hi everyone,
after posting tons of YouTube videos with patterns for crochet beginners a few days ago over in the thread
Crochet for Beginners
https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/forum/topic/60/haekeln-fuer-einsteiger
I’ve gotten a “taste” for it myself.
Knitting isn’t really my thing, because I always get tangled up with the two knitting needles, so I’m giving crochet a try instead :)
So I went to the local yarn shop and told the friendly lady there that I’m a crochet beginner. Now I’m the proud owner of a size 4 crochet hook, and I also got some lovely bright blue yarn to go with it. It’s yarn from Cotton Universal, 100 percent cotton.
Conditioned - whatever that’s supposed to mean, does anyone happen to know?
85m/50 g. The ball band also specifically says that the yarn is suitable for hook sizes 4-5.
so, the bright blue is a little darker than Smurf-hat blue, but I love it :)
The yarn is also wonderfully soft. But the beginning of the ball is getting a bit frayed by now, because I crochet, unravel it again, start over, and unravel it again. Even the best yarn probably can’t take that forever. :)
Well, I’ll probably just cut off the beginning soon so I can keep going with “fresh” yarn. But as long as my stitches are so uneven, I’d rather keep unraveling it than keep it.
Tell me, do you think two euros (1.99 euros) for a ball of yarn is expensive?
If you knit or crochet yourself a wool sweater, it isn’t necessarily cheaper than a store-bought one. But you don’t necessarily crochet or knit yourself to save money, but because it’s fun. :)
The friendly lady from the shop said I should start with a potholder and practice my crochet skills on that. But I’m really not interested in potholders at all.
I’d rather crochet a keychain in the shape of a cat, but until I can manage that, I still have to practice a whole lot. Typical beginner - not wanting to bother with the basics and wanting to jump straight into the more ambitious projects. No, I do know that I have to practice first before the crocheted little cat keychain can turn into anything.
That’s why I’m watching these videos on YouTube all the time.
so, these are the ones I mean:
*CROCHET COURSE* Part 1 -foundation chain, single crochet-
http://youtu.be/M4gB650Qv60
*CROCHET COURSE* Part 2 -double crochet-
http://youtu.be/b7t1yAUQuWY
*CROCHET COURSE* Part 3 -increasing stitches in rows-
http://youtu.be/zUuj-f_bhzE
*CROCHET COURSE* Part 4 -decreasing stitches in rows-
http://youtu.be/yxrfu3Zb4do
*CROCHET COURSE* Part 5 -crocheting in the round (in spirals)-
http://youtu.be/WRagsMiAFiQ
and I’m trying very bravely to keep up with them. :)
So over the past few days I’ve practiced chain stitches and turning chains, and then a few rows of single crochet. But right now it’s like this: my stitches are either too tight or too loose. If they’re too tight, it’s hard to insert the hook and pull the yarn through in the next row, of course; if the stitches are too loose, it doesn’t work that well either. It looks pretty uneven.
I also have a question; maybe one of the ladies who already has a lot of experience with crochet would like to answer it for me?
When I insert the crochet hook through the stitch to pull the yarn through, I always automatically try to go under the yarn from the right with the crochet hook, then catch the yarn with the little hook at the tip of the crochet hook and bring it over.
It does work, but somehow it doesn’t look particularly good, and when you do the next row, it’s hard to get through there again.
Then I alternatively tried going under the yarn from the left with the crochet hook and catching the yarn in the hook so I can pull it through, and that works better and also looks prettier.
I really have to remind myself that I have to go under the yarn from the left and not sometimes go under it from the right in the middle and then from the left again. Otherwise it looks crooked. I don’t know where I got this habit of always wanting to go under it from the right.
Does anyone know about this?
so, I’m right-handed, hold the crochet hook in my right hand, and with my left hand I hold the yarn and the crocheted piece.
Is there actually a trick for letting the yarn run nice and loosely from the left hand? I wrapped it exactly like in the video and also skipped hand cream, but somehow I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet. Either I have too much yarn at once or too little.
and I have one more question:
when I’ve made my chain stitches and then the turning chain, which isn’t really that necessary at the moment anyway because I’m not counting stitches - I’m just practicing right now.
So when I then start the first row of single crochet, “crocheting onto it” is still fairly easy.
But with the second row it somehow isn’t that easy anymore. I never know whether I have to put the crochet hook under both top strands, or only under the outer one (facing away from me). I’m not that familiar with the technical terms from crochet yet, but maybe someone can make sense of my description?
in any case, I tried both; I’ll have to watch the video again.
I’ve never gotten any further than one row of chain stitches and 1-2 rows of single crochet.
I’d be happy if someone would like to say something about it.
best wishes for now
muetzekatze