learn to crochet

I have been learning basic crochet for about 2 weeks now and I can’t believe how easy it is. It took me a while to decipher the diagrams and instructions in the library book but I started to learn with GIANT hooks and BIG CHUNKY wool. I have now progressed to a thinner hook and wool. I am making a handbag but it’s not finished yet.

Well I’ve finally gotten my slip stitch down, I don’t know why but that was a very hard stitch for me to learn. I also got my single crochets down and started on half double. I had a little issue with my half double, it seems what should’ve been a square is more like a triangle. By the looks of it I lost a stich each row, oh well tomorrow’s another day!

...is rearing it’s ugly head. The book I’m using to learn how to crochet has 11 regular lessons then like 5-6 “special” lessons. Well the perfectionist part of me won’t let me move past lesson 2. I can chain and chain and chain until my fingers fall off but I don’t feel like I’ve gotten the slip stitch down yet. I can do it, it’s just still awkward…so I guess today I’m going to keep practicing lesson 2 and hopefully move on to lesson 3 (single crochet) by this evening!

This is like the tenth time I said I was going to learn to crochet. I learned how to chain then learned how to do a single crochet and double crochet, then I’d get away with it. So the next time I wanted to do it, I had to learn all over again. I went and bought a book to teach myself how to crochet and so far have gotten through the slip knots and chaining and just about to start single crochets. This time I’m going to learn how to do it right and make my first afghan!

lately or to watch any more videos. I did find a class sort of near me, and have requested information. I’ve never knitted, and I can only sew a basic hand stitch for buttons and minor tears. The world of fabric and yarn and needles and such is very new to me….but I will learn!

I just learned to crochet on Sunday from a friend and I just finished making an awesome rasta hat for my boyfriend! I am an amateur knitter, but really LOVED the simplicity of crocheting. ONE hook and ONE loop to bind off. I love it! I feel like I can be so much more inventive with crocheting than I can with knitting- AND YOU CAN GO IN CIRCLES! woo! Definitely worth learning! My friend taught me single crochet, then I watched these videos to learn a few more stitches: http://www.ehow.com/video_4429316_how-treble-crochet-stitch.html Keep it up!

I have put my name into my yarn store to take one private crochet lesson. It is only $30 and I get an hour of time from the teacher. So, I am looking forward to this. I plan on making basically a giant granny square which will be a lapghan, and a gift for E for Christmas. The woman who suggested the project to me when I told her what I wanted to do for E pulled out a skein of yarn I have had my eye on for months, but with no idea what to make with it. Providence!!

This seems too involving to me right now. I may come back to it, or I may not. I have other endeavors that do not involve figuring out what needle to use with what thread!

I learned to crochet when I was 12! I got so many snide comments of course but I love it! I seem to get the bug more in the fall and winter so Im waiting to get going again!

so.. last last weekend, i finally decided to get started on my new hobby of crocheting. yes, that’s right — crocheting!

i know, i know, it’s awfully girly of me. but alas, i was bitten by the crocheting/knitting bugs several years ago. seeing women knit/crochet clothing items such as scarves, arm/hand warmers made me excited to try my hand at it too. “i can soo do that. i wanna do that!!” i thought to myself many times.

honestly though, i think i’m a bit more interested in making little creatures such as a little ninja doll, a nibbler from futurama, a motorcycle plush?, among other ideas, over making clothing. on the other hand, i anticipate feeling very satisfied from wearing something i made myself after hours and hours of effort, or giving a good friend or family member something i made proudly.

i went to joann’s fabrics on saturday with the SO. sheesh, that store was huge. i felt awkward and intimidated, out of my elements. this store had nothing to do with motorcycling or computers. i tentatively and sheepishly walked forward, peeking in aisles after aisles.. “where the heck are the yarns?!” i wondered anxiously. “they DO have yarns here.. right? right?”

finally, i found them: 3-4 aisles of yarn! huzzah.

i learned a lot about yarns in about 20 minutes.

first, each yarn has a ‘weight’ associated with it. from a later reading, i learned that it’s not really the ‘weight’, but more specifically the diameter of the yarn that is categorized from ’super fine’ to ‘chunky/bulky’. each group of yarns also have a corresponding ‘weight’ (diameter) number code associated with it, from 1 to 5.

i had referred to the web before i left to check what a beginner crocheter who knew nothing about crocheting should get at first. my list included the following:

• a G sized crochet hook
• a yarn needle with giant eye
• size 3 worsted yarn

since i was a bit overwhelmed with the yarns selection, i wandered over to the needles/tools section first.

