Welcome to the world of Crochet Shenanigans!
In our microwave world of instant information, the sheer amount of input can be overwhelming when aspiring to learn new things.
Unlike Neo inThe Matrix, we can't just upload the desired file to our brains and become instant masters... trust me, if that were possible, I'd have a much cooler set of skills than tripping on my own feet, choking on my spit, and quoting movie lines every three minutes.
Because I can't just download everything you'll need to learn to crochet, I thought I'd start with 3 basic beginner stitches that you'll see in scads of patterns. To reinforce them into muscle memory, I thought that a sampler project with repetition could be nice. We could pretend we're Victorian ladies slaving over our embroidery samplers while our elders drink tea and tsk at us for not having the fortitude and natural talent ALL of them did when they made theirs as a girl
Lest Dame Maggie continues to disapprove, let's get started:
If you were to look up pictures of crochet stitches, you'd find a variety of diagrams available.
Like this one:
If you can learn from those pictures alone, I have to give it to you- I certainly can't! I struggle to transfer written instructions into what my hands should be doing. I am very much a " show me and make me try it" type of learner. Plus, crochet has a whole language of its own that is akin to learning ancient Greek if you are brand new. To help combat this for other visual learners, I'm also going to link a YouTube video for each stitch to guide you through the process:
So to begin at the beginning ("a very good place to start"), we'll tackle a starting chain, and a single crochet stitch. In Part two, I will cover a half-double crochet stitch, and Part three will have a double crochet stitch. I will include the abbreviations that go with them (located in the parenthesis after their names) so that it isn't such a bear to interpret a pattern later on.
As we work on our sampler washcloth we will change to the next stitch after three rows of practice to give some good repetition, as well as work up quickly enough to encourage you to keep going!
First, we need to make a slip knot to start a chain:
Loop your yarn around your index finger, pulling the loop off and pushing the long end of the yarn through the loop.
Insert your hook into the loop you created and pull the yarn tail to tighten around your hooks neck.
Now we "yarn over"(YO), which just means grabbing the long working yarn ( not the short tail) with your hook and drawing it through the loop on your hook.
Huzzah! You have created a chain! This gets repeated a LOT in any pattern that calls for a starting chain. (When creating a chain, the loop that is on the hook is NOT included in the count when you try to determine if you have made enough chains to get started.)
When you are ready to start a row of stitches you will start in the second chain from the hook, inserting your hook under the top loop:
You'll yarn over, pulling the yarn through the loop, leaving two loops on your hook like this:
Yarn over again, pulling the yarn through both loops on the hook:
And just like that, you have a single crochet stitch (sc). This process will be repeated across the length of the starting chain that you created.
(Muscle memory takes time to develop, so if the process feels very awkward and laborious, don't give up. The more you practice the smoother it becomes and the faster you can go)
When you work in rows and the instructions tell you to chain and turn, it means that you will chain one (or however many it tells you) and turn your work so that you can work back across your project in the opposite direction:
Insert your hook under both loops on the first stitch of the row and continue the single crochet stitch to the end of this row as well.
Once you've reached the end of the three rows of single crochet stitches, we will launch into the next stitch, the half double crochet (hdc) stitch.
Let's go Shenanigate, until then!
*If you have any questions, or run into any problems, drop me a comment and I'll get right back to you to keep you moving!
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