Getting Started with Crochet
I started this morning with no real knowledge of how to crochet. I wanted to get up and running fairly quickly and I think I did it. In about 3 hours, I went from yarn and crochet hook to my very first granny square.
Far from perfect but not bad for as quickly as I was coming up to speed. I tried to find a simple tutorial or directions that would take me from no-clue to getting started on a small project. I couldn’t really find anything but I will piece together my process here for longevities sake.
First, I learned to slip-knot and chain stitch:
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Crochet_Slip_Knot.htm
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Chain_Stitch.htm
I very much prefer picture-by-picture tutorials over video tutorials. I find I have time to compare all of my details with those in pictures.
Then I learned some basic stitches. The single crochet and the double crochet.
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Single_Crochet.htm
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/DoubleCrochet.htm
I basically did a row, pulled it all out, and started again. After doing that for the single and double crochet, I got bored and decided to try to actually make something. It’s always the case. I never want to do the learning part, only the making part. I suppose that’s why I’m writing this, to get you from learning into doing ASAP.
I looked at a bunch of tutorials but none of them really made sense. This abbreviation chart was helpful:
http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-abbreviations/
and this was the best picture tutorial of a granny square I could find:
http://www.purlbee.com/granny-square-project/
Oh, and as soon as I started, I realized I probably needed to find out what a slip-stitch was so I found it by looking at the abbreviations page and heading to the slip-stitch length:
http://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-slip-stitches-sl-st/
And ta-da! Granny square. It really didn’t take me long at all and I am at least confident that I could do a real crochet project with a little online help. I’ve wanted to learn this for so long and finally got up enough courage. Why didn’t I start this when I was younger? I could have been a pro by now! I never could get the hang of knitting. The string just gets tighter and tighter and I get frustrated. I’ve always heard crochet was faster and easier but I was scared to try. Never again!
Sarah
craft