Learning to Crochet
By Rachel Choi – 11 Comments| When I was in middle school, I saw one of my closest friends crocheting and I thought it was so amazing! The way a ball of yarn was being turned into a piece of cloth was definitely stare worthy. I ended up going home to ask my mom how to crochet and if I remember correctly she taught me how with a chopstick. Yea, we didn’t have a crochet hook and I really wanted to learn how. |  |
I learned the basic foundation chain, single crochet and double crochet. At the time technique and making things look perfect wasn’t a priority so I learned those skill as I went along. I was just so excited about all the things that I wanted to make!
Today I’m pretty sure that I know more about crocheting than my mom who taught me, since I’m always learning something new from people, books and crochet tutorials online. So if you’re just learning to crochet, here are some basics to start with:
How to Hold a Crochet Hook
How to Hold Yarn in Crochet
How to Crochet: Slip Knot
How to Crochet: Chain (ch)
How to Crochet: Single Crochet Stitches (sc)
How to Crochet: Double Crochet Stitches (dc)
Don’t worry too much about perfection, it’ll come with experience. But here are “7 Tips to Establish Consistency in Crochet” if you feel you need them. Also, feel free to dig into the Crochet Tutorials Archives for more How-To’s!
Do you have a crochet learning experience to share?
i was knitting for awhile and saw the cute things i could crochet, so i picked up a pack of 6 hooks and had my mom teach me. she failed at teaching me anything, as its been quite some time since she learned, so i went online and found tutorials, yours included! :] now im a pro 😀 granted i dont know everything there is to know, but i gotta say i have a knack for it and i come out with beautiful pieces :] (p.s. i only started in like, march!)
I picked up the basic chain and single stitch ages ago but like most of my crafty endeavors picked up in jr. and high school, I got bored and dropped them. I decided to pick up crocheting again for a very geeky reason…hahah. I saw some adorable little crocheted Mario amigurumis and I wanted to make my own style of it. So I watched video tutorials on youtube and just kind of figured other stuff out by trial and error. Then I started trying to follow patterns. And I am still learning new stuff all the time.
It really is gratifying to take a small ball of yarn and turn it into something functional or just plain fabulous! And it feels great to struggle trying to figure something out and then it clicks! A ha! Victory! 🙂
My mom taught me to crochet (thankfully she was patient enough to deal with my impatience!). The one thing I really struggled with right off the bat was trying to keep my stitches loose…I’d work them so tightly that it was sometimes next to impossible to get my hook through them when working my way back across. I also found that when just practicing stitches without actually following a pattern, it’s much easier on the eyes to use a lighter colored yarn…I was using a dark dark brown and it was hard to distinguish the stitches, especially to a newbie who wasn’t always sure what I was looking for! I also learned the hard way that while yarn brands, colors, etc can be substituted, make sure to use the weight noted in the pattern, and do a swatch to check your guage! I’ve been crocheting for over 20 years and I know that my natural guage, so to speak, is always bigger than pretty much any publishes pattern…so with any pattern where size is important, mainly clothing, I always do at least one guage swatch, if not 2! 🙂
My mom always crocheted when I was growing up and she made TONS of afghans (I still have one of them on my bed at this very moment) so in 5th grade I wanted to learn too and she gave me a beginner’s kit with a how-to book and a set of hooks and a skein of multi-colored yarn to practice with. I got the chain and the single crochet down pat but for some reason I couldn’t figure out how to turn around so I never made anything and I gave up a little too quickly. Then last year when my friend picked up knitting it inspired me to try crocheting again and stuck with it this time, especially when I started finding patterns for amigurumi. It was good too because even though my mom hadn’t crocheted in quite a long time, all her yarn and hooks and patterns were neatly stored in a closet so I got all my materials for free 🙂
I decided to start learning after I went to an Amigurumi panel at an anime convention. That panel didn’t go so well. So that was my first lesson, get good yarn. The yarn that was passed out was horrible, it split apart and fuzzed up horribly. Even after I got a clue as to what I was doing, I still found it hard to deal with. I think it’s better to learn on a yarn where the stitches will be visible, otherwise you’ll just be confused. Also I’d keep in mind that no one way is the right way to do things. The girl who taught the lesson spoke is absolutes, like there was only one right way to do things, and so I tried it that way at first thinking I’d get used to it but always having trouble. Finally, as I went along, I just kind of started doing it my own way and it worked a lot better. Last thing, and more obvious, would just be to start small. My first project was a Gabu 🙂
I’ve successfully completed my first birthday project and my friend was happy, so I’m pretty proud of myself.
I will second the comment on using lighter colored yarn in the beginning, though not too light. I recently had a pattern where I was using both white and black thread and if I didn’t know where the stitches should be, I’d be lost because I couldn’t see the stitches clearly at all.
Woo! I’m so happy I found your blog 🙂 My mom taught me to crochet hats when I was young (turns out, all SHE was taught by my Grandma was how to go round & round). As a result, we’re both good at make hats… or.. y’know.. long tubes! Yesterday I decided to give “flat things” a go, namely easy fun scarves for Christmas prezzies this year. After a trip to Joann’s for fun fuzzy yard, I did some googling & found your blog. Hurray!!! I’m off & running. I made my first scarf last night in under 2 hours while watching TV. Now I’m at work and I have a teddy-bear-soft scarf wrapped around me! Thanks SO MUCH for all your tips & especially for having such easy to understand instructions and photos. Many of the websites I found were too advanced & were like reading algebra. I can’t wait to try more of your ideas & patterns!
[…] Use tutorials. You don’t have to be an encyclopedia of crochet instructions! You can use tutorials such as the ones on Crochet Spot to assist you in teaching. Here are some great tutorials that you can use for beginners (both left and right handed): Learning to Crochet. […]
My Nana taught me how to crochet when I was little. I have fond memories of her with her yarn bag always at her side. She made so many beautiful things and sadly they are all gone. I need more practice but I hope to be a proficient crocheter soon!
So happy to have found your site! I love to crochet! My church is doing a big service project this year making things for new babies in the community. They’ve asked me to teach everyone to crochet little baby beanies. I must admit I was panicking a little at the enormity of the task BUT (fortunately) I found your website with all its tutorials! Your tutorials and myself in person combined to make a great class. What a wonderful wealth of information! Thank you!
I love to crochet! Ever since I found your website I have been crocheting patterns that i didn’t know existed!