Here are my top tips for a beginners kit for anyone who wants to learn to crochet. Lots of people would love to take up a new craft. The health benefits of crafting are real!!
The kit of products I am recommending here would make a lovely starter set. At entry level crochet is very simple and with a few basic stitches you can make a lot of beautiful things.
Disclaimer – the products I am recommending here are ones that I use and love myself. I am a registered affiliate of Amazon and if you click on the links to these products it is possible that I will receive a small payment at no additional cost to you. Any payment I do receive would go towards the running cost of this blog and help me towards my dream of running this as a business one day!
Firstly let’s look at hooks. The hooks I find most comfortable have a cushioned grip. The hooks I have selected here come in a range of 14 sizes. I love working in different yarn weights and do use all the sizes, especially the very large and very small ones!
Next, when you have finished your crochet work you have to finish off the ends. This used to mean trying to thread thick yarn through the eye of a darning needle. Frustrating! Then forcing the needle through the work, splitting the yarn and often piercing your own finger in the process! However, my crochet life was transformed when I discovered the Knit Pro Wool Needles. These are AMAZING wonderful time and patience savers. They produce a better result as well because the rounded ends do not split the yarn.
The appearance of any finished piece of crochet is always improved when it is blocked. This means placing the finished work on a foam board and pinning it out to the shape you would like it to hold. Spray the work with a fine mist of water and leave it to dry. Magic happens and the work takes the desired shape – stops curling at the edges and generally looks much tidier! I used to use kids foam play floor tiles for this and ordinary dressmaking pins. If you are just starting you could use those as a cheaper alternative – they served me well. If you are looking to treat someone or yourself, the ones I recommend are these Knit Pro ones. The grid lines are really helpful. The extra thickness means the pins don’t go all the way through into the table like mine used to!
Finally – when it comes to blocking, I find you can never have too many pins. The blocking boards come with pins but I recommend buying a few more. The set I found has two sizes which is helpful when working in different weights of yarn.
That is really all you need to get started apart from yarn of course! I buy all my yarn from Wool Warehouse here in the UK. I have also posted ideas on how you can recycle yarn which you can read here.
If you are the kind of person who likes to learn from a book, there are several good ones to choose from. I have included a few that I enjoy reading through below. There are ideas here for beginners and more advanced crafters. It really isn’t necessary to buy a book now though with lots of excellent tutorials on YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.
Hope you find this set of products as useful and helpful as I do. Happy crocheting!
Annie 🙂