Crochet for the Absolute Beginner

1. Crochet for the Absolute Beginner- Introduction: Hi, it's Kimberly. In today's class, we're gonna be talking about Crow Schaefer, the absolute beginner. If you've never picked up yarn and a hook, or if it's been a while, this classes for you. So let's get started so quickly. I want to go over the lesson plan for this class. First, we're gonna be talking about the materials you'll need, so we'll be going over yarn and hooks and other tools that you'll need. Next. I'm gonna sure you have to do a slip knot in a chain. Next, I'll be showing you how to do a single crochet a followed by a double Cochet and then finally will learn 1/2 double Cochet. There are many more stitches, but this will be the basics to get you started. And finally, we're gonna talk about our class project, which is how to do a gauge swatch and why this is important for all your crimes. Shape projects, right? Let's get started 2. Materials: all right. The first thing we're gonna go over are the materials that you need to crush A. So first, let's talk about hooks. As you can see, hooks come in many different sizes, and the size that you used will depend on what you're making the size arm that you're gonna be using and what you're pattern may call for. So these are aluminum hooks I have here, but they also come and wood and plastic, so you can buy whatever your preferences. So let's actually take a closer look at this secure. So as you can see on the hook, this one says, I slash nine 5.5 millimeter. So pretty much all of this is just a way to classify the size of the hook. Um, again, your pattern will direct you to the size hooking me to use. However, you may be to go up or down a size depending on your gauge. So we'll talk about gauge a little bit later. So now let's look at the hook itself. So here you have the hook. This is the portion that you will be moving in and out of your work. Next. We have this narrow portion, which is called the throat. Then you have the shaft. The shaft is where you'll keep your loops as you're working them. So if you notice that your stitches air really tight, you may be working down at the narrow part of the neck instead of the shaft. So that's just an important part to remember. This will help keep your stitches even in the same size if you just make sure that you're working in the shaft and then where the the sizes is your handle. Okay, so next let's talk about different types of yarn. I have a few examples here, so yarn comes in many colors and sizes in fiber, so let's first talk about the fiber. The fiber content of your yarn is very important. You can have 100% pure wool yarn. Acrylic yarn. Cotton yarns are a blend of these. There are even some expensive choices, like cashmere and silk. But you want to think about what you're making when picking your yarn fiber. For example, this yarn here is 100% cotton. It's good for items that may be used in the kitchen like potholders. If you're making a baby item like a blanket or a sweater. You may want to choose something like an acrylic yarn. It's soft, and it's less likely to irritate a baby skin. However, this acrylic yarn would not be good in the kitchen as it can melt. What's something hot again? Acrylic is a type of plastic, so just you have to be careful not to use this to make potholders or washcloths cause it could melt. Another example is wool, so symbols can be very scratchy. This one's actually pretty soft, but symbols can be very scratchy, and it may be better for items that would be for warmth, such as a sweater, hat or scarf. Also, each type of fiber will have different cleaning instructions. Yes, you may not be ableto wash all of these in the washing machine. That may be important If, for example, you're giving a baby item for a gift, you may not be able to put it in the washing machine, so that's just another consideration. The next. Let's talk about the way to the arm when we say Wait. We're just pretty much talking about the thickness of the yarn I'm gonna put up a chart of the standard weights a yarn, and we'll discuss them briefly. So first we have, um, the yarn weights. They go from 0 to 6. So zero is life's way. That's very fine. So the the smaller the number, the finer the yarn zeros likes way. It's a very, very fine yard. Number one is super fine. You may also hear this called fingering or suck sock weight yarn. Next, we have number two fine yarn. You may hear this called be called sport weight or like DK weight. Next, you have number three light your This is usually called DK or light worsted. Next is number four medium weight or worsted weight that she have number five bulky. Wait. You may also hear this called chunky, and next you have number six is the Super Bowl key, and you may also hear this called robing. Also on a briefly talk about how yarn comes when you purchase them. Yarn purchased from a store such as Hobby Lobby, Michaels