I've been involved in a secret squirrel project: teaching myself to crochet. I started while away on Easter break and have been grabbing snippets of time whenever I can to make some little bits and pieces.
The other day while in Newtown on my way to get some buttons at the best button shop in town, I stumbled upon A Coffee and a Yarn. This is the new yarn store/cafe that you've probably read about on a few blogs. I hadn't realised it was so close to my destination and of course, once I spotted it, I had to pop inside for a quick visit.
Being a beginner and with zero yarn knowledge, I'm a bit of a sucker for the overly expensive purchase. Exhibit one: this exquisite "fine milk cotton" which I'm not sure whether to crochet with or eat: it actually contains milk proteins!
I started by making flower motifs from a pdf pattern by Sarah London. If you're an absolute beginner like me I'd recommend starting with grannies first, though. I eventually switched to making them and they were much easier to use as an exercise for understand the basics and practicing stitches.
Other beginner tips:
- Understanding the pattern explanations are a bit like learning another language. I stared blankly at first hoping to make some sense. It's worthwhile persisting because it's such fun when it finally sinks in!
- I bought Learning to Crochet because it includes some cute crochet trim patterns which I'd like to have a go at. You don't really need a book, though, as there's such a huge amount of information online.
- If you want to learn to make granny squares, Pip from Meet Me At Mikes has a great tutorial series which is easy to spot via the links in her blog sidebar.
- I think Ravelry is awesome but I'm putting it on the backburner for a little while until I learn a bit more. It can be a bit overwhelming to dive into first up.
- The best for my money on actually learning the stitches are Crochet Australia and Annies Attic because they use stitch diagrams which are large and easy to understand.
So far, so good: am loving my new crafty skill and especially the fact that it's so portable. Will post more photos as I go....