If your crochet work will have integrity this requires the spirit of patience.  Rushing does not allow for any mistakes.  Avoid it at all cost.  In the midst of your work stop and check the number and type of stitches as you go along. This is one way of quality checking your work. Otherwise, in your rush to get done mistakes will lie hidden throughout your finished piece.  I've found my share so far. On a lighter note, crochet as an art is very forgiving, We do learn from

A different color yarn is working for me, even a paper clip has worked.  So why buy stitch markers? I guess I'll learn why when I am no longer a beginner. (written 4/4/11)

cotton vs wool Cotton is a cellulose fiber and wool is a protein fiber. When you add water protein fibers weaken (think of hair).  I chose to start with cotton 'cause it was cheaper.  I didn't find out about fiber differences 'til later. Experts say you should start learning using wool yarn because it holds up better keeping its shape when you are working with it. Cotton yarn is supposed to be less stretchy thus harder to work with somehow. (written 4/3/11)

Colors inspire  Race to finish red versus natural For any fellow beginners of crochet who get bored easily, you could try to work on 2 identical projects at the same time in 2 different colors.  I'm working on a motif hat that needs 5 motifs. At moments I couldn't advance from the first round to the next.  I just kept running out of gas (maybe steam is better said).  So I bought more yarn in a brighter color (red) and started to compete with myself to see

arghh )=o Beginners beware of not documenting your work.  I was so taken back because I couldn't remember which hook number I had started with on my scarf!  The pattern called for 4mm, but when I went back to continue using that size hook the stitch looked so much bigger (huh?!).  Desperate, I tried 3.5mm, 2.5mm and finally 2mm (voila).  Don't ask me how a 4 becomes a 2, but this is surely what happened.  So I would strongly suggest documenting the materials that you use on

Book source:  Crochet So Fine Today I found that I could actually work on a large project without giving up the same day that I started it!  It's a pattern for a lace sweater wrap.  I will admit that since I set out on this crochet journey it has taken me a solid month to put my hands to the test in a large project.  Putting it off, I would always choose a much smaller project.  A month ago I saw the model photo of the sweater

If you're ever curious or anxious about crocheting with more than one color you may start with using two then venture to even more colors. I wanted to give this a try too.  After working a few patterns it didn't take long to figure that adding more than one color was going to be a lot of work. Just using one color leaves me with so many loose yarn ends. I just knew that by adding more colors even more loose ends would

Beside hooks, you also need to choose yarns.  I've found that I like some yarns better than others by far. As a beginner, I am warming up to the threads and finer yarns. It may have something to do with the pattern designs of my choice. I have tried cotton, mercerized cotton, and acrylic. Although the pattern may call for a different fiber, I always go for the cheaper yarns for practice sake. Not that the quality is cheap, just that the price is cheap. I've seen silks

It took several months to take courage to rework rows for that pink purse pattern. Getting the rows straight is the feature of this purse. My first try I gave up on. Here is my second try: