Crochet for Absolute Beginners — The Four Things to Learn First

Crochet looks like it has hundreds of techniques. It does not. Almost every pattern you will ever meet is built from four things, and once you have them the rest is combination and repetition.

What to buy — and what not to

One hook, size 5 mm (also labelled H-8 in US sizing). It is large enough to see what you are doing and small enough for ordinary yarn.

One ball of smooth, light-coloured yarn in worsted or aran weight. This matters more than beginners expect:

• Smooth, because fuzzy and textured yarn hides the stitch structure, and at this stage you need to see what you made.
• Light-coloured, for the same reason. Black yarn is genuinely hard to learn on, and many people conclude they are bad at crochet when the real problem is that they cannot see their work.
• Not novelty yarn. Not chenille, not eyelash, not anything that looks appealing in the shop. Those are difficult for experienced crocheters.

Nothing else. No kit, no stitch markers, no set of forty hooks. You can add those later, once you know what you actually need.

The four basics

1. The slip knot

How every project starts. Make a loop, pull a bight of the working yarn through it, and tighten onto the hook. It should slide when you pull the tail.

That is one loop on your hook. There will almost always be exactly one loop on your hook between stitches — if you have two or three sitting there and the pattern did not tell you to, something has gone wrong.

2. The chain

Yarn over the hook, pull it through the loop. That is one chain. Repeat.

Chains are the foundation most projects begin with, and they are also where beginners develop their first bad habit: pulling too tight. A chain you cannot get the hook back into is too tight — and since you have to work into every one of them on the next row, that turns row one into a fight.

If your chain is too tight, do not fight it. Use a hook one size larger for the chain only, then switch back.

3. The slip stitch

Insert the hook, yarn over, pull through everything on the hook at once.

It makes almost no height. You will use it to join a chain into a ring, to move across stitches without adding height, and to finish off.

4. Single crochet

The workhorse. In UK patterns this exact stitch is called double crochet — see the warning below, because it causes more confusion than anything else in the craft.

Four movements:

1. Insert the hook into the next stitch.
2. Yarn over, pull up a loop. (Two loops on the hook.)
3. Yarn over.
4. Pull through both loops. (One loop on the hook.)

That is it. A blanket, a hat, a stuffed toy — all of it is this stitch, repeated, with occasional instructions to add or skip one.

Your first project

Not a scarf. A square dishcloth, because it teaches everything and finishes in an evening:

1. Chain 25.
2. Single crochet into the second chain from the hook, and into every chain to the end.
3. Chain 1, turn.
4. Single crochet into every stitch across.
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 until it looks square.
6. Fasten off — cut the yarn, pull the tail through the last loop, tighten.

By the end you will have met every problem a beginner meets, on something that took two hours and is still useful when it goes slightly wrong.

The three mistakes everyone makes

Your work gets wider each row. You are adding stitches, almost always by working into the turning chain when you should not, or working twice into the first stitch. Count your stitches at the end of every row. Twenty-five should stay twenty-five.

Your work gets narrower each row. You are missing the last stitch. It is easy to do because the final stitch of a row sits tight against the edge and does not look like a stitch. Count.

Your stitches are so tight the hook will not fit. Tension comes with practice, not with effort. Consciously loosen your grip — most beginners are gripping the yarn hard because they are concentrating. If it persists, go up a hook size while you learn.

What comes next

Once single crochet feels automatic:

• Double crochet (US), which is taller and works up much faster
• Working in the round, which is where hats, bags and toys begin
• Increases and decreases, which turn flat fabric into shapes
• Reading a pattern, which unlocks everything other people have written

But not yet. Do the dishcloth first. Ten rows of an even single crochet teaches your hands more than an hour of watching videos, and every project you will ever make sits on top of it.

Frequently asked questions

What should I buy to start?

One 5 mm hook and one ball of smooth, light-coloured worsted or aran weight yarn. Nothing else. Dark, fuzzy or novelty yarn hides your stitches, which is the single most common reason beginners give up.

Is crochet easier than knitting?

Most people find crochet easier to start. You work one live stitch at a time, so a dropped stitch cannot unravel your whole piece, and undoing a mistake means simply pulling the yarn back.

Why do my edges keep getting wider or narrower?

Almost always a miscounted turning chain, or missing the last stitch of the row. Both are extremely common at first and both are fixed by counting your stitches at the end of every row.

How long before I can make something real?

A dishcloth or a simple scarf on your first day is realistic. Anything shaped — a hat, a bag, a toy — is a few weeks away, but the four basics below are what all of it is made from.

Am I holding the hook wrong?

There are two common grips, pencil and knife, and neither is wrong. Try both and keep whichever tires your hand less. Nobody can tell from the finished fabric which one you used.