Simple Crochet Instructions

It isn’t always easy to find a perfect gift for new parents.  Often, the parents are so excited by the expected arrival that they can’t help doing all the shopping themselves.  New babies may also get hand-me-downs from older siblings or cousins.  But a lovely handmade simple crochet baby blanket is always a welcome gift.

There is a large selection of yarns available for baby blankets and many kinds of yarn seem expressly made for baby items, given their colors and softness.  And a handmade items is always greatly appreciated, not only for its beauty but also for the expression of love and generosity that it conveys.  So a simple crochet blanket fits the bill perfectly. 

Here are some things to consider when you are preparing to make a simple crochet baby blanket:

With those considerations in mind, you can start to create the keepsake of your dreams for the new baby.  As long as you always keep safety and practicality in mind, you are limited only by your imagination to create a unique and beloved item for the little one. 

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Want to read more about crochet baby blankets?  Take a look at these posts:

• all about crochet baby blanket patterns – if you don’t know of anybody to help you, jump online and do a search for crochet baby blanket patterns. you can get detailed instructions online and more patterns than you will ever use in your lifetime. …

• Personalized Baby Blankets | Crochet Baby Patterns – Posted in Blankets & Afghans | Tags: afghans, baby blankets, baby crochet projects, blanket, Blankets & Afghans, crochet, crochet baby blanket patterns, personalized baby blankets, project. « Baby Blanket Update …

In one form or another, crochet has been around in many cultures for thousands of years.  Now, in an era of mass produced everything, fewer people seek out and own quality handmade crochet pieces and few people make them.  Yet the supplies to do crochet are affordable and the skills to make a simple crochet piece are within your capacity to learn.  After all, if all those people in faraway places in times past can do it, you can do it, too!  

So here are twelve steps to take to get started on your way to simple crochet success:

Step #1 – Get Your Supplies Together – To crochet you will need a crochet hook, yarn, scissors and a large-eye needle. 

Step #2 – Hold Your Crochet Hook Correctly – Hold your crochet hook in your dominant hand the way you hold a pencil.  Create a slip-knot and place it over the end of your hook. 

Step #3 – Create a Continuous Stitch, Called a Chain Stitch – Wrap the yarn over your hook (called a “yarn-over”) and slip that yarn-over through the slip-knot that is already on the hook. 

Step #4 – Make 12 Chain Stitches – Repeat this step until you have a chain of stitches that is 12 stitches long.  Take a look at your handiwork.  It should look like a series of side-ways “v’s”.  Congratulations!  You are on your way to learning to crochet. 

Step #5 – Create Two Loops – So you have a chain of stitches and a loop on your hook.  Keeping that loop on your hook, skip over the stitch that is right before the hook and work the hook into the hole of the second stitch from the hook.  You will have two loops on your hook.  Yarn over.  Remember, that means to wrap the yarn over the top of the hook. 

Step #6 – Bring Your Yarn Back – Hook your yarn and draw it back through the first loop on your hook.  As you do that, you will let the front loop from your hook fall onto the yarn you are drawing through.  You will end up with two loops on your hook. 

Step #7 – Making Rows – Yarn over again and draw the yarn through the two loops on your hook. You have now completed your first single crochet!  Fabulous!

Step #8 – Single Crochet The Rest of the Row – Continue this basic crochet technique until you reach the end of the row.  Then do a chain stitch.  This chain stitch takes the place of the first single crochet stitch in the next row.  Turn your crochet piece so that the hook is at the upper left hand corner of the piece if you are right-handed, or at the upper right hand corner if you are left handed.

Step #9 – Repeat Another Row of Single Crochet – Now you are ready to do the second row of single crochet.  Work the hook into the first single crochet stitch of the first row.  Repeat the stitch described in the steps above.  Continue to crochet until you have reached the end of the piece.  Then turn, do one chain stitch and start on the next row.  Continue until you have a small swatch of crochet.

Step #10 — Cut Off the Yarn — When you have made a swatch as large as you like it, cut the yarn with about a 6” tail left at the end.

Step #11 – Fasten Your Project So It Won’t Unravel – Bring your tail of yarn back through the last stitch to fasten it. 

Step #12 – Cut the Excess – At this point you are finished and can cut off the excess tail of yarn.

