The lovely lifestyle blogger Stevie Couch from A Cornish Mum shares her best tips and advice on getting started with the relaxing hobby of knitting and crochet.
Both crochet and knitting have become really popular in the last ten years or so and that popularity seems to be just growing and growing. People of all ages and genders are discovering the joy of creating something with their own hands.
Not only do you have a feeling of accomplishment from making something useful like clothing and blankets or something purely decorative, but you also get to enjoy the relaxation that knitting and crochet bring.
The repetitive movements with your hands and concentrating on counting stitches clears your mind and is supposed to be as relaxing as meditation and yoga. So now you know why so many people want to try knitting and crochet, here are a few tips for you to get started.
Buy a Magazine
Magazines like Let’s Get Crafting Knitting & Crochet from magazine.co.uk, are a great way to start to learn knitting or crochet. Not only are they full of ideas and projects, but many of them have everything that you need to get started - including the yarn/wool and knitting needles or crochet hook included with them as a free gift.
A lot of the magazines also have instructions and explanations in the back for reference about every stitch and how to get started.
YouTube
YouTube is another option. Sometimes it is a lot easier to work out how to do something if you can watch someone else do it first. This definitely applies to knitting and crochet. YouTube videos are perfect for this, as not only are there a vast amount of tutorial videos on there, but you can also use the slow-motion option on most videos to make them much easier to follow.
There are videos showing each individual stitch, ones showing full-blown projects from start to finish and even ones to help when you’ve gone wrong and can’t work out why.
Practice, Practice and Practice Some More
The only way to master both knitting and crochet is to keep trying. It isn’t easy and first and the likelihood is you’ll be a bit rubbish at the beginning, but the more you practice, the more natural it feels. You will end up being able to do it with barely a glance to check what you’re doing with your hands.
