the crochet approach

i have been wanting to do some crochet for a while now, but it has been a bit of a "one day" thing. you know - one day i'll do such and such. recently i have been trying to get around to doing some of those of "one day" things. see, i actually can crochet - i still have the red scarf that i crocheted a few years ago to prove it. but the problem is that i can't actually remember how to do it anymore. so having stumbled across Pip's How to Crochet post, along with being inspired by her great granny-a-day's i thought, now is the time. so, i have been practicing and practicing over the last few weeks and i have discovered that really, i am not very good at following instructions. i have a 'how to crochet' book, which despite my best intentions, i absolutely cannot understand it. (the book shall remain nameless, as i am sure that the fault lies with me). i then looked up a couple of online tutorials and couldn't understand them either. so i spent about a week practicing chain stitch and then just making the rest up. a solution, which fairly predictably, did not make for the best crochet - you can see, i seem to have made some DNA (which won't un-twist) and to have crocheted a thimble (my attempt at circular crochet) - but it was an interesting experience. i think the problem is that i tend to be a bit off-we-go in my approach. and i seem to have more faith in my ability to 'just work it out' than i have actual ability. failure then ensues. so i have decided to have change of approach and have turned to the purl bee tutorial for help. surprisingly, i can actually understand it (the great pics help). so here's to a new crochet approach. i'll keep you posted on how i do...