So you are considering to start crocheting? It’s never been a better time to start crochet as a beginner. Crochet can look intimidating but within a week, you can moved from never crocheting to completing your first project. It is much easier than you think if you have one key trait.
Read on to find out how to start crocheting as a beginner and a trait to be successful.
Gather Your Supplies
You can’t start crochet as a beginner without the correct supplies. The best way to start crochet as a beginner is to set yourself up with the easiest yarn and hook. A good hook for beginners is a U.S. 5mm paired with a #4 medium weight, 100% acrylic yarn. The easiest places to find crochet supplies will be craft stores like Joann’s, Michaels or online.
Let’s jump onto the list of beginner crochet supplies you need.
Pro Tip: Use a light color yarn as a beginner like light green or light blue so you can see the stitches. Dark colors are harder to see the stitches.
Supplies Beginners Need to Start Crochet
Here is a list of the essential supplies you should get to start crochet as a beginner-
- A set of hooks (2mm-10mm)
- Yarn (100% acrylic, light colored, 4 or 5 weight)
- Stitch Marker
- Scissors
It doesn’t seem like much but that’s all you need to do your first few beginner stitches and projects. The cost of supplies to start crocheting is often $20 or less, especially if you hunt for yarn at a 2nd hand store!
Learn Some Basic Crochet Stitches
You probably already saw a bunch of cool projects when you were looking into crochet. You’ll get there. Once your yarn and supplies are gathered, every beginner will have to learn some basic stitches. We recommend learning these stitches in order. All terms are in U.S. U.K. crochet follow different terms. Before learning the stitches, start with the slip knot.
- Chain stitch
- Single stitch
- Double stitch
- Triple stitch
Also you should learn these ways to start your project-
- Slip knot
- Magic ring
That’s really it. If you want to start as a beginner, learn these two ways to start a project and these 4 stitches with the first two being most important.
How to Learn Beginner Crochet Stitches
It depends on the person but video seems to work better for most beginners compared to books. It doesn’t hurt to check out a few library books for some visual reference and to have a bunch of stitches in one place.
Take a look at our links above to learn the stitches, they are a great reference to bookmark and comeback to. They have both video and pictures to learn the basic stitches.
Have Persistence When Starting
If there is one trait you need when starting crochet as a beginner, it is persistance. You probably will want to quit sometime in the first week. The first 5 days are the hardest but challenge yourself to get the yarn in your hands.
Most beginners will quit crochet out of frustration but if you stick with it over a week or two, you can break past any first hump and will see results.
Practice and Practice Some More
Get the yarn in your hands. We can’t stress it enough for beginners. You might think you want to crochet this or that but you need to do it. Sit down while watching TV and bring out the crochet hook. Getting in a repetition of 50 to 100 stitches a day is a great start. The more the better. It won’t be long before you’ll be thinking, “maybe I can start a crochet business“, to turn your new hobby into income.
Aside from just stitches, beginners need to work on clean consistent stitches with correct tensioning. Tensioning takes time but it will come natural over time , the more you work with yarn. It may feel unnatural learning crochet stitches in the beginning but that doesn’t last long.
What to Work On: Take note of the stitches as a beginner and really focus on where to insert your crochet hook for the next stitch. Also continue to practice tension so your stitches look the same.
Final Thoughts on How to Start Crochet
Starting crochet begins here. You made it here, now get some yarn, hooks and get started. There’s no need to go out and buy tons of yarn until you find out if you enjoy crocheting or not. Just get enough to get started. If you love it then grab a beginner amigurumi pattern book.
Try to keep up a routine and crochet everyday for your first 3 weeks. If you do that it will quickly become a daily habit.
If you want to start on your first stitch, learn here. For those that know a few basic stitches than try out this for one of your first projects.