or Jo Ann, We usually you'll usually find the Georgians in a skein or ball like thes two. However, if you purchase a hand dyed yarn or more exotic fibers. You may see them and come like this in a Hank so you can't work directly from a Hank like this. It will need to be wound into a ball before you start working with it. Most small local yarn stores can do this for you. Or if you have a arm swift and ball Blinder, you can turn this Hank into a workable yarn yourself the next. Let's take a look at a yarn label and put it all together. So first we have this yarn here. So I love the shorn from hobby lobby again. This came from my own stash. Um, so I love this, John, you have your title here. Usually they include a free pattern. So So next we have our color name, and we have a lot number. If your yarn has a lot number and you need to purchase more than one ball to make an item, make sure you look at the lot member to make sure that numbers the same. When manufacturers die, the yorn they die in lops. So, um, if you buy from separate lots, they may be slightly different in color. So you just want to make sure that that numbers the same if you have to purchase more than one ball. All right. Next, you have gauge measurements for omitting and crow. Shea and those also give you the recommended hook and needle sizes for this charm. So for knitting, they recommend a US 85 millimeter. And for Cochet, they recommend an I nine or 5.5 millimeter. And then here you have the amount of your in. So this is a seven ounce, 199 graham follow yarn. So that's the weight of the yarn. And then you also have, um, the length of yarn. See, you have 355 yards or 325 meters again. This Sean is 100% acrylic, so that's also listed there. And here you have the symbol. Maybe, um So again, it's telling us that it's a medium or worsted weight yarn, and you also have care instructions. So there are many different type of care instructions on, and you can find these on the Internet. But for example, this one here in the middle, um, is an iron with the X through enemies do not on your again cause it's acrylic. So will melt. So pretty much this is you can look at the label and they'll have this information on that . So other tools that you may need to crow Shea, of course, she may need some scissors. You may need a yarn needle, so this one's very blunt, and it has a big opening toe to get yarn through. You'll need this toe we've in your ends at the end. And you also may need a stitch marker. Some patterns may have the mark stitches so that, you know, um, where that stitches later. So that may be a good option. Two by two. All right, so those were the materials that we're gonna be using to crash a, and I'll see in the next video. 3. Slip Knot & Chain Stitch: OK, in this video, I'm gonna show you how to do a slip knot and chain stitch. See here a have a I 9 5.5 millimeter hook and a worsted weight for medium weight yarn. So to do a slip knot, you're gonna take your tail and drape it over your hands, your fingers, and then you're gonna wrap it around your fingers, and then I'm gonna take this part and kind of loop it through and then pull it tight. That loop is what you're gonna put onto your curse. She like that. Okay, let me show you in. Take my tail, drape it over my fingers, wrap it around, kind of pinch it, bring your working here and three the the circle and then pull it tight. There are many ways to do a slip knot. That's just my preference. A pattern is never going to tell you to do a slip knot. It's just a given that you'll start with a slip knot already on your hook. Okay, so my tail, I'm going to kind of keep to the back in my working yarn that's coming from my ball. A keep from the left now I am left handed. However, I learned to crush a right handed, so I keep my hook in my right hand. And I worked my yarn with my left hand. If you're left handed and you want to crush a left handed, you just switch your hook to your left hand. Okay? But I am crushing right handed also, the way you hold your hook. It just it's whatever your preferences. So I prefer to hold my hook like this. Some people hold it like this. Um, there's just many ways to do that. You just need to practice different ways, And whatever's comfortable for you is the way that you should do it. There's no right or wrong way to do it. Same thing with working the yarn. Some people, um, hold a finger up and kind of work like this. I prefer just a khanna kind of keep it in between my fingers. So it's really just again. It's your preference to how you wanna hold your yarn. All right, So to start with the chain, you're going to wrap the yarn around the hook from back to front. Okay? You show you that again, you're going to wrap your yarn from back to front. So we're gonna and this is called yarn Over. So we're yearning over and then we're gonna pull that first loop through delude that's already on our