My aunt is visiting today - and I’m hoping she’s going to teach me to crochet. I learnt to knit as a kid, but never learnt crochet, so I’m quite excited. I started knitting a blanket about 12 months ago. I’m looking forward to starting a crochet blanket too. Maybe one day I’ll actually finish one!?
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Crochet is brilliant. It’s good to have a real live person showing you, I learned from Youtube!! 
It was good, but sometimes you just need to show someone to be sure you are doing it right 
Enjoy
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Oh good luck!
If you get on okay, I recommend a very nice book that I bought: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1844481417/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (there is a new version of this, but no idea if it’s different). It has lots of useful advice in.
Also I found a great crochet group via Facebook - their FB profile is “The Crochet Crowd”. They are based in Canada and USA, so their names for crochet stitches are US terms, but you can get “translators” online (and I think the Crochet Techniques book has one too). Once you’ve sorted out the different UK/US names for stitches, there are lots of patterns and very clear videos available from The Crochet Crowd - they work so hard to produce fabulous stuff for us!
Oh, and a very rewarding way to practice crochet, is to make little toys…
Have fun!
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I taught crochet for many years and spent years designing and making crocheted garments (sadly my hands no longer allow me to do it) However, just a quick point that might help…One of the things that many students struggled with , was holding the hook and yarn. To those people I taught them to hold it as if they were knitting…it doesn’t matter HOW you hold the hook and yarn as long as you make the stitch !!
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@teabreaks that is so true, when I tried to teach my mam to crochet she was initially holding the hook like a knitting needle! It looked so awkward to me but felt comfortable for her.
The one thing I didn’t note was that she was trying to wrap the yarn around the hook like in knitting (I presume) instead of getting tension and letting the hook do the work. That took her a while to master.
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Be careful what you wish for! I started crocheting a few years ago and now am totally hooked (yeah, yeah, pun intended!) I even have a pinterest board called “crochet ruined my life”. Any takers for CA (Crocheters Anonymous)? Seriously but, it is very addictive especially these days with so many funky patterns available and grogeous bright yarns.
How’s this for a handbag 
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LOL…just love that handbag…Be aware not to ruin your hands and wrists though. The constant twisting of my wrists is what finished me…I would crochet for up to 10 hours a day and could make a lady’s jacket in an evening !!!..my hands eventually began to get painful…not sure if it was RSI or arthritis , but probably a culmination of both. Knitting doesn’t involve so much wrist twisting and so is not so dangerous.
For those who love to experiment…check out my friend’s website www.knotjustknitting.com I used to belong to a fab online group of freeform crocheters and this lovely lady is one of the few talented ladies that came to stay with me (from Oz)…we also used to do yarn swaps and round robins, where someone would start a piece of crochet (just a few stitches) and post it on to the next one on the list who would add a few more…when you got the piece back, it was yours to keep,after travelling around the world…such a lot of fun…happy days…now I paint !!
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Hi all, I completely agree about crochet being totally addictive. I learnt 2.5yrs ago to help me give up smoking, I adore creating different things. My daughter’s have also learnt, the eldest crochets on the train to Uni!
Clare (lilgenie)
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I taught myself to crochet as a child and having been crocheting and knitting since a very young age.
I was crocheting away while in a reception awaiting for daughter to come out of her appointment and someone was watching and said How can you do that so fast and you don’t even look what your doing.?
I will admit I do a lot of crochet and knitting by feelings and occasionally looking down when it feels wrong.
So all the best it’s great fun but don’t as said spend too long at one siting doing it as you don’t want to get RSI. Little and often is the key and enjoy 
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This is FAB! I love it!
I learned to crochet from my Grandma, but hadn’t done much for ages, til I took it up again last summer. I just gave my mum a crochet elephant I made for her birthday (Birthday Elephant)
and I’m now making a baby blanket for a friend’s new baby… I might be “hooked” too!
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Very impressive! My skills end at making a square. But it’s a start
Fun , addictive , productive , therapeutic and burns calories ( doesn’t it ???!!!) win , win 
)
Don’t forget those hand exercises !!! …
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Don’t put yourself down, I started on granny squares, first using one colour then adding different colours then joining them together etc. You will learn all the techniques and stitches you need making squares and then, before you know it, you’ll be turning out gorgeous little amigarumi and cushions and handbags and anything else you fancy. Have fun x
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I have a crocheted bolero that I love and have worn lots. I would like another but haven’t come across any to buy or a pattern to make one. Anybody have ideas? - would love to be able to update this as it’s so pretty and so useful.
Hmmm… @MsCupCake, perhaps you might find something on Pinterest? Millions of crochet items pinned there! You could also try The Crochet Crowd (they have a Facebook Group and also a website: http://thecrochetcrowd.com/category/crochet-crowd-patterns/free-patterns/adult-clothing/)
Hope this is some help!
Lizzie
oh and this is a good place to start looking for free crochet patterns
http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory.php
another would be http://www.redheart.co.uk/free-patterns
I’ve not tried any of their patterns but the ladies on the forum I’m a moderator on recommend them both.
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Thanks, both: I had looked on Pinterest before but apart from there being a MASS of stuff, I was put off downloading one free pattern as it seemed to keep taking further into areas that were unfamiliar. For one, Optimizer Pro seemed to be a requirement - anyone else use this? heard of this? warn others of this??
Also …I may have a very specific and firm idea in my head!!
Wow, so many responses. Clearly there’s a real love of all things crochet out there! Think I might have to buy that book that someone recommended. So useful to have something which you can take anywhere too - my handbag making isn’t very transportable!
Ah, Eileen, “Redheart” are the company behind The Crochet Crowd, that I mentioned further up this thread. They have a great group going on Facebook - so many lovely people and their organisers are a fab. team.
ohhhh I didn’t know that. There’s so much out there if you know where to look isnt’ there.
To think when I was teaching myself to crochet as a child all I had was a handmade crochet blanket my auntie made me and a old hook with some yarn from a charity shop. There was just books at library if you could get a library or had to ask family and nieghbours to show how to crochet. Now there are so many wonderful ways to learn :).
Oh and I’ve seen lots of youtube video’s on crochet as well.
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