Tips and Tricks for Knitting and Crochet Beginners

The beautiful thing about crafting is that you can let your creativity run free. You can work in patterns and add embellishments. However, it’s not enough to simply know how to make the stitches. To ensure your color changes in crochet work don’t leave a visible step and you don’t leave any traces when weaving in ends, you need a few extra tips and tricks for knitting and crochet beginners. With the information below, you can also easily make small decorative accessories such as crocheted flowers or pretty tassels. And if you’d like to try letting a blanket grow diagonally, we’ve dug up a very special treat for you: the C2C technique.

1. Changing colors and crocheting color gradients: here’s how!

Stripes are in; however, changing colors while crocheting isn’t quite that simple. To get a clean line without a step, you can use a few small tricks:

If you want to use a different color in the next row on a straight crochet piece, crochet the current row as usual in your old color up to and including the second-to-last stitch. Start the last stitch in the old color as well. The exact method depends on the stitch: If you’re crocheting double crochets, yarn over in the old color, insert the hook and pull up a loop in the old color. Pull it through two loops on the hook, and only for the last two loops do you use your new color. Crochet the turning chain in the new color as well. If you’re working treble crochets, you need to pull through twice with the old color and only use the new color on the last pull-through. With single crochets, you pull up the old yarn after inserting the hook, but you pull through with the new color. It’s actually very simple and always follows the same principle: During the last stitch of the old row, the color change happens on the very last pull-through.

2. Make your own tassels

Tassels are a lovely embellishment for knitting and crochet projects. You can decorate the corners of a warm triangular shawl with matching tassels. Or you can add small tassels to the corners of a crochet or knitted blanket. And if you decorate the zipper of your self-knit jacket with a matching tassel, it not only looks nice—the zipper is also easier to pull up.

What you need for the tassel

To make a tassel you need:

• A leftover piece of yarn from your crochet or knitting project
• A pair of pointed scissors
• A blunt darning, embroidery, or yarn needle
• A piece of sturdy cardboard that is about 12 to 15 centimeters wide and as tall as you want your tassel to be.
• Then you can get started.

Making the tassel

First, cut a slit about one centimeter deep into the lower edge of your cardboard rectangle so you can clamp the yarn start in place. Then wrap the yarn around the cardboard from top to bottom again and again. The more wraps you make, the thicker your tassel will be. Once the yarn strands (front and back of the cardboard combined) have reached the thickness you want, cut the yarn and clamp the yarn end in the slit at the lower edge of the cardboard as well.

Now thread a piece of yarn about 20 centimeters long onto your needle. On the front of the cardboard, pull it under the wrapped yarn and guide it up to the top edge of the cardboard. Tie the two ends together so the tassel is pulled tight. Then cut the wrapped loops along the lower edge of the cardboard and remove the cardboard.

Now tie off the head of your tassel with a second piece of yarn. It’s best to wrap it around several times and finish with a double knot. To make the knot invisible, thread both yarn ends onto your needle and pull them from the top, behind the wrap, down to the lower end of the tassel. Pull tightly so the knot slips behind the wrap as well. Finally, unthread the needle and use the scissors to even out the bottom edge of the tassel.

3. C2C technique: how to crochet corner-to-corner!

In corner-to-corner crochet, you work in blocks, so the finished result looks like a pixel picture. You crochet blocks made of 4 double crochets. Start the first block with 6 chains. The first 3 chains serve as the turning chain (counts as first dc). Then crochet one double crochet into the fourth, fifth, and sixth chain, and the first block is finished.

Now turn your work and start again with 6 chains. The first 3 chains are the turning chain (counts as first dc), and you crochet one double crochet into the fourth, fifth, and sixth chain. To connect block one and block two, tilt block two to the side so that the last double crochet lies on the top edge of block one. Then crochet a slip stitch into the chain-space of the turning chain from block one.

