The Art of Crocheting
People would normally consider crocheting as an old person’s hobby, but I can vouch for the fact that it kills time and it’s a fun thing to do when you’re bored. On top of that you can create some seriously beautiful stuff.
Star blanket created and photographed by the author.
The actual definition to crochet is: “needlework done with a needle having a small hook at one end for drawing the thread or yarn through intertwined loops.”
It sounds difficult, but really it’s not, although it requires a bit of patience.
I would crochet on the way to work and on the way home. It helped take my mind off the bad work days. For those of you who ride the bus, take the train to work, or even when you have spare time, you can crochet. It doesn’t have to be something crazy, like some intricate pattern for a shawl or a blanket, it can be as simple as a headband, or a scarf.
You see, those two are very similar in how they’re made. One can be wider and if you don’t close it off ta-da! You have a scarf!
If you crochet a few rows for every ten or fifteen minutes you have available you’ll be done in no time.
A fellow crocheter, Evelyn Liner, agrees of using it as a method of crocheting. “You can crochet while waiting at a doctor’s office,” she said.
Liner introduced crochet to her daughter, HCC student Austine Adorno, and they even did it to spend time together.
Liner said, “My mother taught me some when I was younger, but then I stopped doing it for a while and recently picked it up when my daughter became interested in it.”
There are two ways of holding your crochet hook. The first way is holding it like a knife and the second is holding it like a pencil.
Holding the crochet needle like a pencil. Photo by the author.
Holding the crochet needle like a knife. Photo by the author.
As a beginner I recommend starting off with a bigger crochet hook. Start off with a larger crochet hook until it feels comfortable for you to size down. If you start off with a smaller hook your spaces might be too tight and this makes it extremely difficult to continue a pattern.
As a person who can’t learn by staring at a piece of paper I turn to Youtube.
I really like Mike on “The Crochet Crowd” channel. Not only does he show you step by step, but if you need the paper with the pattern on it he shows you that too. He also posts videos for people who are left handed, since crocheting is different for lefties.
“Fiber Flux” is another channel that has really cool things to crochet and they are pretty good with their videos.
Slouchy beanie created and photographed by the author
All in all if you find someone who teaches at a pace you can understand crocheting will be loads of fun. Once you feel comfortable making small scale patterns you can move onto bigger stuff. You can make baby blankets, hats, and try your hand at anything on the intermediate level.
Once you become a little more experienced at crocheting you can gauge how much yarn you’ll be using. More often than not you’ll have excess yarn from a project. There is a super easy pattern called a granny square blanket that you can use your scraps for.
There are different types of yarn and they can be rough or soft, depending on what you plan on creating. It ranges from 0-7, lace to jumbo.
The needle size for these types of yarn is 000-17.
For what yarn to use, Liner said, “It depends on the project. If you’re making a blanket you want to use a soft yarn but not too thin because then it’s not strong enough. If you’re making a hat you’ll want to make it with thicker yarn.”
Granny square blanket created and photographed by the author.
Adorno said, “Each roll or skein of yarn has a recommended hook size on it. But again it all depends on the project.”
As a fellow crocheter I believe it has some stress relieving properties.Whenever I would have a rough day at work, and it seemed to happen more often than not, I brought my yarn and crochet hook.
Adorno thinks that crochet “kind of relaxes the brain. And once you’re like me and my mom you can watch TV and crochet at the same time!”
Even if you don’t believe that you can search crochet benefits, and you’ll learn that it can help people with depression, people who have fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.
It also benefits people who are suffering from physical pain, insomnia, anxiety and grief. So don’t be freaked out when you see those awesome designs on Pinterest or Facebook.
Find someone on Youtube and practice practice practice. It will take a couple of tries but before you know it you’ll be crocheting! Remember patience is everything.