I am going to attempt crochet...no, don't stop me...unless you think I shouldn't

[HowTheFillyjonkStoleChristmas]

I have the happy hooker

I have a crochet hook

I have yarn (I take it there's no special crochet yarn, you just use the same as for wool?)

I cannot quite see it as a hip and edgy craft as yet, unlike knitting of course, but I am going to do it.

i am a self styled expert in crochet. i once crocheted a duvet cover. it isn't just granny squares either! it took me nearly a year as it was with mercerised cotton and a fine needle.

I am a crochet and knitting no-hoper.

I'm left-handed, too.

I give up.

Good luck.

I tried to teach myself over the summer, but failed miserably. just didn't make sense.

Hey fillyjonk, crochet is easy, I say this as someone who cannot knit or sew or make homemade ketchup [mild sendup emoticon]... Can use ordinary wool unless doing fancy lacey type stuff. Only problem I find is getting patterns for anything you might want to make but gets quite easy to invent your own...

oh no

really?

everyone says its easier than knitting.

its just I can knit pretty much anything now and I wanted a new challenge

oh dear

... I am right handed though...I normal knit in the right handed way...

I think it does help to have an old lady to teach you.

Cross-post. Really it is easy peasy. And fun

where can I get an old lady from?

is it enough to just look at myself in the mirror before the slap goes on?

I feel very old. Could provide online support. Hey, "crochet club", there's an idea for a hot new topic...

crochet is much harder than home made ketchup kp.

i find it always starts well, then gets to a bit where you've got about 4 lines of it (crochet, not ketchup) and then you forget what you're meant to do at the end of the line.

perhaps i got the wrong old lady?

oh..go on, krabbie, you know you want to...gwan gwan...

I reckon crochet is coming out of the acrylic hell that knitting was in for so long.

I am actually desperate to do granny squares. I reckon in a nice colourway they would lok fab.

(oh btw...have just noticed you are all taking the piss out of my homemade ketchup tendancies...but I shall ignore you like the old lady that I am )

I think, lummox, you are not using homemade wool? Am I right about that? You ahve to harvest it yourself from your own more luxuriant regions to get the right effect...
Seriously, great thing about crochet is that unlike knitting you can always just add some squiggly bit to make it look ok as is not stuck in "rows" (she says incomprehensibly)

i'll give you online help too now that i have finished polishing my halo.

it is easy. if you want to, you can even come to mine and i'll teach you. mind, i am not a little old lady but still.

aw

god if you were in cardiff I'd take you up on it like a shot, kiki

(I take it you're not?)

hokey

right as soon as I get a minute to myself I am going to try to get my head round this and then I will post 400 questions

god i do love MN!

(it is true that I have, on occasion, collected my own wool, kind of spun it myself using a drop spindle, and then dyed it using food dyes)

AND? AND? ANYONE GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?

does that mean you also weave lentils heh, heh.

no i'm not in cardiff. in durham.

Good for you with the crochet - I can knit, I am a good knitter but crochet not a hope in hell just don't get it!!

Granny squares can be beautiful in the right colours, you are quite right, fillyjonk. In needlework at school (6th form friday afternoon doss) did a whole blanket in sort of oatmeal / lavender/eau de nil granny squares - sounds grim but really was quite ethereal and beauteous. Post those questions

lalalalalala...

sorry, jack, didn't hear you there...why yes, I do have a fabulous home made ketchup recipe as it happens...

(oh christ, i have not even started, I am halfway through a knitted clanger for ds and dd's doll is the devil's work. I am nearly halfway through sewing on the hair. And then I have to work out how to use my aged sewing machine (I am not even sure if it has all the bits) to sew up the body. aaargh. If this is thr true meaning of xmas...I am not sure I like it)

ok have found a bunch of good videos here

here and have just done my first chain

but I realise my actual sticking point is the pattern. knitting patterns are so easy! crochet patterns look like archaic documents. will it become a piece of wee?

I SAID 'ELVES', FILLYJONK!!

. OK - won't mention them again, honest .

There is something called tunisian (?) crochet which does happen in rows on giant hook so might make more sense to a knitter but you end up with enormous jackety thing as possibly worn by sherpas (tho not in tunisia). With crochet, you have to let go of linear ways of thinking generally, is very liberating

I can sew. I love sewing. I cut up all the girls' receiving blankets and made buntings out of them.

Love to sew.

Knit and crochet no way. I'm all thumbs.

DD1 holds the yarn for her grandmother and helps her w/it.

She plays w/plastic knitting needles.

MIL will show her how to knit when she's ready - she's 3.5 now.

Perhaps there's hope for the future generation.

But none for me .

(I think my secret alter ego is onto the case, jackie . christ i hope so)