What You Need To Start Crochet

To someone who has never tried to crochet, from the outside crochet might seem very mythical and magical. And intimidating. Why wouldn’t it? You take a plain old string; then you grab a stick with a hook on the end of it, then you do some weird movements with your hands and voila, a hat! Or a scarf! Or a dress! Or a blanket! WHAT? How even? What sorcery is this?!

So often, that someone is too afraid to try it. I mean, it looks kind of cool, but if you accidentally turn your husband into a frog? (I heard there was ‘frogging’ involved? What’s THAT?)

I get it. Some crochet creations look so complicated, like an intricate Scandinavian lace or something. And you think: No way, I’ll never be able to make anything like that! That’s too hard! Stressful even!

And that’s too bad. Because crochet is anything but complicated and stressful. As with anything, it might be if you make it be. But it doesn’t have to.

Crochet can be easy and relaxing. In fact, it’s so relaxing, I sometimes crochet in my sleep! (just kidding).

But jokes aside. Crochet doesn’t need to be hard, or complicated or stressful. It is pretty easy to learn once you give it a chance and it can become one of your favorite pastimes (I’m talking Netflix + crochet at the same time, whaaaa?).

With simple projects, you can find yourself crocheting without looking, and the best part: When you find yourself stressed from work, and irritated and tired as heck, feeling like you’ve been running around the whole day and got nothing achieved, there nothing as relaxing and rewarding as grabbing a ball of yummy, cuddly, beautiful yarn, working on a simple repeating pattern and creating something amazing in the process.

Crochet is like meditation in motion. You will find your brain relax, worry slide aside as you focus on this beautiful piece of handy work you are creating.

In the world full of hurry, unfulfilled goals and stress, crochet is a creative, relaxing and fulfilling way to get out of your head, center yourself on the present and get creative. If you read my story, crochet helped me come out of depression, find the meaning in what I did, and became part of my every day.

So, I encourage you to give crochet a try. Come on, how bad can it be? It’s a craft that is pretty inexpensive, portable, isn’t messy, requires a minimal number of tools, can fit in a bag, can be taken anywhere (shh, even library), can make all your friends jelly, and creates beautiful things you can gift to your friends, donate to a good cause, give your kids, make for a girlfriend’s baby showers, put under the Christmas tree, give to your boss, well, you get the gist.

If you are still with me, maybe I convince you to give this awesome craft a go. Ya? Good.

Here is what you will need to start to crochet:

– a hook
– a ball of yarn
– scissors
– a needle with a large ear and blunt tip

Boom. Done. See, I told you it’s the easiest craft to get into!

Now, if you are like me, you will be tempted to buy ALL the hooks of ALL the sizes, then buy ALL the yarn of ALL the colors and soon your house will look like Michael’s or Joann. As exciting as it is to buy ALL THE THINGS, let’s just start with 1 hook and 1 ball of yarn. Both don’t have to be anything fancy, these are your training tools.

I’ll show you some small adorbs projects that you can make with these first tools that will not use up a lot of yarn and will use the basic stitches. You will be able to practice and became super awesome at this, and THEN you can buy yourself all the hooks and all the yarns. Deal?

Here is what I suggest you start with:

– A 5.5mm hook – this is a pretty standard size for a lot of projects you will find here or in crochet books and patterns. It’s kind of a happy middle size between the tiniest of hooks and the chunkiest ones, all of which require a bit of a skill to work with.

– A ball of Red Heart yarn in Worsted weight. This is a yarn thickness that goes well with a size 5.5mm hook so they will play nicely together. This is a yarn thickness that you most often will find in crochet books and patterns. It’s easy to work with, and it’s great for all kinds of things from scarves to hats to mittens to shawls, to pouches to coffee cup cozies, the list goes on. Get a ball of color that you like and you will be good to start. When I was learning how to crochet, Red Heart was the yarn I used all the time.

– A pair of scissors. Any pair will do, you just need it to snip off the yarn when you are done with a project.

– A needle with a big ear and a blunt tip. It’s what they call darning needle or yarn needle, and it’s awesome for hiding away the yarn tails after you are finished making your piece. If you ever heard about ‘weaving the ends’, that’s what it’s for.

*If you are planning on working on a large project or on wearables, you might want to get a measuring tape. For now, while you are learning simple things, you can get away with a school ruler or if you have one of those paper measuring tapes from IKEA (I always bring one home, WHY????), you can use that too.

And there you have it. You can get these items as a kit here.

You are ready to start. If you want to have something to carry all that in, you can appropriate one of the reusable canvas shopping bags, that’s what I use when I grab projects on the go, plus you can just hang it on your door nob or chair so your cat doesn’t get into it (stay away kittie, that ball of yarn is mine!).

In the comments below, let me know what yarn color you ended up getting, I want to see! #yarnporn
Also, let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to help!

XO

Yelena