Crochet for beginners...

[CouthyMow]

I'm desperately trying to learn to crochet. I want to be able to do Granny squares.

I can make a foundation chain, I can do double and triple, but after that I just end up in a knotty mess!

I have two crochet books, both of which are meant to be from the basics onwards. Neither of which seemingly explain it in a way that makes sense to me...

Can anyone help me to crochet a granny square?!

citron for the yellow, matador for the red in stylecraft, not sure about the rest

DH has noted that I am now "obsessed" with my crocheting. Surely not?!

Couthy - What about lipstick (red), shrimp (orange) and saffron (yellow) in the Stylecraft Special DK??

I did a rainbow little hug - I think it's on the Woolly Hugs facebook page. i sent it off to Pistey a couple of weeks ago. I used
Lipstick
Jaffa
Citron
Meadow Green
Cloud Blue
Emperor (I think )
Lavender

The "indigo" colour was a really dark purple. The colours all looked fab together and it was a big granny square. The yarn was left over from an even bigger version that I made for DD1.

The red is Matador I think - I am sure that's the one that is a pure primary red. The Lipstick one is darker.

If you want neon green, then bright green. I used "Green" in mine which is more emerald and perhaps too dark. I don't think there is an ideal green.
I think the blue I've used is Bluebell and the yellow Citron (although Sunshine may be brighter/golden). I went with only one of the purple shades as, technically, I think only one of them really appears in the spectrum. Emperor is a deep purple which may work for Indigo and I think I went with Violet for Violet!

If you look at Deramores the "Bright Green" is pretty true to colour. "Jafffa" is nothing like the screen colour - imagine it in the same kind of brightness as the green :)

This is mine The orange isn't Jaffa.

Now I've looked at it, I did use 7 colours for that one. It was another blanket I used only 6 for. The Indigo isn't Emperor on that, I think it may be Plum.

oh soupy, posting that photo is mean lovely hooking and that view! I'm sure some of those deramores colours aren't accurate, I ordered bright pink for a Billie blanket and it's a lot more luminous than the photo suggests, I'm going to have to use it sparingly, oops

I bet the pink was Fiesta!

That view seems a long long time ago [sigh]

As an aside, the Stylecraft was horrible to use in the humid weather.

there's a photo on my profile of the reds and yellows mentioned. The pink is called bright pink, I don't think the photo quite does it justice

Now you're just showing off Soupy! Looks fab, blanket and view

If anyone wants the Stylecraft Special DK bright pink, please pm me, as you can have it willingly!

Soupy - I tried your link, and all I got was 'Safari cannot open this link as it is a local file'.

I can't see profiles either - I use the crap App, which doesn't let you click on profiles. Hence the Safari too.

I will have a nosey on Deramores at these colours. I don't think their photos do some of the colours justice though - their photo of Paton's Fab in clown colour is nowhere NEAR as lairy bright as the real thing that I picked up in the Range...

Deramores

Wow - the backdrop is gorgeous, Soupy...but the crochet piece is amazing!

The colours you used - the red, blue and violet are perfect for what I'm looking for, but I need a much lighter and more limey green, a 'zingier' orange, and a more sunflower yellow.

I WILL work out which colours to order!!

Try again

You'll be wanting bright green, sunshine and Jaffa then. And some sunglasses :)

So far, from what I can see on Deramores, and going by what you have all said, this is the palette I've come up with :

Red = Matador
Orange = Jaffa
Yellow = Sunshine
Green = Bright Green
Blue = Bluebell
Indigo = ???
Violet = ???

I'm looking for a dark navy-purple for indigo. I think.

And I need a darker purple than the one on Soupy's.

I want to order wooooool!!

Emperor for indigo - it's a deep deep purple.

Perhaps Plum (the one after blue in my version) for violet?

James C Brett yarn is also worth a look - their 'Top Value' dk is £1.89 for 100g, and comes in a good range of colours. I'm using cerise, purple, teal, turquoise, rust, yellow and lime green to crochet a random patchwork blanket.

You get used to it, but mine still ache if I do too much.

Can't you get soft handled ergonomic hooks for achy fingers/hands?

I would like to do this but not sure how well it would turn out

Miaow, you need to try different hooks.
My favourite are the Addi Swing hooks which have ergonomic handles and I can use them forever without having an aching hand.
Clover Soft Touch are quite nice and I have one with a soft grippy handle which is called a Prym Soft handle.
Wooden ones can be good too.

Think I an addicted to hooks I've got a jar full of different types on the mantlepiece and if my hand really aches I just use a same size but different type hook for a while

I have my eye on the Addi swing hooks...

I've decided that as the cheapy wool is no good for a scarf, I'm going to turn it into rainbow bunting.