Is crocheting hard? The answer is no. It is a craft you can easily teach yourself by watching and learning from others.
There is a learning curve that can be difficult, but with patience and practice, you can easily get good at it. The biggest challenges when learning how to crochet is how to hold the hook and understand all the jargon associated with the craft.
Crocheting for Beginners – Is it Hard?
It can be hard to crochet for a beginner, just like learning any new skill. Firstly you have to navigate through the basics of holding the hook. There are three ways to hold the hook, which are pencil grip, knife grip, and holding yarn.
When starting as a beginner, try all three methods and decide which one is most comfortable. Another thing that can be hard is the pain you may experience on the wrist. This is usually because of the hook that you are using.
If the wrist pain is excessive, consider getting ergonomic hooks with a better grip than standard hooks.
Another challenge would be understanding the terminology, techniques, and construction of certain items can be challenging, but with time and practice, you eventually get the hang of crocheting.
Why Learn Crochet
There are many reasons why you would want to learn how to crochet, and here are some of them:
- To make useful things for your personal use. There are so many things you can make, such as dishcloths, bathroom mats, sweaters, and many more.
- Make unique gifts for your friends, family, or charity. There are many ideas available that are suitable for any person.
- Make extra income. There are multiple ways in which you can earn money with crochet, such as selling finished products, designing and selling patterns, affiliate marketing, teaching crochet, and selling yarn and accessories.
There are a lot of creators around the world that are earning good money with crochet. You will have to put in a lot of work, but it is worth the effort.
- Has great health benefits. The repetitive motion made while crocheting is soothing and can relieve stress, anxiety, pain, insomnia, and help cope with depression. Crocheting is also known to have improved the lives of people with Alzheimer’s, ADHD, OCD, and eating disorders.
- It is a great way to socialize by joining a local crochet community or an online group where you can meet like-minded people.
- Crocheting is economical to start as all you need is yarn and a hook.
- It’s a great way to express your creativity, as you can make anything for any season, such as blankets, dresses, swimwear, bags, dolls, toys, and many more; the possibilities are endless.
So whatever reason speaks to you, crochet will benefit you one way or the other.
Tips Every Crocheter Beginner Should Know
Getting started on anything new can be scary. Here are some tips to make your crochet journey as a beginner easier.
- Start small with the simplest beginner crochet project that neither has a complicated stitch nor requires joining, such as a scarf or a dishcloth. Starting with a big project can be frustrating if you can’t understand the directions and the length of time it may take to complete. As you finish more small projects, you then gain the confidence to take on much larger and more complex projects.
- It is easier to work with light-colored yarn as it is easier to see the stitches. Once you have gained confidence, you can move on to darker-colored yarns.
- Patterns come in various formats, such as videos, diagrams, text, and photos. Video tutorials are much easier to understand as they are visual, and you can easily follow them step by step.
However, you don’t want to miss out on patterns in other formats. Therefore, you should learn as much as possible about how to read written patterns and diagrams.
- Know and understand gauge and tension. Try and keep your stitches loose and relaxed so your work is even and consistent.
- Take time to understand yarns, the categories, and their compositions. This is important because not all yarns are suitable for everything; for example, where you need the product to absorb water or heat resistance, acrylic yarn will not be suitable.
You can start by going through the Craft Yarn Council, which has resources to start you off on your crochet journey.
- Find a community of other crocheters where you can ask questions, learn from each other and share your work so they can cheer you on. This will help you gain confidence and encourage you to take on more projects. There are many communities like these on platforms such as Facebook and Ravelry.
- Crocheting can be addictive, and you can sit for hours which can have an impact on your wrist and body. Don’t forget to get up, stretch and walk around.
- You will unravel your work multiple times as mistakes and errors are inevitable. It is part of the learning process. Be patient with yourself. It will take time to perfect the skill.
- Although starting crocheting is economical, in the long run, it can be expensive as you are more likely to become a hoarder. There are so many ideas you will want to create as well as so much beautiful yarn that you would like to own.
- Weave in ends as you progress on your project. Leaving them until the end can be frustrating and tiring. You will also save time and keep your project tidy, especially if you are crocheting a project with multiple color changes.
Crochet Tutorial for Beginners – Where to Find Them
There are many tutorials on how to start crocheting, but before you start, you will need basic supplies, which are a hook, yarn, a pair of scissors to cut yarn tails; a measuring tape to measure your gauge and the sizes of your project; and a darning needle to weave in ends.
As a crochet beginner, get a full set of crochet hooks, and you don’t have to start with the expensive ergonomics set. A basic set will suffice, just in case, you end up not liking crocheting.
The recommended yarn for beginner crocheters is acrylic yarn category 3 or 4; it is economical, light, and easy to work with.
As a beginner, stay away from expensive, thin, or bulky yarns until you have gained more experience; the learning curve can cause damage and waste yarn. Most tutorials and patterns will let you know the supplies you need.
There are many places where you can find crochet tutorials on how to crochet for beginners. The most popular would be YouTube. There are hundreds of creators posting tutorials and other content on how to start crocheting. You just need to find a creator that resonates with you.
Another place would be Pinterest, a visual search engine where creators also display their work.
Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook also have creators providing tutorials and tips on crocheting for beginners.
You can also learn to crochet in your local yarn shop, as many do offer crochet lessons. There are also many tutors offering classes online. A simple online search will help you find one that resonates with you.
Easy crochet patterns for beginners can be found on crafting platforms such as Ravelry, Lovecrafts, Allfreecrochet, Etsy, Ko-Fi, and many more. There are a lot of free patterns as well as paid tutorials and patterns which you can choose from.
Which is Easier to Learn, Crochet or Knitting?
The answer to the question is knitting or crocheting hard is not cast in stone as it varies from person to person.
Crochet and knitting is the manipulation of yarn or other fiber to create fabric using sticks. The main difference between crochet and knitting is the tools used.
Knitting uses two, three, or five sticks called needles with at least one pointed tip, where you work with multiple stitches moving the stitches from one needle to the other to form the fabric.
Knitting needles can also have a cord to link them, which are mostly for circular or large projects.
Crochet uses a stick with a hook at the tip, and the yarn is manipulated to form loops. You only work one stitch at a time, except in the case of Tunisian crochet, where you work with multiple stitches on one hook.
Knitting needles are longer than crochet hooks, except for Tunisian crochet hooks, and both needles and hooks are made from either of these materials, metal, plastic, wood, or bamboo.
Both knitting and crochet have symbols and abbreviations that differ from each other.
Knitting has two main stitches, which are knit and purl. These stitches can be combined and varied to form other stitches and patterns.
Crochet has four main stitches, which are single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, and triple crochet. Similar to knitting, these four stitches can be combined to form other stitches and patterns.
When knitting, you may have fewer stitches to learn, but working two, three, or five needles and multiple stitches at a time can be challenging as you will have to constantly push your stitches and are more likely to lose stitches; this, in turn, makes knitting slower to master.
When crocheting, the likelihood to lose stitches is much less because you are only working with one stitch at a time. The hand coordination required for crochet is also much less than when knitting.
Although there are many more crochet stitches, understanding the basics of crochet is much easier as you only have to work with one hook, while knitting and mastering holding two or more needles can be challenging.
This makes learning how to crochet much easier. Whether you choose to learn to crochet or knit, once you gain muscle memory, you will be able to complete a project with either craft quickly and easily.
Parting Thoughts
Crocheting is not hard, and there are many benefits to why you should learn how to crochet, including earning an income. Crochet is also a great way to relax while watching Netflix or the waves by the beach.
If you have been hesitating, don’t. Visit your local craft store, buy some supplies and start your crochet journey today.