Beginner's Guide to Crochet

Whether you are a talented crafter or not, crocheting can be an enjoyable hobby. Not everyone has the patience for needlework so you need to decide beforehand whether you are going to love the journey or hate it.

The appeal

Even at the tender age of 5, you had to be proud of your drawings, paper cut-outs, and pom-pom ornaments. As we advance in age, we don't lose that sense of achievement we receive from making something with our own two hands. Can you imagine taking yards of common-looking string and making a little girl's dress? How about matching accessories to your favorite coat? There is no limit to what you can create with that string. How amazing is that?

Difficulty

It isn't difficult to learn to crochet. The real difficulty is learning to read patterns that are made up of all abbreviations. If you are familiar with other forms of needlework (e.g. knitting and cross-stitch), than you won't be surprised by how you need to manipulate and work through a pattern.

The best way to crochet is to have a few works in progress-some small and some large. I learned this the hard way. Because you can get bored of colors easily when you are stitching something together one centimeter at a time, you will need a variety of projects to work at. I've known some avid crocheters to be working on 10 projects or more at one time! But be careful that you don't neglect any projects for too long or you won't be likely to get back to it. There are so many different things you can make with yarn and crochet thread that you'll be constantly looking at new patterns for inspiration and motivation.

Hooks 101

You will be using a hook to make stitches in crochet. Crochet hooks look like pencils in form, but have a 'hook' edge on one side as well as a flattened grip for your hands in the middle. You can purchase them in plastic, wood, or aluminum. The plastic ones are cheaper on average, but the smaller sized hooks are generally made out of steel. Depending on what country you live in, these hooks are labeled by numbers or letters. In the US you will find them mostly in letters with the corresponding number beside it. Steel hooks for use with crochet thread are designated in numbers usually; a 00 hook will be bigger than a 10, thus the size of the hook decreases as you go up. With the yarn hooks, you will find that and F hook is smaller than a J hook. The higher you go up in letters the bigger the hook, with M and N hooks for use with afghans or bulky yarn projects. The larger the hook, the quicker your project will go because the stitches will be much larger.

Finding Patterns to start with

The easiest way to do this is to buy a book that is for beginners. But the best projects for beginners are hats and scarves. These have basic construction and take little time to complete, as well as having little or no need to check the gage. Because they are quick projects you'll receive a fairly 'instant' gratification. Look for patterns that are made up of only Single Crochet (sc), half-double crochet (hdc), or Double crochet (dc), and use a large hook such as an I, J, or even N (you can find the hook size used in each pattern in the 'materials' section). These patterns will be easiest for beginners as these are the basic stitches. To find out what stitches are used in the pattern, just scan for the abbreviations sc, hdc, or dc. Make sure that these are the main stitches before you start. The more advanced you get in stitching these evenly the easier it will be to learn new stitches.

Mentors
Don't rely on books to teach you this hobby unless you are good at teaching yourself different skills. The best way to go about it is to find someone that is skilled at crocheting and ask him or her for lessons (and yes guys do crochet too!). This way you can know if you are doing it correctly, and then you can use a book to supplement for a refresher. A mentor will help you figure out your working 'gage' for each project so you don't end up with projects and are too small or too big for their intended use. Within a year of crocheting regularly you will likely be advanced enough to make your own patterns using basics of other patterns. Some people even go as far as to write patterns professionally.