Hey, you did it!  You did a swatch of single crochet!  You applied yourself to learning something and you did.  You are no smarter than you were when you woke up this morning. 

And if you do keep practicing, look at some of the pretty and creative things you will be able to make:

• STEAMPUNK. Sky Pirate OOAK Crochet Jacket » My Little CityGirl – STEAMPUNK. Sky Pirate OOAK Crochet Jacket. … Feedjit Live Website Statistics · Stumble it! © 2007 – 2009 My Little CityGirl. All Rights Reserved. Valid XHTML. You are here : Home » STEAMPUNK. Sky Pirate OOAK Crochet Jacket.

• Urban Couture Jacket. Pattern for sell » My Little CityGirl – Molly, Thank you so much for your interest and sweet words. This jacket is knitted. But I’m almost done a pattern for my new crochet jacket, which you maybe be interesting I hope to release it asap. Thank you again, …

Are you new to the world of crochet?  Have you been doing crochet for a while?  Or are you like me?  I did crochet many years ago and recently decided to pick it up again.

Well, in any case, congratulations on your decision to crochet.  It is a great pastime.  It can be done while watching TV or waiting to pick up your kids after soccer practice.  You can do it in bed for a few minutes before you go to sleep.  You can set aside whole afternoons to do it or pick it up when you have a couple of minutes.  It gives you a creative outlet while allowing you to be very productive making something useful.  You can keep your finished pieces and display them in your home or wear them.  Or you can give them as unique gifts.  Your finished product can be as practical as a handcrafted scarf or sweater or as utterly without par as a handcrafted scarf or sweater.  You can see the product grow every time you pick it up.

Here are a few tips for beginners to crochet, but more experienced people might learn from them, too.

Never Underestimate the Importance of a Good Choice of Yarn

No crochet project that you create will be more beautiful than the yarn you choose to make it with.  So always choose the best quality yarn that is suitable for your project and that you can afford.  Natural fibers and yarns are often more beautiful than artificial fibers so choose them when you can.  They generally are less slippery and easier to work with, too, so a beginner to crochet is well-advised to look for them. 

When you buy your yarn to start a project, make sure you get enough to complete it all from a single dye lot.  You don’t want to have to complete a project with a different dye lot, as that can make a visible difference in your finished product.

Holding Your Hook and Yarn

When I first learned to crochet, I resisted holding the yarn the way the crochet instructions advised.  But I ran into problems as I tried to use learn more advanced stitches.  So I had to learn how to hold the yarn all over again.  The best advice is to thread the yarn through your fingers, holding it above your forefinger and middle fingers, below your ring finger and over your little finger.

Hold your crochet hook underhanded, as you hold a fork or a pencil, not overhanded, as you hold a knife.

Crochet Hook Sizes

Choose the right size of crochet hook for your yarn and your project.  Aluminum crochet hooks are intended to be used with yarn, not crochet cotton. They are labeled with numbers and letters.  These numbers and letters correspond to different sizes.  The higher the number or letter then the larger and thicker the size of the hook, and the larger and bulkier type of yarn you should use.  Read the label of the yarn skeins for advice concerning the appropriate size hook for that yarn.  Note that a larger hook and bulkier yarn means that a crochet project will be completed faster.  Good news for newbies!

Crochet With Others

Maybe you come from a family with other crocheters.  Or maybe you will need to seek out new friends to find a crochet partner.  At any rate, it’s always helpful to crochet with others. 

Being new to crocheting offers some challenges.  One of these is trying to learn to crochet well from a book or off of the Internet or television.  Crocheting is one of those things which appears much harder than it really is.  If you have a friend or relative who crochets, ask them to show you how.  If you do not know anyone who crochets, then you might want to take a class at your local community college, or join a local crocheting group.  While you can learn to crochet on your own, and many people have, it is a lot easier to learn when there are people around you who can show you what to do. 

So many people these days thinks they don’t have time for crochet or other crafts.  What a shame, because once you have mastered a few stitches you can crochet anywhere for any amount of time, no matter how long or short.  Crocheting relieves stress, is a practical way to make garments or home items that are exactly what you want and allows you freedom to create beautiful and unique items.  Start slowly, but learn as you go and you will be a master crocheter in no time.