hook. Okay, Me show you again. We're gonna yarn over and pull three. My preference is to keep my pointer finger of my right hand on the loop. That's on the shaft of the hook and I keep my thumb and pointer finger of my left hand kind of grabbing the work. That way I can control my work a little easier, but again, you do what you feel comfortable with, and you may have to practice multiple ways to do it. Um, but there's no right again. There's no right or wrong way to do it. You just want your stitches to be nice and even you want them all to look the same. It's again, I'm yearning over. I'm pulling that first leap through my second loop, and if you notice I'm always coming back down to the shaft, you never want to stay appear by the throat because that can make your stitches really tight. So you always want to bring your stitches back down to the shaft, and that's the chain. So let's take a look at what we've done. So where chains or there you see, they look like these. If you flip it over, you see there's a little notch you see map. So the front is the V's, and then the back. There's a little notch, just depending on the pattern they may have you work into when you go back the other way. You may be working into those notches, but just kind of get familiar and what a chain is supposed to look like. So that's the back. That's the front. I will also mention that this loop that's on your hook does not count as a stitch. So when you're going back to make sure you have the correct number, do not count the loop that's already on your hook. Also, when the pattern calls for you to chain, it'll be abbreviated C H. So it may say C H 20 your ch 100. All right, so that's the chain stitch. I'll see you in the next video for the single Curuchet 4. Single Crochet: So in this video, I'm gonna teach you how to do a single crochet. A. I have already, um, done my chain, so I have chained 16 stitches. So when we do our single crow Shea on the first row, we're gonna actually start in the second chain from the hook. So we're gonna skip. So remember, this one doesn't count. We're gonna skip the first chain, and then we're gonna insert our hook in the second chain someone a insert my hook. Let me show you how I did that again. Some skipping the 1st 1 going into the 2nd 1 like that. And the money yarn over and again Yarn over back to front. Gonna pull up a loop through that first loop. So now I have two loops on my hook, You know, many yarn over again and pull that through the last two. Okay? And that's my single Cochet. So the reason why you skipped the first chain is because you have to kind of build up that row to be the height of a single crow. Shea. So by skipping that first chain, we're making the side the same height as a single. Cochet is and I'll. It'll make more sense when we come to this end and we turn. So from now on, I'm gonna work in each chain. So again, I stick my hook in. Ah, yarn over. I pull through that loop a yarn over. Pull three, both leaps. Okay, again, I'm going to go through that loop. That chain you are in over. Pull through. Yarn over. Pull through both. You want to go through that chain you're in. Over. Pull through that loop. You are in over. Pull through both leaps. Can I take through that blue? That chain you're in Over. Pull through. You are in over. Pull three. We're coming up to our last chain. Okay, so there we have our first row of single Croshere. So again, we started with 16 and we skipped that 1st 1 so we should have 15 slits count. 12 34 567 89 Tune 11 12 13 14 15. Saleh suggests as you go through that you kind of keep track of your stitches. So just make sure that if you start with 15 that you have 15 each row. Sometimes as a beginner, you could accidentally add a stitch or subtracted stitch. So we have 15. So let's look at what we've made here. If you can see on the top, you have the V shape. So that's what we want. Okay. And if these air these air called, um, loops. So you have your front loop in your back loop. Some patterns will have you work into one or the other. The regular single crow Shea, you work, um, through both of these. I do also want to mention that this is American Crow Shea. There is a UK single crow Shea, That's a different stitch, but this is us crushing. All right, so now we have to turn our work and continue down for the next row. So we again we have to build up our stitch height to the height of a single crush. A. And how we do that is we just chain one like that. Now we turn our work. So in crush A, you're working mainly right toe left. So that's why you have to turn your work. Also, this chain one some patterns Consider that a stitch for our purposes were not, um and so we're actually gonna work into that first chain. It's again. I'm going to go through both loops of that stitch we made gonna pull through. You're in over pool three again. Go through both Lukes. You're in over. Pull up a loop. You are in over. Pull through bed sleeps. Okay, so we're just going to keep working our way down to the other end, Get a little bit more yarn case. We're coming up to the end stitched number 14. And then we go into that very last single. Curuchet, pull up a loop yarn over. Okay, so that's our second row of single Curuchet. So you had a turn again? One more time. So again, we got a chain one, and then turn. I work. Each time I'm working the yarn over. I always bring it back down to the shaft. That will ensure that your stitches air the same size and that your stitches air nice and even that they're all the same size coming up to the end of our row. I'm going to that last single Kirsch A. They would go. That's the single crow Shea and I suggest if you just practice this, um, over and over, you can keep going with this little gauge swatch. Right? See, in the next video 5. Double Crochet: All right, so in this video, we're gonna learn how to do the double crow Shea. So here I have a chain of 18 stitches. And just like the single crow Shea, when we're working back into the chain, we're gonna have to skip some stitches to get our row the height that we want of a double Cochet Again. Your pattern will usually tell you if this, um of which one to go into. And it will also tell you if he skipped chains count as a stitch or not for these videos, we're gonna just not count these as a stitch. So to start a double crush A you're gonna actually yarn over before you stick your hook into the chain. So again we're gonna yarn over from back to front and to start with our double crush A we're going to go into the fourth chain from the hooks that we have 1234 So we're gonna sticker hook into the fourth chain, so that gives us three on the hook. We're gonna yarn over, and we're just gonna go through that first loop again. That gives us three. We're gonna yarn over, go through to of the three that leaves us to on the hook. We're gonna yarn over again and then go through the last to so that your double crush a Okay, so again, we're gonna yarn over before we sticker again. Stick your hook, pull up a loop that should give you three. You're in Over. Pull through to you are in over. Pull through to Okay, so there's our double Curuchet, she comptel They're a little bit taller than the single you're on over. Consider pull up a limp. You're in over. Pull through to you aren't over. Pull through to and again every time you want to bring it back down to the shaft of the hook. Okay, We're just going to keep going to the end of the road, - coming up to the end in the row. We've got one more there. He aren't over. Consider, hook urine over pulled loop. You are never pulled through Two loops. Yarn over. Pull through two loops. Okay. Yeah. So, again, we should have 15 again. I'm not counting this one. This these chains that we made here 123456 789 10 11 12 13 14 15. All right, so just like single crow Shea, we're gonna have to build up our next room, um, and then turn our work to keep going. So to do that with double Cruciate, you're gonna chain 31 to three. Then I'm gonna turn my work, okay? And again because I'm not counting these chains as a stitch. I'm gonna start my work in that first double crush a there, the Yemeni yarn over. Insert my hook into that first double Cochet yarn over. Pull up a loop. You are in over. Pull through to you aren't over pulled through, Chief. As you can see, it kind of leaves a little. Um, it kind of sticks out a little bit. That's mainly why some count that as a stitch? Um, because it does stick out a little bit. All right, so we're just gonna keep working our way down doing our double Cochet. Can you? Your on over, insert your hook. You're in over. Pull up a loop. You're in over. Pull through two loops. Yarn over. Pulled through two loops in a pattern. The double crow Shea is abbreviated D. C. Again. Just to remind you, you're gonna go through both loops of that stitch below unless the pattern tells you other wives. So we're coming to the end. This is my last ditch again because I'm not counting those chains as a stitch. Okay, so there you go. That's the double Cochet. Again, I recommend that you just keep working your way up to make a nice gauge Swatch. All right. And the next video, we'll cover half double kirsch a 6. Half Double Crochet: OK, in this video, we're going to go over the half double Curuchet. And again, this is in U. S. Terms. The UK has a different meaning for that. So this is us terminology. So here I have a chain of 17 stitches. And just like the single in the double Cochet, you have to skip a few stitches in order to work your half double crochet A. So for this, I'm going to go into the third chain. So to do 1/2 double, you're gonna yarn over and again Going into the third time, I insert my hook yarn over, pull up a loop and I'm in a yarn over and pull through all three loops. Okay, So show you again. Can you turn over, insert my hook into the next chain, aren't over and pull it pollute? I mean the yarn over and pull through all three loops. - Since you can see with 1/2 double, it's it's taller than a single. It shorter than doubles kind of in the middle there. I'll tell you. I like the half double cruciate. It's, um it has a lot of texture and visual. Um, a little bit of a visual interest with the ridge that it makes so again you yarn over, insert your hook into the next ditch, you aren't over. Pull a pollute yarn over pull through all three loops and again with As with all my stitches, I'm gonna bring the work back down to the shaft of the hook That ensures that your stitches air the same size and that they're gonna be even. - Okay , we're coming to the end of our room. I got one more. Okay, so there's our row of half double Cochet. Let me just show you the back real quick if you comptel. But you have your V's at the top. But then you have this third row there because you went through all three loops together. You're gonna have your regular V's and then you're gonna have this bump on the back again. That's what half double crush A. It's just the beauty of the stitch. Some patterns may have you go through that back groove and that adds texture and in a different dimension to the work. So I just wanted to show you that. So here's the the front top V. And then if you look at the back. There's a back, a back grij there, you see that there's your top be. And if you turn, it kinda looks like another B. But that's your back, Ridge. All right, so to do have double Cochet to turn your work, you're gonna actually chain, too. As with the other stitches that I mentioned, some patterns will count these as part of a chain at these two chains as part of a stitch, we're gonna actually not count them. So I'm gonna chained to in turn it's again. I'm gonna work in that first stitch there. So here you can really see it. There's that the red bumps. But you're actually your V is right here. So many yarn over and go through the B yarn over. Pull up a loop yarn over pulled through all three loops. What kind of does look like? There's two these there, Really? We want to make sure we're working on the top. The again, unless the pattern tells you otherwise. The stitches really easy to see once you make a first row and then you kind of work back into it. It's kind of easy to see where you're where you're supposed to put your hook. - Okay , We're coming up to the end of the row. And again, I'm not counting those skipped chains as a stitch. I'm not counting these, so I'm not gonna work into that. Gonna just go into our last little stitch here and again. That should give us 15. After worker. She 23456789 Teen 11 12 13 14 15. So here you can really see that third ridge there has a nice texture to the stitch. All right, so we're gonna just turn one more time again, I'm gonna chain, too. And I'm gonna turn my work yarn over and then work into that burst, not crush. She could be. All right. So that's how you do the half double crochet. 7. Class Project- Gauge Swatches: Okay, so next we're gonna talk about gauge swatches and we've been practicing the stitch patterns , but in actuality, you've been doing a gauge swatch. So I'm gonna This is our single Cochet or Double Christian are half double crush a mist that these two aside and let's look at our single Curuchet, it's again. Some patterns will give you a gauge Swatch. Some will not. So it really just depends on what you're making. Some things like a washcloth. You may not need a gauge watch, right, because the size of the item really doesn't matter things that you will wear, like a sweater or a hat. You definitely want to do a gauge watch because you want to make sure that you're crashing in the way that the pattern designer, um, the the way their measurements are that way that your item turns out the correct size. All right, so the pattern or the the gauge swatch that we're gonna use I found for a four inch by four inch square is gonna be 12 single Cochet across by 15 rows. So what that means is in a If I measure four inches, the gauge distribute 12 single Curuchet and 15 rows. So let's see what we get. All right, so you can pick any, um, wrote a measure, but you want to make sure you're picking of the sitch to start some gonna line it up line ma zero up at the beginning of a V stitch. You see there because that's a stitch right here. So let's count one to 34 5678 9 10 11 12 13. So I have 13 stitches within my four inches. So actually have one stitch more than the gauge calls for. So if I'm doing this cage and I see that I'm I have more stitches than what calls for. Then I probably need to loosen up my Cochet so I may be crashing a little bit tight because I have an extra stitch in my gauge. Okay, so that's really that information is tell me, and I known from history that I am a tight crow shayr, so I probably would want to just loosen my, um, loosen my stitches up a little bit. If you're off by five or six stitches, you may want to go up the hook size. So if you were using, and I hook on I 5.5 millimeter, and you have a lot more stitches than what the gauge calls for. You may want to do another gauge with a J Hook, a six millimeter hook to see if you get the gauge. That way, let's say you are, Let's say, the gauges. 12 single crow Schaefer four inches and you get eight single crush A. That's kind of exaggerating, but let's say you're way below what the gauge is telling us. That means you're crushing to loose. That means you have fewer stitches than what it's calling for in that for inches. That manger Crow Shea is too loose, so you may want to do another gauge swatch with tiding. Make sure your stitches air a little bit tighter or you could go down a hook size. So if you go down a hook size, that means you should have those stitches. Um, you should have more stitches in that four inch. So really, I'm off by one stitch. I'm not really gonna change my hook size, but I may want to just pay attention to how I'm crushing. Make sure my stitches air a little looser and again from history. I know I'm a little bit tighter with my crush. A All right, so that's this. That's the width of this. So 12 single croce across. So let's see how our height is doing. So we should have according to our gauge, 15 rows and for inches, someone a move. I'm gonna move this, um, two more vertical and again, I'm gonna kind of line it up. I'm actually going to start here at this end. So we have 1234 5678 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. So I'm actually on Gage with my rose. So the gauge swatch called 4 15 rows, and that's how many I have. So again, I just read your pattern and make sure that you are, um, that you're getting the right number of rose again. I was only one off this way. So that way on, I know I just need to crush a little bit looser to get Teoh, um, get fewer stitches in my four inches Again, if you have too many stitches, that means you're crushing tighter than what the gauge calls for. So you may want to go up a hook size. If you have too few stitches in your four inches you want to. That means you're crushing very loosely and you may want to go down a hook size again. One or two stitches off. It's probably not that big of a deal, but if you're 56 stitches off, then you may want a gesture hook size and try another gauge watch with that yarn in that different hook size. All right, so that's pretty much what gauge watches are. Um e quickly. I want to just show you how to weave in ends. So here is my tail. After a detached after I was done with my project, someone take my yarn needle and three of my arm. I'm just gonna take my end. I'm just going to kind of leave it in the work. So you never really want to tie knots in your work because that you may be able to feel. Yeah, but if you just wave your end back through your stitches, you don't have to do very many. So I'm gonna do about four stitches. Then I'm gonna pull it through. You can kind of just pull it back into shape, and then I'm gonna go back the other way. So you can either kind of skip down to the next row or kind of just go through the same stitches. And it's okay if you work in between the fiber of the yarn. That actually helps make sure that that yarns not gonna move okay like that. Then I'm actually going to go back one more time. Someone actually moved down to the next room. You just kind of work it through? Yeah, it's okay if you go through the stitch pull in time. So actually, we did it. We've did my in three different directions. So this way wants this way and then this way. So that makes sure that it'll it'll pretty much stay in any way that it's pulled or tugged . It'll stay in. So now I'm gonna clipped my till you end off cames There goes, disappears. You can't really see it. Okay, I'll show you one more time on this side. This is the sad that we actually started on with our chain. So there is kind of a little not there from your slip knot, but that's okay. So thread or needle. That's why you want to make sure you give yourself a long enough till they're to weave in your hands. I'm just going to kind of take it and we Vivian, pull it three. Sure. I'm not sentient it up too much. I'm gonna go back in the other direction. Well, in Moore town. Go right. Slide it in between. So if you see any term a needle PC, you can't. I'm not showing the yarn on the other side. I'm really going through the stitches themselves. Okay, so you just kind of blended in there. Give it a nice little tug that way, those pop out and then you just cut repose, you know, through woven Indians. Thank you so much for joining me in this class. If you have any questions or comments, um, please let me know, and I look forward to doing more classes for you and teaching you more tools, techniques and tools for crush A Thanks