to use the crochet hook, but I could make chains by hand pretty quickly. I was taken to a small department store that Saturday where I found one of the old Coat & Clarks "How to" Books. They offered books on crochet, knitting, and lace tatting.

I purchased the small booklet on Crochet and when we returned home, I read the whole thing and began making sample swatches. I soon had squares of single crochet, double crochet, and treble crochet. It was fun to do, but so many colors together in the same swatch made it difficult to see what the stitches really looked like.

At the same time at school, we began to learn "spool weaving" that used an empty wooden spool with 4 nails driven into the head of it, a skein of yearn or crochet thread and a thick needle or something similar. That was more difficult for me to learn that crocheting; however, I eventually used the "Multi-Mex" for spool weaving and created a miles-long snake that we spiraled and stitched together into a hat.

Later, on another visit to the small department store of old, I chose some solid color yarns and crocheted a few hats and scarves. Then I purchased the small "How to Knit" booklet and some needles and learned knitting as well.

In college I was able to make sweaters, hats, gloves, mittens, and even one entire crocheted summer dress. It was all fun.

What was not fun was a pattern I picked up from a magazine that stated it was "Fair Isle." Years later I learned it was no such thing -- Instead of creating patterns and pictures with different shades and colors of yarns, this patter-from-hell I picked up had me doing it all in a single color yarn and trying to make patterns - between knit CABLES no less - with varying stitches.

I hated that sweater by the time it was done and it did not fit correctly. It wore out quickly, thank God!

And tatting! I could never get it all to connect up and ended up with long strands of tatting and no doilies, no edgings, no nothing -- Just tatted skinny snakes. LOL If I ever retire, I'll go under hypnosis to be able to stand it and try tatting again.

Here are some fantastic, practical and entertaining videos by a young person showing us how to crochet a hat on YouTube. It's a much better way to learn for many who are visual learners.

I still like the Santa hat I gave the cat a while back ... and her opinion of it.

I hope you give it a go and try crocheting a hat. It does not take a tremendously long time and it can be relaxing and fun after you learn a few basic stitches.

You might even make a few caps and donate them to your local hospitals for needy children and families or for folks that have lost their hair during chemotherapy.

A little yarn and time can go a long way toward making someone happy.

More Fun: Celebrity Knitters