Here are some more crochet blogs:

• How to Crochet and Do Crochet Edging – If you are like me, your curiosity about the way the world became what it is always gets the better of you. I am always trying to find out where the habits and activities we enjoy came from. Anything from arts to music to architecture and clothing design has come from a development through centuries of trial and error.

• A baby blanket « MizJennah.com – Well I didn’t intend on my very next post to be about a baby blanket after I just talked about how I wasn’t going to have any more kids but here I am writing about baby blankets nonetheless. Growing up I would always watch my mother crochet. She mostly crocheted afghans and baby blankets that I remember.

After you have done a crochet project or two, you will start to have a stash of left-over yarn.  It’s unused, perfectly good and you chose it for something.  Why throw it away?

There are three good reasons to use your left-over yarn instead of buying new. 

First of all, using up left-over yarn saves money.  Many people who are interested in crafts also have an interest in frugal living.  They are interested in their own financial sustainability and they reduce, reuse and recycle to avoid wasting money.  They seek ways to make do or do without.  And they are often creative with what they have, putting an item to a different use than intended in order to avoid buying new.

Secondly, using left-over yarn saves the earth’s resources.  Natural resources are used in every step of the process from producing the yarn to shipping it to disposing of any unused left-over yarn in a landfill.  So, to reduce the cycle of consumption, a good choice is to eliminate waste.  Don’t buy more yarn.  Use what you have!

My favorite reason is the third.  If you use your creativity to use what you have to make what you want, you will have an extraordinary piece that no one else can ever match.

Here are four tips for using up your stash of unused yarn:

1.    Sort your yarn by color.  Think of different ways to match and coordinate them.

2.    Make swatches with what you have to see what yarns are similar weights.  Try using two strands of lightweight yarn together and see how it compares to one strand of bulky yarn.  See what goes together and see what you can use together. 

3.    Do a sample piece in which you start with a yarn that has one weight and switch to a yarn with a different weight.  Does your invention look great?  If not, try a different combination.  The best choices for pieces made with yarns of varying weights are pieces for which the size can vary, so try a shrug, poncho or scarf.

4.    Make granny squares.  These can easily be combined into a vest, blanket or scarf that will be completely unique.

Use your creativity and your left-overs to make something entirely different, and save money and the planet at the same time.

Here are some links to free crochet patterns:

• Crochet Spot » Blog Archive » Free Crochet Pattern: Fast and Easy … – You don’t need to show off your fancy stitch work when all you need to do is show off the cool yarn it’s made with. So here is a really fast and really easy crochet pattern to use your really cool bulky yarn on! …

• Inspiring Free Crochet Patterns | Fine Craft Guild .com – This highly recommended easy crochet pattern book almost free… for sale now at Amazon for only 84 cts…. Can’t beat that… Check out the Amazon link as they’ll let you look inside the book before you buy, so you can get really inspired …

When I set out to learn simple crochet, I made a mistake within the first couple of days that caused me not even to be able to practice my stitches.  I bought crochet thread and a yarn hook.  The hook was too large for the fine thread I was using, and the result was neither becoming nor practical. 

I would like to save you the same trouble as you embark on your simple crochet adventures. 

Here’s the tip:  there are four different kinds of crochet hooks, and you have to pick the right one for your work turn out successfully.  Here’s a run-down of each:

1.    The Steel Crochet Hook.  This type of hook is very small.  It is not suitable for yarn, but it is the correct choice for crochet thread.  We use numbers to refer to sizes.  The sizes range from 00 to 14 and the unlikely fact is that larger numbers refer to smaller sized hooks.  Also note the number of the size of the crochet thread.  The label, or the pattern that you are following, will usually give you a recommendation for the appropriate size of the hook.  This is the type of hook used for lacy doilies, tablecloths, bedspreads and other fine work.  It is also used for filet crochet patterns.

