Can you recommend a You Tube video for me to learn to crochet?

[dwinnol]

I'd love to learn this but I don't have anyone who can teach me in RL. There are so many videos and loads with long intros which are trying to flog supplies. Anyone found a really good, not too long tutorial?

Sorry I can't recommend a good tutorial but I taught myself a few years ago with a few books borrowed from the library. My local wool shop were very helpful too and were happy to help if I came across anything I was unsure about.

they do waffle on dreadfully don't they?!

just so that you're aware (you may be already) there are differences in terminology between the UK and the USA for crocheting. the stitches are made in the same way, but the names are used differently. just something to bear in mind with tutorials on the web

this is a good non-video step-by-step guide to crocheting with uk terminology

- uk terminology too, so this is the double crochet stitch, but she's got other videos for other stitches

does this help?

Great advice petula
The uk/usa terminology is something I still sometimes get confused with.
Great links too, the step by step diagrams are similar to the ones I used from library books and I found them very simple to use.
Good luck dwinnol I'm sure you will soon be hooked!

Yay! I can double crochet! The lovely lady in Petula's video link has taught me in 3.54 minutes what an American chap failed to teach me in 13 minutes (I lost concentration on the how to sit part, I've been sitting for years, I've got it nailed thanks, see my arse for qualification of this).
Thanks both, I would have posted sooner but once I started crocheting I couldn't stop.
If anyone needs a bath mat for their doll's house - I'm your woman.

I found this video really useful. It's American, obviously, but she goes really slowly and I could stop it and start again without getting lost. I tried loads and this, for me, was the best I found. I had a lesson in rl with my local yarn shop but promptly got into a muddle when I tried to carry on alone. Hope this helps.

Bugger, thought it said that links are automatically converted. Try again
www.youtube.com/watch?v=79zZJjXRfSM

oh i'm so chuffed for you! (lol at telling you how to sit. just GET TO THE HOOKING PART)

that's it now, you can look forward to a future of "just one more row and then i'll go to bed", "this wool? no, it's not new, i've had it for ages", and "well actually all the wool acts as really good insulation for the house, so really we're saving money"

Ok, been a wile since I posted a link to Mumsnet, things have clearly moved on. Just seen your posts dwinnol, yay!! I have just embarked on attempting to make a square of double crochet. Discovered that I cannot work out how you turn, BUT, I can crochet pretty much as well in my left hand as in my right, weirdly, as I am definitely right hand dominant, so have progressed just swapping hands at the end of each row. Only thing is, I started with 35 chains and now have 23 all clearly lost on the right hand side, and I have NO idea how or why!! So sorry to butt into your thread. I've never posted here before but am completely with you on how exciting it is when you find you can really crochet :-) albeit with mistakes ...

that's v clever rubbish if you can do it with both hands! i'm not quite sure what you mean about not working out how to turn, as you just turn the work round at the end of the row and do a turning chain

after your turning chain which stitch did you next crochet into? it sounds like you might have missed one out so your row became shorter (if i've correctly interpreted the problem)

I've done the turning chains as far as I'm aware and then gone into the chain nearest the hook so I think I've done it right. Bit of a mystery really. What I meant by not getting the turning was that the chain appears differently on the other side and I had a real battle trying to work my way back. It was so painful and slow that when I got to the same place next time round, I wondered what would happen if I just changed hands and went back that way instead. And found it much quicker and easier so I continued like that - right handed one way and left handed back again!

And yes, Attic 24 is great :-)

Brilliant, I love your video lady too Rubbish and I've made the start of a granny square, although it is actually a circle at the moment. Attic 24 has loads of gorgeous ideas it's going to take a lot of investigating.
Thank you all so much for your links, ideas and support. Is there a MN crochet group I can join and lurk on while I learn?

I learnt to make hats and stuff from bobwilson on YouTube. She's Australian and uses uk terminology. She also does tutorials along with written patterns so you can learn how to read a pattern too.
I recently discovered attic24 and have now started making a cushion cover using the raindrop pattern. My first ever written pattern with no video tutorial

m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL69F5A7FE3F95232F I learned to crochet with these videos, or similar, from the crochet crowd. Although I agree that the differing terminology is confusing, I found that I benefited hugely from being able to see clearly what to do, rewind, watch again and again. From the beginner tutorials, which I did with big yarn so I could see clearly, I moved onto granny squares, again using a crochet crowd tutorial. Only this week have I ventured into non video based patterns but I do feel that YouTube has given a good start!

If anyone is North Northamptonshire/Leicestershire border then I am happy to meet with you and help with any basic crochet queries

Will work for cake