This post is written by guest blogger, Stacy Dohogne-Lane, Director of Public Relations at the Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau.

After several failed attempts at teaching myself to crochet using books checked out from the library and Youtube videos, I decided that in-person instruction would be my best bet at learning to crochet - my failed resolution from 2013 that I was determined to make happen in 2014. Better late than never, right?

A new yarn shop opened downtown on Independence and I heard from someone that they had crochet classes. A Facebook message and an e-mail later, and I was acquainted with Dawn, the owner of Yearning 4 Yarn at 208 Independence, next door to Dynamite Coffee. Dawn said that she would be happy to teach my sister and I how to crochet, and that we could come in on two Tuesday evenings of our choice for Crochet 101.

My sister Alli and I arrived for a first class and immediately loved Dawn's cozy shop; you can't help by sink your fingers into all of the beautiful yarn in such pretty colors. Dawn had project boxes with a crochet stitch booklet and practice yarn ready for us, and we got right down to business learning how to hold the hook and the yarn. An hour later and we were both single crocheting along and chatting with Dawn, who has schnauzers named after Harry Potter characters (Alli and I are huge Harry Potter fans...and we both have schnauzers. Match made in heaven?) When we'd do something that was obviously wrong (I think I invented a stitch?) Dawn would nicely say "you got really creative here" and was very encouraging. By the end of the first lesson, Alli and I could each get a foundation chain going and knew how to single and double crochet. Not too shabby for an hour and a half!

In the weeks between our first and second lesson, Allison and I practiced until we were comfortable with single and double crochet. When we arrived for our second crochet class, Dawn helped guide us in the right direction for our first projects and showed us how to read a crochet pattern. Dawn told us to stop in anytime if we got stuck with a project and I eyed that pretty yarn with new designs swirling in my head.

A few weeks later, Allison and I dropped by wearing our brand new, crocheted-by-us scarves. Learning how to crochet with Dawn and my sister was so much fun, and I can't wait to pick out the yarn for my next project at Yearning 4 Yarn. Dawn also teaches knitting and spinning classes!