SaveTwenty minutes a day for six days works far better than three hours on a Sunday. Crochet is muscle memory, and muscle memory consolidates while you sleep. People who practise in short daily sessions get comfortable in about a week. People who cram get sore hands and give up.
Part of our learn to crochet library.
You need a 5.0 mm hook, one ball of smooth worsted yarn in a light colour, and a blunt needle. Light colour is not an aesthetic preference: dark and fluffy yarns hide the stitch, and at this stage you need to see exactly where the hook is going.
Day 1: holding it, and the slip knot
Ten minutes. Make a slip knot, put it on the hook, and practise holding both hook and yarn until it stops feeling like cutlery. There are two common hook grips, pencil and knife, and neither is correct. Try both and keep whichever your hand stops thinking about.
The yarn hand does the tension, not the hook hand. Run the working yarn over your index finger and let it slide. If your hand aches, you are gripping the hook the way you would grip a pen in an exam.
Day 2: the chain
Chain thirty. Then chain thirty again. Look at the two and see whether they match. Even chains are the foundation of everything and the first thing to go wrong.
Chain loosely. A tight foundation chain is the single most common cause of a first project that curls along the bottom and never lies flat.
Day 3: single crochet
Chain twenty, then work single crochet back along it. Insert the hook under both loops of the V, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through both. Do one row. Count the stitches. You should have nineteen.
Day 4: turning, and why edges wander
Chain one, turn, work back. Do ten rows and count every single one. This is the day the habit forms, and the habit is what prevents the gradual narrowing everybody gets.
| If row 10 has | It means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer stitches than row 1 | Missing the last stitch | Count to the end, every row |
| More stitches | Working twice into the first | Skip the turning chain |
| The same number | Nothing is wrong | Carry on |
Day 5: double crochet
Yarn over first, then in, pull up a loop, through two, through two. It covers ground about twice as fast as single crochet, which is why most patterns use it. Work ten rows.
Day 6: a finished dishcloth
Chain thirty one in cotton. Single crochet across, chain one, turn. Repeat until it is square, roughly twenty five rows. Fasten off and weave in the ends with the blunt needle.
It will be slightly wonky. It will also wash up, which is the point, and every subsequent one will be better than the last.
What goes wrong in week one
- It gets narrower. Losing the last stitch, which hides under the turning chain.
- It is too tight to get the hook in. Everyone does this. Deliberately make the loops too loose for a few rows and they will land about right.
- Your hand aches. You are gripping too hard. Loosen until the hook almost falls out.
- You cannot see where to put the hook. Almost always the yarn. Change to a plain light worsted and the problem disappears.
Questions
How long does it take to learn crochet?
Twenty minutes a day for a week gets you a usable dishcloth. About a month of occasional practice makes most beginner patterns readable.
What should I make first?
A dishcloth. Small, square, one stitch, and being slightly wonky does not matter because it is going to wash up.
How do I hold a crochet hook?
Like a pencil or like a knife. Neither is correct. Try both for a few minutes and keep the one your hand stops noticing.
Why does my crochet keep getting smaller?
You are missing the last stitch of each row. Count every row for the first ten and the habit fixes itself permanently.
What yarn should I learn on?
Smooth worsted acrylic in a light colour. Not dark, not fluffy, not textured.
Is crochet hard to learn?
The first two days are awkward and then it becomes automatic. It is considerably more forgiving than knitting because there is only one live loop.