Although I could jump in and give you the ropes on crocheting, you'd be left in a pretty sore spot if you grab the wrong hook or end up with a ball of knots and nooses. Therefore, I'd like to give you some hints and tips for the first steps of your journey... things people usually don't think about.

The Hook

There are all kinds of hooks out there, but it's not necessary to spend a small fortune on a proper tool.For the most part, I see two brands: Susan Bates, and Boye. A crochet hook is pretty thin and narrow, usually made of aluminum or plastic. It has a 'hook' on one end which catches string while you partake in the hobby, creating stitches, and ultimately... a cloth. Hooks come in all sorts of sizes, and the sizes should be used for different kinds of projects.

Unfortunately, the standard for measuring hook sizes depends on brand, country, or pattern. Most hooks though, will show both the 'US size', and the metric size. Although my pictures didn't come out well, you can kind of see what I mean here:

(chart provided from http://www.hassdesign.com/BasicFiletTechniques/CrochetHooksAndThread/)

So other than size, does it matter which crochet hook you use? Although the simplest response would be no, I would like to offer a different piece of advice based off my 13 years of experience. As I mentioned earlier, unless you want to spend a lot of money, the two most common brands are Susan Bates and Boyle. The Boyle hooks are everywhere, but quite frankly, I'm not their biggest fan. Pictured below, you can see a Boyle hook on the left, and a Bates hook on the right.



Although it might be difficult for the untrained eye to see, the hook on the left has a much softer and more shallow curve. This is a bad idea, because when crocheting, your yarn will fall off the hook very easily. You also stand a stronger chance of splitting your yarn when you try and catch the yarn back onto the hook. This means broken yarn and a messier texture to whatever you are creating. The hook on the right, however, has a deeper, more squarish indent. This catches yarn very easily, while also releasing it just as smoothly. I haven't seen a Bates hook in quite some time, but I'd definitely say they are worth the search if you plan on taking up crocheting as a hobby.

Finally, there's the question of what size you should start with as a beginning crocheter. Although I'm not sure what the rule of thumb is, my recommendation would be a 5.0mm, or a H-8. While you can start with larger hooks, I would strongly advise to stay away from the smaller ones while learning. Crocheting is a lot like hand-writing, in that everyone's style is different. Some people end up with wide, loose stitches, while others end up with small and tight stitches (like myself). Although I've never researched the idea, I have a feeling your stitches will tend towards whatever scale your handwriting does. 3.25mm and above, for myself, are ideal for working with yarns, while anything smaller is needed to work with strings. Yarns and strings come in different sizes, but that's not something I'll really discuss in this post, since it's not going to be important until you get comfortable with basic stitches and want to explore.

The Yarn

There's not a whole lot to be said about yarn and string right now as a beginner. Most standard yarns are pretty identical and so picking a skein does not need to be a stressful process. Although I'd recommend using softer types when completing a project, I actually would advise you to avoid it like the plague when first beginning your journey. Softer yarn splits with much more ease, and can make your learning process rather difficult. Instead, you might want to start with something like a generic Red Heart skein.

Working with any skein of yarn can bring a lot of heartache for people first learning to crochet. The reason for this is that there are two ends of the skein to pull yarn from. One usually protrudes from the center of the yarn, as shown below.



The other usually wraps around the -outside- of the skein and falls under the wrapper, like so:



Although I have a strong partiality for the first end photographed above, I probably wouldn't recommend it for a newbie crocheter. If you use the end that comes from within the skein, it often gets tangled and knotted with other lengths of string inside. When this happens, a huge knot will form, and after much tugging to get it out... you then must sort through a mess until you can continue your work. Since nothing sounds pleasant about that.... I must justify my favoritism. (lol!) The reason I enjoy using this end is because the skein can stay in place while I work. Since the yarn pulls out from the inside of the wrap, nothing moves and I don't have retrieve the skein every few moments. If I were to use the outside end, I would have to first remove the paper wrapper. Then, the skein would roll along the ground and I would have to retrieve it...... or I'd have to stop every few minutes and manually unwind enough string to keep me busy for awhile.

This was all I wanted to say on the matter of string, so that hopefully I can prevent you some feature heartache. There are, by the way, some special yarn stands, with dowels on them. I don't know if they are in stores, but I can't imagine them not existing. My grandpa made one for me which I greatly treasured until my baby brother broke it. Basically, you'd skewer the yarn with the dowel, set the dowel on the stand, and you could then work from the outside end of the yarn, without the yarn rolling away and having to retrieve it. It'd probably be pretty easy to create a makeshift stand if you wanted to.

Where do I start?

Crocheting is a pretty daunting hobby. Amazingly, I actually consider the very first step to be the most difficult, but perhaps that's due to how difficult I found it at 13 years old. You see, in order to begin crocheting, you need to have a starting stitch that's grounded with a slip knot. Since even holding the hook can take time to get accustomed to.... trying to learn the first stitch can take ages. Even my aunt would start the slip knot for me.... for months. Thus... as odd as it sounds... my first article here will not actually contain any crocheting instruction. ^.^ Instead, I want to focus on getitng you to a strong start: the slip knot.

Forget the hook. Let's work on it with your hands until you get accustomed to it.

In order to create a slip knot, the first thing you must do is overlap one end of the string over itself, like so:



If you hold the overlap between your fingers so that the loop falls DOWN, and the loose end is facing you.... you should let the rest of the yarn also fall towards you, over the loose end. Then, reach through the OTHER side..... like so.... (this is easier to see in my video):


(Note that in this picture, I have the loose end and the overlap facing the CAMERA, so that you can see the loops a little easier. This would be your view.)

Now... keep pulling....



Try your best to pull on both ends. You can do this by pinching one end and the loop between your fingers and palm of hand, while tugging on the second end with your other hand. It should start to look like this:



Finally, your knot should be complete!



The great thing about the knot..... well... if you've never played with a slip knot before, changing its size is really convenient. You can pull on the loop itself to make it larger, or you can grab both ends, pull... and presto! The knot will be gone.



Give it a try. Or two.. or... a hundred. Getting a hang on the slip knot will be tricky, but once you do, your transition into the hobby will be a lot more simple. If you have questions or want some more pointers, please don't hesitate to ask questions here. In a few weeks, once you've had time to practice the slip knot, I'll post another video and a tutorial one a few basic stitches.

Happy crocheting (sort of!), and God bless! I love you!