Our goals with these lessons are to:
One: Keep it really simple and quick to learn crochet.
Two: Continue to teach while you are working on the projects.
Three: Have a fun free project to make every time. And maybe some more to help you practice.
In lesson one we are going to learn :
1: How to attach the yarn to our hook with a slip knot.
2: How to hold our yarn with your other hand.
3: How to make a chain stitch.
4: How to fasten off.
That is it, that is all that we need to know to start making our first projects.
1: How to do a Slip Knot
So lets get started. The very first thing that you are going to need to know how to do is make a slip knot. To do this there are several ways and we will cover more of them over several projects, but to keep things simple lets just start with one. That is all we really need.
Here it is again step by step:
Step one: Starting with the tail end of the yarn and going toward the ball of yarn.
-Start by holding the tail with your thumb in the bottom left corner of the X.
-Wrap the yarn around your hand in a diagonal to make the first side of your X.
-Bring it straight down the back of your hand.
-Wrap it around the front side to make the second side of your X.
-Bring it straight down the back side of your hand.
Step Two: Flip your hand over to see the two loops going across the back of your hand.
Step 3: Going under the first loop, pinch the second loop.
Step 4: Pull the second loop through and pull everything tight.
That's our first skill. Go ahead, pat yourself on the back. This is a major crochet skill. You will need to make this knot or variation of it for almost every crochet project you make.
2: How To Hold our Yarn
How to hold your yarn:
- Starting at the ball of yarn (Working end of yarn), weave the yarn between your pinky and ring finger coming in from the back of your hand.
- Then drape the yarn over your ring finger and middle finger and let it go back to the back of your hand.
Wrap it up over your pointer finger.
Pinch the slip knot with your middle finger and thumb.
That is how I like to hold my yarn. There are multiple different ways to do this. This is just how I like to do it. I encourage you to try it out this way to start. You might adjust while you are crocheting into something that is more comfortable for you as you go along but this will give you an idea on where to start. There isn't a wrong or right way to do this. We all do it just a little differently and that's okay.
3: How to make Chain Stitches:
How to make a chain stitch.
- Yarn over - what I mean by that is to wrap the yarn around you hook so you can catch it with the end of your hook.
- Pull the yarn through the loop that is already on your hook.
- Now your original loop that was on your hook is a chain stitch and your yarn over is the new loop on your hook.
4: How to Fasten off.
- Yarn over - Which means to wrap the yarn around your hook so you can grab it with the end of your hook.
- Pull yarn through loop on hook.
Pull it tight by pulling on one side of the yarn that is on your hook until it tightens up.
Now you can cut the yarn. I like to pull the knot out to be as tall as I want my tail to be long. It is a good habit to get into, to leave a long enough tail that you can weave it in later. We haven't gone over weaving in ends. In our first project we don't have to do that. But we will still want our tail to be 4 or 5 inches long and you will usually want atleast that much of a tail at the end.
Congratulations!!! You have completed lesson one! Now we are ready to start some fun projects.
And just for some encouragement. Learning anything just takes some time and practice. And an ability to laugh at yourself. So I really encourage you to have fun with it. And while you are learning to crochet, I am learning to take videos. So we are learning together. Here are some outtakes from the video I made above. Thanks for coming by everyone!