For block three, crochet 3 chain stitches and work the remaining 3 double crochets into the chain-space of the first block. Block three is finished, and you turn your crochet work.

Now start, as with block two, with 6 chain stitches. Again, crochet one double crochet into the fourth, fifth, and sixth chain, tilt block four and finish with a slip stitch into the chain-space below from block three.

Next comes block five with 3 chain stitches and 3 double crochets, which are also crocheted into the chain-space. To anchor it, you still need the slip stitch into the chain-space of the block below. And then you can start block six.

You need 3 chain stitches and then crochet 3 double crochets into the chain-space below. Now you can turn the work again.

4. Decorative crochet flowers—quick and easy

Single- or multi-colored crochet flowers can be used in many different ways. You can sew them onto hats, slippers, and bags, or decorate a self-knit jacket with large and small crochet flowers. The little flowers can even be used as table decorations.

For your crochet flowers, start with a magic ring. You always need to crochet twice as many stitches as your flower should have petals. For a four-petal flower, crochet a magic ring with eight stitches. For a five-petal flower, you need ten stitches, and so on. Whether you make the ring in single crochets, half double crochets, or double crochets is up to you—you can vary it.

At the end of the ring, cut the yarn, pull it through, and use a blunt darning or yarn needle to pull it through the first stitch and then back through the last stitch. This way, you get a neat, round flower center.

For the petals, start with a loop on your hook. Then insert the hook into the first stitch of the flower center and pull the yarn through your loop with a slip stitch. Start the first petal with two chain stitches, insert into the first stitch, crochet—depending on how large you want the petal—one or more half double crochets, double crochets, or treble crochets (all into the same stitch), and close with two chain stitches and a slip stitch, also into the first stitch. Now crochet a slip stitch as a transition into the second stitch.

Then make the next petal using the same principle. Crochet two chain stitches, continue with half double crochets, double crochets, or treble crochets, and close the petal arch with two chain stitches and a slip stitch. Follow with another slip stitch as a transition. Continue until the round—and therefore your flower—is finished. So you always use one stitch of your flower center for the petal and the next stitch for the transition with a slip stitch. To finish, crochet the last transition stitch, cut the yarn and pull it through the starting slip stitch of your round.

5. How do you weave in ends properly?

It's not just crocheting or knitting that can be tricky—even weaving in the ends has a few pitfalls. If your yarn is quite smooth, it can happen that it slips right back out of the stitches. If you use an airy crochet pattern or knit loosely, a poorly woven-in end can show through on the front. To ensure the final step of your project goes smoothly, here are a few small tips:

• The most important thing is to always weave in ends on the wrong side of your work—after all, the right side should look neat.
• Also use a yarn needle or a blunt darning or embroidery needle so you don’t split the yarn when you insert it into the stitches.

Weaving in ends on garter stitch or stockinette

Stockinette and garter stitch both have a little "arch pattern" on the wrong side. To weave in the yarn, follow this pattern over two rows. That means you pull the yarn under the nearest stitch, moving down over two rows. Where you come out with the needle again, look at the arches and follow the next arch. Now pull your yarn from bottom to top over two rows. When you arrive, you’ll find another arch that you follow down over two rows. Repeat this until your yarn end is securely woven in.

Weaving in ends in ribbing

With ribbing, weaving in ends is even easier. Choose a "rib" where you can snake under the pattern from bottom to top. To do this, always pull your yarn under the stitches from right to left. Insert from the right and bring the yarn out on the left next to the stitch. Then in the next row, insert from the right again and pull the yarn through so that it appears on the left next to the stitch again. Continue until the yarn is woven in.

Weaving in ends in crochet and with slippery yarn

Since crochet pieces are usually denser than knitted ones, you don’t need any special tips and tricks for knitting and crochet beginners to weave in ends. You can simply pull the yarn along under your stitch pattern on the wrong side. If you used especially slippery yarn, it’s safest to untwist the yarn and weave in each individual strand separately.