2.    The Yarn Hook.  The yarn hook is sometimes referred to as the “aluminum” hook, but in fact it can be made from plastic or wood in addition to aluminum.  As you might expect, it is an appropriate choice for yarn.  Yarn hooks are bigger around than steel hooks.  Their sizes are referred to variously by numbers and letters and in this case, the size of the hook increases as the number gets larger or the letter gets further along in the alphabet.  Yarn hooks can be tapered or in-line.  The tapered style is tapered from the shank of the hook down to the hook itself.  On the other hand, the circumference of the in-line hook remains constant until just before the hook, when it narrows quickly and obviously.  Whether you use a tapered style or an in-line hook depends on your personal preference.  The size of the stitch won’t be affected by using one or the other if you use the best practice of sizing your stitch by slipping the loop up to the shank of the hook.

3.    The Afghan Hook.  The afghan hook is a specialty hook, longer and usually bigger around than a yarn hook, which is used for crocheting yarn in the afghan stitch.  The afghan stitch is different from other crochet stitches because when you make a loop in the afghan stitch you hold it on the hook until you get to the end of the row.  At the end of a row of the afghan stitch, you start to yarn over the hook, then draw the loop through the loops on the hook two at a time.  Consequently, the afghan hook has a stitch blocker on the end to ensure that the loops don’t slip off. 

4.    The Double-Hooked Hook, or Cro-Hook.  The cro-hook is a long crochet hook with a hook at each end.  It is used in a specialized version of crochet that frankly I have not even attempted yet.  You use two balls of yarn with a cro-hook and generally they would be two different colors.  The stitch resembles the afghan stitch somewhat, in that you keep all the stitches on the hook until you get to the end of the row.

All of these hooks are easy to find anywhere where crochet supplies are sold.  Just choose materials that work together and you will be all set.

Read more about crochet:

• Crochet Spot » Blog Archive » Crochet Pattern: Beginner’s Wrist … – As a beginner level pattern, you will be crocheting a rectangle that will fold around your arm. The piece will then be sewn shut, leaving a small hole for your thumb. These wrist warmers are fast and easy to crochet! crochet beginner …

• Crochet Beginner – Learn How To Crochet | crochetlife.com – This post encourages the beginner crocheter to continue to learn and points them to some of the many excellent resources available to them.

Newbies take note.  Here is a piece of simple crochet advice.

When you buy a ball yarn, read the label.  It will usually recommend hook sizes so that you don’t have to guess.  It will also give you a gauge; that is, it will tell you how many stitches should make how many inches of crochet if you use the yarn in question and the recommended hook.

Also important is the dye lot.  The label will give you a dye lot code, usually a few numbers and letters, that will indicate what lot the yarn was dyed in.  The theory is that when two balls of yarn are dyed together, they will be the exact same color.  When two balls of yarn are dyed in different lots, they run the risk of being slightly different shades.  The difference in different dye lots is usually very subtle and maybe not visible to the casual observer.  But if you are putting all that effort into a piece of work, even if it’s one of your earliest simple crochet pieces, you want it to be right from the start. 

I have never seen two dye lots of the same yarn for sale at the same time in the same store, but I always check to make sure.  You are most likely to see a difference, though, when you run out of yarn part of the way through a project and need to buy more.  In that case, you may not find the same dye lot even if you go back to the same store.  So plan well so that you can purchase all of the yarn you need at once and from a single dye lot.

More info for beginners in crochet:

• Crochet Mary Jane Slipper | Crochet Beginner Guide – Written Instructions crochet-mania.blogspot.com Crochet Blog crochet-mania.blogspot.com.

• Crochet Instructions – Beginner To Experienced | crochetlife.com – There are many books with crochet instructions readily available these days, but a great many of them are not aimed at the crochet beginner and are too difficult to understand and therefore hard for a beginner to use. …

I’m so excited to be doing crochet!  And, as you might expect if you know me, I went off and impetuously bought some hooks and crochet cotton because I was itching to get started.  I brought them home and tried to work some stitches.  But it was awkward and didn’t flow.  It seemed that the hooks were too large for the thread.  And that was the first stage in my first lesson in crochet instructions.

Since I was having trouble, I consulted a book of simple crochet instructions.  You know what they say, right?  “If all else fails, read the instructions.”  And I discovered that there are several types of crochet hooks.  There are also different types of crochet material.  Crochet cotton is like a thick thread or maybe a very thin string.  It is much thinner than a yarn.  And even within the categories of yarn, there is a variety of weights and sizes.  I will write longer posts later that detail the different types of hooks and the different weights of yarn. 

