9 Tips for those who learn to crochet

Learn how to choose the yarn, how to hold the hook and read circuits.

Working with a hook and yarn helps improve fine motor skills, and to develop it is necessary if you want to be careful, mobile and healthy. Imagine how comfortable to work with wool in winter and it's nice to own hands to knit unique gifts to relatives and friends. Three experienced knitters - Evelyn Hattie-Burkart, Beate Hilbig and Beatrice Simon - share their experiences in the book "Crochet. Large Illustrated Encyclopedia TOPP».

1. Choose the right yarn

Any yarn has a warming or cooling properties. If you correctly will pick up the yarn in knitted openwork swimsuit is not too hot, and a sweater - not cold. Yarn made of cotton, flax and hemp warm is not very good, so is suitable for lightweight tunics and summer things, and any natural wool warms excellent. If a part of the yarn artificial fibers (eg, polyamide or polyacryl), woolen thing will wrinkle less and wear.

2. Work with the average yarn thickness

As long as your hands are not accustomed to the complex techniques of working with the yarn, it is best suitable smooth, tightly twisted cotton yarn of medium thickness. It is easy to work out the technique of knitting and get used to the movements of the hook.

3. Select a convenient way to keep the hook

There are two basic ways to keep the hook: the bottom - as the handle (Figure but) Or from above - as the knife (Figure b). The method that you choose does not affect the outcome of knitting. Do as convenient to you.

4. Stock up a sufficient amount of yarn

To calm dovyazat sweater or socks, just buy a couple of skeins of yarn on more than you need. Then, only when more luck it will be possible to find and purchase a necessary thread, yarn because of different batches may vary.

5. Relax your arm

During operation, do not pull the thread strongly knit and not too tight - your fingers need to move freely, and the finished product is easy to reach. It is necessary that after the first wash your sweater did not sit down.

6. Watch for a skin soft hands

Make sure that the skin of hands and nails are smooth, since the thread may cling to the roughness and cracks in the skin. Always keep close to a tube of hand cream.

7. Choose the appropriate hook

Hooks are different. Here are the most popular:

• steel: heavy, strong and cool. They loop slide easily, freely, and you coped with heavy yarn. If you have rheumatic fever or allergy to nickel, are more suitable from a bamboo or wooden hooks.
• aluminum: lighter than steel, but more bent. Hinges on them glide worse.
• bamboo: light and warm, easy to bend. Most often they are used to "loose" mating, that is where there is no need to very dense fabric. They are well suited for working with heavy yarn.
• Of precious wood: smooth and warm to the touch, will help you with the "loose" stitch. Often, these hooks are made from waste production of musical instruments, and therefore, like the fragile violin, require care and wipe with linseed oil.
• plastic: smooth, light and hypoallergenic. Plastic often make the thick hooks that are easy to knit.

8. continue reading instructions

Be sure to review the instructions for knitting a whole. All the strange place in the scheme should be clarified in advance and internalize the prioritization of elements.

Symbols used in the schemes, often carried out similar to the loop - if you can not remember what exactly does this sign, try to think that it means a graphic image.

9. Leave the free end of the thread

Before you begin, let loose end hanging about 20 cm. This will be enough to complete the job and handle edge. Remember the long "tail" and when you knit big things, consisting of several parts. These "tails" will help you to connect parts sweaters or dresses.

Even more tips, explanations of any circuit elements and instructions for knitting patterns, color products and decorative elements can be found in the book "Crochet. Large Illustrated Encyclopedia TOPP».

To buy a book

see also

• 25 ideas for a new hobby, and 50 resource-mates →
• How to learn to knit and crochet: detailed instructions for beginners →
• 25 beauty products that cost pennies →