HAHAHAHA!!!
My needle arts history is almost similar!
My mom taught me how to crochet when I was like 7-8, but it really did not stick. I think I made something that was suppose to be a doily, but that was it.
Then in college, my junior year, I picked up cross stitch as a sham
. I was walking around Michaels looking for cute cheap stuff to decorate my dorm room and there was this cross stitch kit on a display. It was small, maybe 4 x 4 inch square, potpourri sachet that had red hearts on it. I thought it was simple and that I could figure out how to do it, and I did. So I cross stitched off and on over the years.
Then, when I was a volunteer for this org, one project they had was to needlepoint Christmas tree ornaments. I thought that since I was "sooooo good" at cross stitch that needlepoint would be a breeze to do. I was a bit wrong. I did not know when I started that needlepoint had so many different stitches and threads you could use. I made it through my first ornament, really enjoyed learning all the different stitches, and wanted to know more.
I walked into one of the other needlepoint shops we have here in Houston and a very kind lady asked me if I wanted to sit in on her class. I said yes, and she has been my needlepoint guru ever since. Seriously, if she lived on top of a mountain I'd climb it whenever I needed her instruction and advice on which stitches and threads I should use for a project.
Then later in grad school I was trying to finish up some experiments. I was pulling 12 - 15 hour days. One night, I was waiting on a gel to finish running and I thought, "hey, why don't I start knitting too". So, I bought a 'teach yourself how to knit in one day' book. It took me a while to figure out how to do a simple knit stitch, took longer to figure out the purl stitch, but I figured that out too. So I do knit too, but nothing more than k1p1, and the like.
So, now I also want to learn how to quilt. I think for this I'm going to start with formal classes.