For now, it’s enough to point out that there are very small steel hooks and larger aluminum hooks.  Within these categories, there are different sizes.  The steel hooks are small enough to work with a fine thread, like the crochet cotton that I bought.  The larger aluminum hooks are suitable for yarn.  So my aluminum hooks were too large for my cotton thread.

Undaunted, I dug up some scraps of yarn that I had stashed and got to work with them, reading the crochet instructions to practice the single crochet stitch.  My aluminum hooks work much better with them.  Crocheting was fun.  It isn’t pretty yet, but it was fun.

And that’s my first lesson in simple crochet instructions.  You need to match the type of your hook to the type of material.  Choose a steel hook for a thread and an aluminum hook for a yarn.  And then get to work!

You may also be interested in reading:

• $1.67 Slipper Pattern and Baby Booties. – no script. Do you need an inexpensive quick pair of slippers? Just before Christmas, Mom made some “I want slippers” noises. I also wanted some. My sister and niece wanted some. I found a pattern for crocheted slippers in an old …

• Crochet | THE COVETED – I think I need to learn to crochet. I mean, I know one stitch that can make comedy scarves my cats like to play with. But there is a particular sculptural quality that crochet has that doesn’t really exist with other fabrics, crochet can get really abstract without looking contrived therefore maintaining it’s natural made by hand aesthetic.

Since I have been working on my simple crochet skills, I have shared the news with friends and family.  Not to mention posting it on Facebook!  Some people have reacted with surprise and have asked me why I am doing it.  After all, I am a busy woman and have lots of other things to do.

Here are my top five reasons for learning simple crochet.

5.    Believe it or not, it’s relaxing.  Now, right now I am working hard at learning even simple crochet skills and can’t do any stitches mindlessly or easily.  But, still, when I take fifteen minutes to sit in my favorite chair in my bedroom and pick up my crochet hook, it is very soothing.  It’s like a quarter-hour retreat from the bustle of life.

4.    In a mass-produced world, every hand-made crochet item is one-of-a-kind.  Someone else on the planet may pick up the same crochet instructions to make the same project, and may even use the same color and variety of yarn.  But no other piece of crochet will have my fingerprints on it, literally or figuratively.  I am now just learning my stitches and I’m making a very simple crochet dishrag.  It is not a piece of art.  But there is no other dishrag like it anywhere.

3.    When you crochet, you see visible progress.  In many areas of life, you can not measure progress.  In interpersonal relationships, for example, everything is intangible and sometimes completely subjective.  But in even simple crochet, you see visible, tangible, even measurable results.  After my fifteen minutes of crochet, I see that there are rows in my dishrag that weren’t there before I started.  After a few days of fifteen-minute crochet breaks, I can see improvements in my work.  My stitches are more even and the edges are cleaner.  My little dishrag is a concrete expression of work and effort.

2.    Once you have mastered it, even simple crochet allows you to be creative and self-expressive.  You can mix and match colors, add crochet roses or pom-poms, throw in a row of a different stitch, or do any number of other things to create an individual piece that just screams you.

And my Number One reason for learning simple crochet:

1.    Crochet is an act of love.  You can create gifts to keep your family and friends warm and fashionable.  You can make hats, gloves and scarves for people who would otherwise have to do without.  You can make a prayer shawl for someone facing a difficult time in their lives.  You can create a baby blanket for someone else celebrating a blessed event.  And in each case, your gift is not an anonymous object, but an extension of your concern, attention and encouragement. 

So that’s why I am learning simple crochet and why I’m looking forward to learning more advanced crochet.  And why I encourage you to do so, too.

Want to read more about simple crochet?  Read:

• Crochet – Beginning Projects – Including Amigurumi « – The basic pattern comes from the book, Single Crochet for Beginners; however, just like the scrubber I modified the pattern. I highly recommend this book by Cindy Crandall-Frazier for beginners! Most Amigurumi are made with only single …

• Crochet for Beginners « Teen Hobbies – Crochet for Beginners. Posted by teenhobbies on September 15, 2008. Many theorize that knitted and crochet items survived in the early period of imperialism. Many communities in this era used this kind of industry as their main source …