A learning path for crochet!

Learn to crochet! It's fun, portable, and results in endless silly gifts you can give to people you love.

If you've literally never picked up a crochet needle before, here's a step-by-step guide to getting started, from someone who's still a beginner herself (and remembers how daunting it can be)!

The basics

Step 1: Obtain supplies

Find your local haberdashery (shop that sells sewing and knitting things) or yarn shop. There will almost certainly be one nearby, probably run by a kindly witch.

It's worth finding a physical shop, because it's really helpful to be able to pop in and ask for advice or pick up an extra ball of yarn if you run out halfway through a project.

You don't need to buy much! For now, just get:

• One ball of yarn in a colour you like. Get a light colour (not black or navy), because it's easier to see your stitches. Look for a medium-weight acrylic yarn - wool and cotton feel nicer and are more sustainable, but they're more difficult to unravel when you make a mistake (and you'll make lots of mistakes). An acrylic-wool blend is also fine. It might be labelled "medium", "worsted" or "Aran". Ask the kindly witch if you're confused.
• One crochet hook in a size that matches the yarn. If you look on the yarn label, you'll see that it has a tiny picture of a crochet hook and a size underneath, e.g. 3.5mm. That's the size crochet hook recommended for that yarn. Ideally, start with a 3.5mm-5mm hook. If you can, get a hook with a rubber handle.
• (Optional) A darning needle. This is used to sew individual crochet pieces together, but you can also just use your hook.

Even better - if you have a friend or relative who crochets, just ask if you can borrow some of their supplies.

Step 2: Learn how to make a basic slip knot and a chain

Watch this video and learn how to make a basic slip knot and chain. Just practice that for a while over the next few days. Make chains, pull them undone again, over and over, until you can do it without watching the video to remind yourself how it's done.

Your first project (Newbie)

Once you're comfortable with slipknots and chains, learn your first crochet stitch (single crochet) and make a thing! I suggest following this tutorial to make an ear warmer: they're mega-simple, small, and it's really motivating to finish something. It doesn't matter if you don't wear headbands, just give it to someone who does.

This simple project will teach you a lot:

1. How to start and make a foundation row.
2. Single-crochet.
3. Turning.
4. Counting your stitches.
5. Ending your project.
6. Weaving two pieces together.
7. The AWESOME SATISFACTION of crocheting a thing!

If you really don't want to make a headband, other good first projects are washcloths and bookmarks, just find a tutorial that specifies that it's for absolute beginners and only uses one type of stitch.

Granny squares (Advanced Newbie)

Once you've made a really simple thing, learn how to make a granny square! This will introduce you to a number of new ideas: magic circles, double-crochet stitches and working in the round. This is a great tutorial for beginners.

You'll need about an hour of focussed time the first time you watch the video. Pause as often as you need. You will mess up! The lovely thing about crochet is that it's very easy to just unravel back to where you went wrong and start again. I unravelled two whole squares before I managed to make one that looked correct!

Once you've made your first square, go ahead and make a bunch more. Make squares until you no longer need to check the instructions, and you can bust them out while watching TV or talking to a friend. The point of this step is to put in enough repetition to drill the basic movements into your brain until they feel automatic.

If you like, assemble the granny squares into something cute, or just use them as coasters.

Consolidate your learning (Beginner)

I believe it's more useful to first learn a skill on an actual project you care about, and then layer in some of the theoretical stuff. Once you've made a headband and some granny squares, that's a good time to do a little more explicit learning.

Your best option is to find an experienced crocheter and just watch them. For instance, my local library hosts a weekly "knit and natter" club. If that's not an option, there are loads of free video series online, or Zoe Bateman's book You Will Be Able to Crochet By the End Of This Book is brilliant.

The next major skills you need to learn are:

1. How to control your tension.
2. How to change colour/yarn.
3. How to increase and decrease.
4. The basic stitches (single, double, half-double etc.)
5. Working front loop only/back loop only.

At this point, start a notebook or list of ideas for beginner-friendly projects that you'd like to try that have simple video tutorials, and work through them in what looks like increasing complexity. I find it very motivating to make gifts for people! At this stage, projects I made included:

• A simple ribbed beanie.
• An infinity scarf.
• A potplant pot cover.
• A market bag.
• A smol cute penguin (little crocheted animals are called Amigurumi).

If you make enough different things, you'll eventually cover all of these skills!

At this level, have fun experimenting with different yarns, and you might want to buy a couple more hooks in different sizes to go with them. Don't get lured into buying all the other gadgets like stitch markers (just use safety pins) or fancy yarn snippers shaped like birds (I'm sure you already have scissors).

Level up (Advanced Beginner > Intermediate)

Things get real when you start to read patterns, and make fancy decorative stitches. My advice? Don't rush this. It's so much harder to learn to read crochet patterns if you're not yet comfortable with all the basic skills. Keep making beginner-level projects until you feel comfortable with all the skills in the previous step.

When you're ready, learn to read a crochet pattern, and find an "advanced beginner" or "intermediate" one that excites you.

I am juuuuust getting to this level. But at this point, I'm planning to make things like striped legwarmers, wavy jumpers and children's toys. From here, the world is your Amigurumi oyster!

Happy crocheting :)