CROCHET HOOKS

crochet hooks, i learned, come in a variety of materials: wood, aluminum, plastic, and steel. i was looking forward to picking up a wood hook, but joann’s didn’t seem to carry any. i checked the sizes on the products, and found a lavendaer-purple (yay, one of my favorite colors!) susan bates brand aluminum hook for about $1.99. this one was the G-sized crochet hook i read about, which is also equivalent to 4.0mm. crochet hooks come in letter sizes and corresponding mm sizes. there were a couple of other brands, and some hooks were super long/enormous! they made me think of knitting needles.

YARN NEEDLES

their yarn needles were small 2 inch long(?) steel or plastic thick things with large eyes. i picked up the pair of the susan bates ones with the largest eyes they sold. i think it cost me about $2 also. at the time of the purchase, i hadn’t really read about what those will be for.

YARN, YARN, and more YARN !

so then finally i could find no more excuses to avoid the 3-4 intimidating yarn aisles.

each aisle had maybe a 100-200 yarn ball style-size-color-brand choices! i started from the beginning of one aisle, picking up each yarn ball tentatively and eagerly. each was wrapped around the middle with plastic-paper packaging containing info about that particular yarn. rolling it around, i saw that one could find a section that gave suggestions on the corresponding sized hook to use, or knitting needles to use, the ‘weight’ of the yarn in a value from 1-5, the material the yarn was made of, and how to clean a product made from said yarn.

the majority of the yarn balls i picked up, perhaps 80% of the choices, were sized 4. this is considered about medium weight. i quickly referred to a crocheting booklet in the nearby books/magazines section and found out that a 3 is considered ‘light’-weight. the smaller the number, the finer. i kept checking out yarn ball after yarn ball looking for the seemingly rare 3 sized yarns.

what was most frustrating and bewildering was that the yarns did not seem to be organized in any intuitive/sensible way — only by brands, as far as i could tell. why didn’t they at least organize they by sizes? from 1 to 5, and with signs indicating the different sizings? or why not by colors of the rainbow, etc, and then within those colors by sizes from 1 to 5?? it took so much unnecessary time for me to check every single or random balls of yarn, it was quite annoying after about 20 balls of yarn. at some point, i thought: ‘ok, if this aisle has size 4 yarns, then the size 3s might be over in the other aisle? only to find a mix of 1 and 5 yarns over there, or a few 3 sized yarns interspersed all over the place seemingly randomly (but most likely by brands?).

the 10 choices (out of maybe 500?!) of sized 3 yarns i found didn’t have the exciting colors i was hoping for :/ i picked out a standard grey. i found a nice ball of mohair-ish black and silver-lined one too. but what about purple? as i almost gave up, i suddenly ran into a batch of more interesting colored sized 3s, and found a purple-fuschia ball. i was so thrilled! ha ha.. thrilled about a purple ball of yarn, i know.

i went home with a purple-fuschia ball of sized 3 bernat satin sport color 03307 85g/3oz ball of yarn, for 4mm/US g6 crochet hooks. made in canada. also a debbie mumm brand color #32 acrylic-nylon-mohair-polyester blend 70g/2.47oz g-6/4mm hook yarn. this one didn’t have the size number on the wrapping, but the hook size was good enough for me. together they cost about $7-8, i believe.

BOOKS

i had gone to the local public library right before joann’s, browsed the needlework books section, and picked up 2 crochet books that looked friendly for beginners (and that i had read reviews about at amazone online earlier):

1. the crochet answer book, by edie eckman
2. hooked on crochet, by candi jensen

a little while later, i also swung by the local bookstore where i had found the more recent inspiration for finally starting to learn to crochet, the creepy cute crochet book: zombies, ninjas, robots and more!, which was not currently available for sale on amazon (published only a few months ago), and the library didn’t seem to carry. i’m excited about making a cute little purple ninja, which thankfully is labeled as a beginner project :D

after i arrived home, i immediately layed out my materials, and started reading and examining and using the various items i had just acquired. and then i did my first slip knot, chains, and single crochet stitch pattern. i learned a bit about gauge, and also tried out the double stitch, the half-double, and the triple (aka treble). it was so exciting!

i started using the hooked on crochet book first, but i soon found that having 2 different books on how to crochet with detailed instructions and pictures became really useful. any time they weren’t clear to me in one book, i consulted the other to cement my understanding of the techniques better. i want to make sure i learn how to do this right the first time around. i actually found that the crochet answer book was better suited for me in the way information was organized and presented, and i anticipate buying myself a copy around the time i will need to return this copy to the library. (borrowing books from the library, if possible, is such a great way of ‘testing’ out a book before committing to a purchase of one!)

okay, back to practicing my stitches ! :D