Talk to me about crochet!

[theonenonlymrssmith]

I've decided that to have all the things I want in life, I'd better learn to crochet! I apparently LOVE clothing with crochet accents but they are so pricy.. I already sew, so I would love to add to my creative abilities. I tried to learn several years ago with a short Book from Joann's but I got so frustrated! I kept loosing my loops. I would love some tips on the best way to learn!

[stevensmom]

youtube

[RachelFlores]

Originally Posted by stevensmom youtube

I totally agree! I also use http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS.../chrisficti-20 as a reference. I am a new crocheter (started in December) and the best advice I can give is start with chaining and single crochet, lots of amazingly cute toy patterns use only these two stitches. Once you master that choose a pattern you LOVE with yarn you LOVE (the love part will help you not give up even if things become frustrating) and go for it. I am a few weeks away from finishing this "intermediate" baby blanket. There were some hard spots, but I powered through (with the help of you tube and my book) because I love the pattern so much.

[Honeybee1999]

I second YouTube. I have used videos to teach myself to crochet and now I am learning to knit in the same way. I'm still a beginner for both, but I am a confident beginner now at crocheting. Try looking at several different videos that teach the same thing...that way if one video doesn't show something well or at a certain angle, another video might fill in the gaps. Once you have the basics down it becomes lots of fun when you start doing the more decorative stitches. Have fun! It does get easier with practice.

[Honeybee1999]

Originally Posted by RachelFlores I totally agree! I also use http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS.../chrisficti-20 as a reference. I am a new crocheter (started in December) and the best advice I can give is start with chaining and single crochet, lots of amazingly cute toy patterns use only these two stitches. Once you master that choose a pattern you LOVE with yarn you LOVE (the love part will help you not give up even if things become frustrating) and go for it. I am a few weeks away from finishing this "intermediate" baby blanket. There were some hard spots, but I powered through (with the help of you tube and my book) because I love the pattern so much.

That blanket is adorable!!!!

[kirstkat]

I'm a big fan of starting simple... Ye old scarf, but with a really fun yarn so the finished product is worth it, mistakes and all. I was lucky enough to have my sister sitting next to me for the first hour or so (she was working on a really complicated lace project...) to help me understand "back loop only" which was my main stumbling block. And once you have the single crochet stitch down, don't be intimidated by double crochet stitches! They don't take much longer to figure out and projects go a whole lot faster.

I think my third or fourth project was circular... A hat or something. I had to rip out stitches probably like a dozen times before I finally figured out how to join in the round correctly.... But it was soooooo worth it, I can whip up a cute hat in like 30 minutes now.

Also, ravelry.com was super helpful to me for finding free, SIMPLE projects, since you can sort/filter based on user-ranked difficulty levels.

[Adinanna'sMomma]

I would recommend starting with something other than a scarf. Only because I just finished a scarf and thought the thing would never end! It took forever. It's much nicer to make something that comes together quickly for the first project. Maybe I just don't have enough patience. That being said, I totally gave up on my first project, a headband (sounds simple, right?) after about 4 tries and started making a soaker. It's far from perfect, but resembles what it is supposed to. Lol. Don't let patterns scare you, they're fairly easy to decipher. Just take one line at a time, don't read way ahead - its intimidating! Any time I come across a stitch I'm not familiar with, or haven't done in awhile, I do a YouTube search, like lots of pp suggested. Good luck!

[MamaDawn]

youtube and here http://www.nexstitch.com/v_crochet_videos.html

[Rhianna'sMommy]

First - don't start with a cute fuzzy, fun yarn. You can't see your stitches so it is hard to keep tabs on where you're at and you add/drop stitches easily. I can crochet fairly advanced and that fun fuzzy stuff throws me off - I rip out and restart rows often with that stuff.

To start with, I'd just start chaining a big huge long chain - do it until it feels natural and your stitches are consistent (not too tight, not too loose). Then rip it out and do a row of 25ish chains. Then practice single chains until it feels natural and your stitches are consistent. Then find an easy pattern that appeals to you (scarf, dishcloth, baby blanket, arugami toy, etc) and jump in. A lot of easy patterns just use single crochet stitches. If you're not interested in the end project you'll get bored quickly. So pick something that interests you.

[MamaDawn]

If you are going to practice your chain you can make these

http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/...l-holders/5934

They are just chain sts and attaching to the pony tail holder... and the instructions are easy to miss because they are just one line (I missed them at first )