Learning to Crochet!

You know, it's been 20 years since I've tried crochet. The only thing I ever did before was practice...and make granny squares. I've never followed an actual crochet pattern before in my life.

So, I want to learn to do it RIGHT.

I've been collecting those "Crochet Lite" hooks whenever I could find them on sale, and now I have a pretty good set. I think the lights on the hooks will help me with finding the stitches. My eyesight is just not what it used to be.

Since I'm a blogger for Bernat, I've decided to make a crochet project on the blog, to help me stay motivated with learning this craft. Before diving into my blog project, I chose to practice a little. So, I pulled up the Bernat website, and looked at their Beginning Crochet stuff. I also asked some of the crocheters on the Knitting Help Forum for their advice. They gave me some links to crochet videos and glossaries. After perusing the internet a while, I felt a little more confident.

So, I found a beginner crochet pattern for a dishcloth on the Bernat site. Then, I looked in my stash of cotton yarn for a bright, happy color of yarn. (I chose orange) I'm using one of my new lighted crochet hooks - size I.

I did the beginning chain pretty easily, taking care to keep the stitches loose. (That's one of the things I learned on the websites I studied.) Then, I looked at the next part of the pattern. I had a little trouble working into my chain stitches, so I guess I need to loosen up even more on that part.

The next row gave me a little trouble, because I'm not confident in "reading" the crochet stitches. The good thing about knitting is that the stitches on each row are obvious...they are all waiting on the needle for you! But, crochet takes a little more eyeballing. Time for all the bright lights to be on in the craft room!

I made a few mistakes, trying to do that next row. I ended up having to search the internet again, to figure out what "SP" means. (It means "space", by the way.) I was very frustrated when I didn't understand what that meant. I thought it might be a special kind of stitch or something. (tee-hee)

So, I continued my work, and was very happy with the way it was going. :)


Next, I posted a photo of my creation on Knitting Help, to see what the expert crocheters had to say. My bubble was soon burst, because they told me I was doing it wrong. :( I had been working "in the chain" instead of "in the space". (So THAT'S why the pattern kept mentioning the space!! - Duh!)

So, I've learned what I did wrong, and I'm feeling better about the whole thing. It's so nice to know that I can get help from my friends on the internet to figure out this crochet thing. :)

By the way, I decided to finish up my washcloth with the mistake stitching, because I like the way it looks. I'll make another one the CORRECT way. ;)