Have you been thinking about learning to crochet? A great many people have told me they would love to be able to, but that it looks too hard – they know nothing about yarn or hooks and have no idea where to begin.
Crochet is not difficult. It is only hard if you decide it is, and the way to change that is to look at what is actually happening.
It is one thing, repeated
Have you ever watched children playing with a piece of string? They make a slip knot with their fingers, then pull a loop through that loop, then another through that one, and end up with a chain.
That is crochet. Every stitch in every pattern is a variation on pulling a loop through a loop. The hook is there because it does the job faster and more neatly than a finger.
Once you see it that way, the mystery goes out of it.
What you need
A hook around 5.00mm (H-8) and a ball of smooth, light-coloured worsted weight yarn.
Light so you can see the stitches. Smooth so the stitch structure is visible. Nothing dark, fuzzy or variegated – not because they are harder to work, but because you cannot see what you have done, and being unable to see your own stitches is what makes people give up.
A blunt tapestry needle for weaving in the ends at the finish. That is the whole list.
The order to learn things
The slip knot, then the chain, then the single crochet. With just those three you can make a dishcloth.
After that, the double crochet – taller, faster, and the stitch most patterns are built from.
That is enough for a very large number of projects. Everything else is a variation on where you put the hook and how many times you wrap the yarn.
What to make first
A dishcloth. It is small, it finishes in an evening, the fit does not matter, and at the end you have something you will genuinely use.
A scarf is the natural second project – longer, so it teaches consistency, and the only new challenge is keeping your stitch count steady over many rows.
Do not begin with a garment or a hat. Those need gauge to be correct, and a first attempt that fits nobody is discouraging in a way a slightly wonky dishcloth is not.
Two things worth knowing early
Your first rows will be uneven. Everyone’s are, and it settles quickly.
And US and UK crochet terms are different – a UK double crochet is a US single crochet. If a pattern produces a fabric that looks nothing like the photograph, check which convention it uses before assuming you have gone wrong.
