Learn the Art of Crocheting

Crocheting is not meant for nuns and grandmas. It can be done by anyone from all walks of life and in all age groups. Of late, crocheted items have become a rage in fashion industry and crochet designs have invaded apparel industries.

However, crocheting cannot be done by all. One has to have patience, perseverance and attitude. Learning crochet is not difficult. If you can have determination and interest then you can right away go and procure yarn and hooks to start your crocheting endeavour immediately.

Let us see how you can learn crochet in an easy way:

Holding the Yarn like a Professional

Holding the yarn is a tricky job for any beginners. However, the same can be mastered over a period of time and with little practice. You cannot overlook the concept of holding the yarn correctly and we will see how that can be achieved.

• Hold the yarn with your fingers and let it pass through. Let the yarn pass over the little finger, then below the ring finger and finally above the forefinger and the middle finger.

• One more way to hold the yarn is to make the yarn cross the forefinger after looping in the region of the little finger.

• You should hold the hook the same you would be holding a spoon or a pencil. In such a position, it will be easy to heave the yarn down to the loop in the hook using your fingers.

As you practice crocheting you will start to know the nuances involved in holding the yarn. You may even try to adopt your own way of holding the yarn. The stress point here is that you should be able to comfortably heave the yarn with your fingers without any difficulty.

Accord importance to yarn size and hook size

You cannot take for granted your ability to crochet with any type of yarn and hook. Certain type of yarns and specific sizes of hooks are prescribed for certain patterns and you are supposed use them scrupulously for achieving the desired results.

You can identify the various types of hooks through the letters and numbers that are marked on the hooks. Each letter or number corresponds to certain type of hook. The rule of thumb is higher the number or higher the letter, greater will be the size of the hook. For yarns, their varieties are identified through names.

Resize the Crochet Project through Pattern

If you want to reduce the size of the project then you can reduce few stitches resulting in reduction of project size. For reducing the stitches, you can follow the method of skipping one stitch in a row and continuing with the next. In the same way, increasing the stitches can make the project bigger in size. For any enlargement of project, keep inserting additional stitches.

Read and Understand the Pattern

The tricky part involved in any crochet is understanding the instructions and the abbreviations of any pattern. If you can memorise these abbreviations along with the relative meaning, then you will be well equipped to do crocheting in a refined way. Crochet pattern abbreviations follow certain universal guidelines such as:

• Instructions of any crochet pattern are worked in rounds or rows. You will have indication on the pattern as to whether you are working on a round or a row.

• Instructions of any crochet pattern are ranked according to their difficulty level such as beginner, easy, intermediate and advanced. Always choose a pattern to match your skill level and you can try other complex patterns in due course.

• Keep a habit of counting the stitches as you progress in your work. Every now and then monitor your work and ensure that you are in fact proceeding as per the pattern’s requirement.

• Verify your gauge by crocheting a sample of about 4 X 4 inches in the pattern. If your gauge is larger than the required, use smaller hook and in the contrary use larger hook.

Make sure that you follow the instructions correctly and without skipping any abbreviations so as to make perfect crochet.