Crochet is enjoyed by millions of people for varied reasons – some want to make things to give away or keep, others simply want something to do while relaxing at home. Either way, these seven things make the start considerably easier.
1. Use light, smooth yarn
The single most useful decision, and it has nothing to do with skill.
You need to see your stitches. Dark, fuzzy and variegated yarns hide the stitch structure completely, and being unable to see what your hands have done is the commonest reason beginners give up.
Smooth, light-coloured, worsted weight.
2. Start with something flat
A dishcloth or a scarf. No fit to get wrong, no shaping to track, and all your attention on making even stitches.
Do not start with a hat or a garment. Those need correct gauge, and a first attempt that fits nobody is discouraging.
3. Count at the end of every row
For the first ten rows of anything.
Gaining or losing stitches at the edges is the standard beginner problem, and it turns a rectangle into a triangle. Caught in the same row it costs seconds; caught twenty rows later it costs an evening.
4. Learn what the turning chain does
At the end of a row you make a chain to bring the yarn to the height of the next row. Whether that chain counts as a stitch varies between patterns.
This single detail causes more wonky edges than anything else in crochet. Read what the pattern says and be consistent.
5. Check which terms the pattern uses
US and UK crochet use the same words for different stitches. A UK double crochet is a US single crochet.
If your fabric comes out looking nothing like the photograph, check this before assuming you have made a mistake.
6. Do not grip
Beginners hold the hook and the yarn far too tightly, which makes the stitches too tight to work into and makes your hands ache within twenty minutes.
Consciously loosen your grip. The work will not escape.
7. Finish the first thing, however it looks
Your early tension will be uneven and your edges ragged. Everyone’s are, and it settles within a couple of projects without any particular effort.
The difference between people who crochet and people who once tried is almost never aptitude. It is whether they finished the first uneven thing and started a second.
And one more
Weave in your ends properly and trim them close. It takes ten minutes and it is the main visible difference between something that looks homemade and something that looks handmade.
