Making a start with crochet

During the summer I had my first go at learning to crochet and I didn’t have a lot of success. I found it hard to hold the hook and yarn, plus I got quite confused with the patterns and different techniques. I managed some of the basics but every time I tried the stitches were uneven and didn’t look quite like the pictures in the books! I put my crochet hook down in the summer with the aim of mastering the knitting basics instead. This weekend I finished writing my new year goals and I decided that I should have another go at crochet. I got my books out scoured over the gorgeous pictures of blankets, bags and little illustrations of the basic stiches. After a bit of concentration, warming up my hands, and practicing a few times, I managed to create a block of double crochet...

and a basic granny square using an odd ball of wool I found.

I was so happy with the outcome as the crochet stiches looked even and much more like the illustration in the book. I think starting with knitting must have helped me get to grips with tension and reading patterns. The brilliant book that helped me create the two above was titled Crochet Unravelled - A clear and concise guide to learning crochet by Claire Bojczuk. You can pick it up on Amazon and hopefully smaller craft shops too. It had really good explanations of the basics and great step by step illustrations and made me feel that I could achieve some of the basics. Out of all of the books I have this really helped me gain some confidence.

I have a few other crochet books that I will now look at in a different light, with the aim of trying to find something that I can create and a pattern I can follow. The one shown below, Cute & Easy Crochet By Nicki Trench, has a lovely range of projects for a number of levels. The first pattern in Chapter 1 - Starting Out, has a beautiful Springtime Throw, which is a project involving lots of squares and is 'perfect for a beginner'.

So maybe I'll give that a go soon? But for now though I’m going to keep practicing and will try the next stage of adding different coloured yarn to a basic granny square. Wish me luck!