Crochet Basics Part 1 - What is Crochet and What do you Need?

Crochet Basics

Welcome to the first part of my first series of blog posts on the basics of crochet for beginners. I will cover what you need to get started and some tutorials so you can learn the basic stitches and get started on a few easy projects. This is perfect for crochet beginners who want to learn how to crochet and get into this amazing hobby. Word of warning: it is addictive! Once you start and you realise just how flexible crochet is and what you can make, it's going to take over your life. It's not an expensive hobby to start, but it can become so when you see the variety of yarns and projects available to you.

So, a little about my background with crochet. It's something my mum does, and has done for years. I have a couple of blankets that she made when I was a baby, and I still have them. I got into crochet by a kind of circuitous route - when I started getting into cosplay I learned how to knit to make legwarmers and began collecting magazines on knitting and crochet. So I started learning crochet too and got really into it. Knitting is good too, but crochet is so much more flexible when it comes to shaping and designs. It's essentially a form of weaving using a hook and a length of yarn. It can be worked flat or in the round and there's a huge selection of stitches to make all kinds of textures and shapes. 

What Do You Need to Start?

Starting crochet does not need to be expensive. There are a few essential items that you will need to get going. A crochet hook and a ball of yarn, a pair of scissors and a yarn needle or darning needle. Stitch markers and a tape measure also come in handy. There are other accessories and things that come in handy but these are the most essential items. Bring the ability to count as well, you do have to do a fair bit of counting. 

When you first start out I would suggest getting some acrylic yarn and a small set of hooks. The most common yarn is DK but you might find something thicker like chunky acrylic is easier to learn on. I would advise avoiding dark colours like black or navy too, a lighter colour makes it easier to see the stitches and find where to put your hook. Once you've got the hang of the basic stitches and feel comfortable, you can look into other yarn types and working with smaller weight yarns. 

The ball band (the paper wrapped around the ball of yarn) will give you guidance on what size of hook to use. Most DK will recommend a 3.5 or 4mm hook, chunkier yarns will recommend a 4.5 to 6mm hook. When starting out, I would advise sticking to this recommendation. Once you know what you're doing and how you work, you'll be able to see if changing the hook size will work better for you. 

Getting Going

So you have your hook and your yarn. Now what? Well, before we get into the nitty gritty of reading crochet patterns and whatnot, you want to master the very basic stitches of crochet so we'll learn them here. You can go off and practice them and then in the next part we'll introduce a couple more stitches and a simple pattern to start reading. 

The Slip Knot

Not the band, but the knot they are named after! The slip knot is so named because you pull one end and it gets tighter, but if you pull the other end, it'll come undone. That's useful for a few things, and oddly enough I learned it at vet school. You use a similar kind of knot for tying up animals to a hitch or fence, such as a halter on a horse or a dog lead. The reason is that if the animal pulls, the knot won't give but if you need to release the animal quickly you can do so. So below I will show you the method to make a slip knot around your hook. 

The Chain Stitch

The foundation chain, you will often see it listed, and as the name suggests, this is the foundation of crochet. You use the hook for form a chain of the required length, then into this chain you place your first row of stitches. In essence, the chain is the most basic crochet stitch, and you can use it alone for jewelry or to make chording. 

To make a chain, you start with a slip knot on the hook, then wrap the yarn around the top of the hook, and pull it through to make a loop. That's it. You just keep repeating it until you have the number of chains required. Below is a video showing you how to make chains, I make 10 to demonstrate for you. Remember to count! Don't forget that the loop on the hook is not counted. 

The Double Crochet

This is the most commonly used crochet stitch. It gives a fairly dense fabric with very little space in between, so it is typically used for making plush toys and other items you want to fill. Please note that double crochet is the UK term for this stitch. If you are familiar with US terminology, this stitch is called 'single crochet'. Both terms are correct, and I will clarify for each stitch in this guide so you can use the terminology you prefer. 

To make the stitch, find the gap as indicated in the video, and push your hook through from front to back. Wrap your yarn around the hook and pull it through, creating a second loop on your hook. Wrap the yarn around the hook again and pull it through both loops on the hook. That's it, one stitch done! Repeat to the end of the row of chains. You should have ten stitches, and from the top you should see the little V shapes. Those are the stitches and that's what I tend to count to make sure. If you don't have ten, you've missed a chain somewhere or you've accidentally made 2 stitches in the same chain. 

That's okay! You're learning, mistakes happen. If you realise you've made a mistake, you can easily undo what you've done. Remove the hook from your work, and slip it into the last stitch you are certain was correct. Then pull gently on the working yarn and the stitches will come out. This is usually called 'frogging'. 

When you get to the end, you will chain 1. This means making a chain just like you did at the start, before turning your work around so you can work back along the stitches you've just done. For this row, look along the top for the V shapes. Underneath each V will be a little gap, this is where you put your hook through to pull up the loop. The video demonstrates this.

Fastening Off

Finally, once you have finished, you need to fasten it off so it won't unravel on you. If you've come to crochet from knitting, I have good news for you! In crochet, it is way way easier to do. Snip off your working yarn, leaving a few cm of a tail, wrap the tail around your hook and pull it through the loop on your hook. Pull it all the way through, and pull the end firmly to tighten. That's it. Video below to show you what I mean.

To practice

You can practice these stitches by making squares. If you have a few different colours of your yarn, making a few squares means you can sew them together to make a placemat or a pouch or something like that. You can also just keep going and make a scarf, if you want to.

Use my videos as a guide: make a slipknot, chain 11 then do 10 double crochets, one into each chain to the end. Chain 1 at the end, turn and do 10 double crochets, one into each stitch as shown. Chain 1 and repeat until it's the length you want. It's not the most exciting, but once you get the hang of this stitch, the rest will come easier.

 Keep practicing making squares or rectangles until you feel comfortable and confident in using what you've learned. Next week we'll cover a couple more of the basic stitches you can do, and see how they can make a difference to the way your piece looks. After that, we'll get into fun things like changing colours, shaping and crocheting in the round. Stay tuned for more, don't forget to follow the blog and check out my youtube channel for the tutorial videos. I will eventually be uploading more in depth content there. Thanks for reading!