Learn how to crochet! If you have never experienced the feeling of soft yarn moving gently through your fingers and witness how a series of simple stitches can create a beautiful project, then you may want to explore the world of crochet!
I started crocheting when I was just 11 years old, and even as a child, I appreciated the tactile nature of crochet. I made simple blankets for my dolls, but very quickly took on a fairly large project—a poncho. I used a simple double crochet stitch for the whole garment, using canary yellow acrylic yarn, with a black tassel fringe. I wish I had a picture of this cute poncho, but nothing of it exists today.
Crochet is so relaxing and relatively easy to learn. You can create an entire project with a very basic single crochet stitch! As I plan to offer all sorts of crochet projects here on this blog, I thought I would start with a Beginner Crochet Series.
Included here are four videos. The first one demonstrates how to do a slip knot, how to set up proper tension (very important), and how to do a chain stitch (ch).
The second video will demonstrate how to do a single crochet (sc), a half double crochet (hdc), a double crochet (dc), and a treble crochet (trc). These directions are all in American terminology. You may come across UK patterns that use slightly different terminology. I will always be teaching in the former.
Here is the first lesson and you’ll find the second lesson below.
I have also added a couple of new tutorials that will help you perfect your craft! The first is on how to do an invisible finish for the last round of any crochet project. This eliminates the knot created when fastening off in the usual fashion. I find this helpful when joining crocheted motifs together because then you don’t have to crochet into a knot.
This next tutorial is for individuals who may have an issue with crochet tension, especially if creating a project that works in several continuous rounds. Granny square blankets are a good example of this. What can happen is that as you crochet round after round in the same direction, the blanket (or big granny square motif) can begin to warp because the tension is pulling the project in that same direction. With a blanket worked in rows, the back and forth pattern automatically corrects any tension issues. Here is a great solution to this problem.
I hope you enjoyed these tutorials! If you like these, you may also like: