crochet knitting

I'm hooked! Learning to crochet...

by Liz Beavis
Since I've got more confident with knitting, I've been thinking I should learn to crochet too.  I did make a couple of finger crocheted rag rugs after a lady at our local permaculture group gave me a quick lesson, but I had not yet mastered the crochet hook.  I had the basic idea though, from all the finger crochet, so I really just had to sit down with some wool and a hook and one of my many crochet books and figure it out.

My first grannie squares

If you want to learn to crochet, I recommend finding someone patient to show you, even a quick 15 minute lesson is better than nothing.  At least you will have the feel for it.  I spent ages looking at diagrams in books, but I really needed someone to show me how to hold the yarn and the hook before I could follow the diagrams.  If you can't find anyone to show you in person, here is a really good youtube tutorial.  This is also a good refresher to help you remember what you learnt.  I like the way the presenter explains the technique and talks through every step.




When you master the basic stitches, you're going to want to make some grannie squares!  I think the most fascinating thing about crochet, particularly if you're coming from a knitting mindset, is that you can crochet straight lines, or you can go around.  It took me a while to see the difference, but its important.  While knitting is really only two dimensional, crochet can create 3-D shapes.  Also its very quick (but a little holey!).  
Here are the two grannie square tutorials that I used to make the squares in the photo.  Be careful though, grannie squares are a little addictive.  I kept thinking, just one more round and I'll stop.  I think that's how rugs happen.....

basic granny square pattern

honey and roses granny squares

I kind of want to crochet a nice scarf using some alpaca wool and this pattern, but I really need to finish the knitted scarf I started, and now its spring, eek!  I better get knitting fast!

So what about you?  Do you crochet?  Or knit?  Or both?  How do you think they compare?  And what tips do you have for beginners?

See below Amazon Affiliate links for a few knitting books that I find useful including the one I mentioned above.  If you buy through these links I get a small commission at no extra cost for you.  If you're reading this on email or blog reader, you will need to visit my blog to see all the links.

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