6 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Crocheting

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I first started crocheting when I was a teenager. My mom taught me some basic stitches and told me to practice. I was using any scrap pieces of yarn that I could find and making it into one gigantic scrap blanket. (It was awful, ugly, and soooo scratchy, but hey, it was my first project!)

As the years went on, I realized that crocheting wasn’t “cool”. As a teenager, you want to fit in, and I had a lot of trouble fitting in, so crocheting went bye-bye for a while. After a few years without it though, I found that I missed it. So I picked it back up again and realized how much I loved it, and wanted to do it full time.

As I went along, I kind of had to learn things as I went. I watched a ton of YouTube tutorials, I read blogs and magazines. Some things I was doing I cringe at today, but hey, no one was around to give me any tips by this point.

So I’ve compiled a list today of six things I wish I’d known more about when I started crocheting full time. I hope these will help you in your crochet journey, and help you avoid some of the pitfalls I experienced.

1. Yarn is Addictive! 
Going shopping for, and buying yarn is so addictive! All the different colors, weights, textures and styles are pure heaven! You might see an aisle of yarn and be a bit overwhelmed, but wade in and just start touching the skeins. They’re your friends, and they’re there to make your things pretty!

2. Get a Quality Hook
When you’re first starting out, you may not have the cash flow to afford an entire set of quality hooks. But I do wish I’d have had a good quality hook to use while I was practicing. Buying one or two of the most commonly used hook sizes will drastically improve your project quality because your hands won’t be so tired. The hooks are a little smoother too and glide through your yarn effortlessly.

If you’d like to see some recommendations I have on which hooks to get, check out this post here:

3. Hold Your Hook However is Comfortable
When I first started crocheting full time, I was following a lot of tutorials and emulating what  I saw in them. I noticed that a lot of people held the hook one way, and another group held them completely different. I thought I had to stick with one way and that was it. What I wish I’d known is that there is no right or wrong way to hold your tools. Just hold it however is easier for you, and that is the right way. There are two common holds on your hook, (Pictured below) but we’ll get more into that in another post.

    

Knife Hold                                   Pencil Hold

4. Don’t Use Black Yarn! 
When you’re first learning how to crochet, you need to be able to see your stitches. Black yarn makes this virtually impossible to see what you’re doing. Even experienced crocheters struggle with using black yarn. Make sure you chose a color that is easy to see, and works well with your project.

5. Explore Yarn Options Online

6. Yarn Labels Give Lots of Info! 

My first trip down the yarn aisle was a really overwhelming but very happy experience. I saw all the different brands and colors, and I assumed that they were all the same. I picked one up, and thought, “oh pretty color, and so soft!” and decided I’d take it home.

The yarn was a thick chunky yarn that was better suited for a blanket or something similar, and let’s just say making a hat with that isn’t the best idea. It took me longer than I’m proud of to learn that the manufacturer has a list of recommendations on the label for everything from hook size to care instructions. ( I will cover how to interpret this info in a later blog post!)

Make sure you don’t make the same mistake I did and get the wrong hook matched to the wrong yarn. I was overwhelmed with the options, and you probably are too. Just make sure to follow the recommendations when you’re first getting started and you shouldn’t go too far off track.

So there you go! Six things I wish I’d known when I first was getting started. I hope these ideas will help guide you towards the fun world of crochet and help steer you in the right direction of your first project!

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