It's Crochet, Knit & Natter 10: New Year, New Yarn, New Thread!

[QuantumWeatherButterfly]

Time for a new thread for all the lovely yarn crafters!

Old thread here: http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/artsandcrafts/4557189-its-crochet-knit-natter-9-so-many-projects-so-little-time-oh-well-i-almost-made-it-rhymee_

CrochetBug I am struggling with counting and working out where i am. It shouldn't be difficult I only have to count to the maximum of three in a granny square!!

For example, I crochet along, I have it written down eg, chain 2, treble 3, but as I'm crocheting, I forget whether I have done 2 or 3 treble, whether I am at the start if the sequence or the middle or end. So sometimes end up doing 4 trebles instead of 3 or doing 3 trebles and doing 3 trebles again!! Staying in the same corner for too long as I've forgotten where I am

Do you have any paper clips, or safety pins @Mumtothreeandadog ? Or maybe even hoop earrings? It sounds like you could do with something to mark off the stitches as you do them so you can see where they are?

CrochetBug also struggling with trebles as it is yarn over twice, I forget where one stitch ends and one starts.

Ah right. Do you have Stitch markers? You can use safety pins, or a scrap of yarn if you don't have the proper ones. Mark the first stitch of the round. That way you'll always know where your first stitch is.

And then just keep counting. And practising. You'll get there!

lucysmam yes I have stitch markers. Would you suggest putting one after every treble for example? I know that's a lot of markers but I guess I can keep taking them out. I have different colour markers, so maybe use one colour for trebles and one for chain

When you look at your work, there should be a row of what looks like the letter V not on its side. A bit like this <<<<<<
Each of those '<' is one stitch and you work the next row into them.

So for a treble stitch you do
Yarn over, put the hook under one of those < and yarn over again. Pull the hook back through the stitch.
You should have 3 loops on your hook.
Yarn over and pull it through the first 2 loops.
Then yarn over again and pull it through the last 2 loops.

Practicing the treble stitch in straight rows might be easier than a square until the stitch is cemented in your mind

CrochetBug yes I have stitch markers, but i can't even get through a round yet before I get in a muddle !!!!!

CrochetBug I'm doing an online course and have gone past working in rows. I am supposed to be on Granny squares!! It doesn't come naturally to me and I'm slower than the others!!

Have you watched Bella Coco?

CrochetBug yes watched Bella coco but still can't get the hang of it!!!

Oh wow @MerylSqueak! That’s amazing!

That’s fantastic news @Fairislefandango congratulations!

@Mumtothreeandadog can you post a photo, maybe one of us will be able to see where you've gone wrong. I haven't made a granny square for so long I can't remember how I started mine!

CrochetBug - I'm too embarrassed! - I've watched another YouTube video from someone different. Going to start again tomorrow. I can't crochet if I'm tired

@Mumtothreeandadog dont be embarrassed, everyone has to start somewhere. My first granny “square” was not any sort or recognisable shape. It took me a few evenings of watching the Bella coco tutorial, stopping it, going back and undoing, redoing. My second attempt was a square but very wonky! Have you got someone at home you can say where you up to and get them to remember for you? So say you’ve done the chain and the top of the chain is the blue stitch marker, get them to remember that, then start your trebles. If I need to remember something I get DH to remember it, he doesn’t understand it but he’ll repeat back to me that there should 96 trebles or whatever.

@Fairislefandango congratulations that’s amazing news! So glad you love your new school.

@Mumtothreeandadog I'd pop a stitch marker in the top < shape of each stitch (looking at them as @CrochetBug described), as you've done each one, so you can see where it is. Yes it's a lot of markers but I still sometimes resorted to this if I'm struggling to place/count stitches.

Broccoli hat is almost 7 rounds of 12 done. It's faster than I expected actually so I'm half eyeing up another project. Have any of you ever used this yarn ?

The pattern I'm looking at is beautiful, I've just never spent that much on yarn in one go!

@Mumtothreeandadog - definitely try with a different video or site. I know Bella Coco is highly rated but I could never get on with any sort of video, I needed diagrams.

Ooh that's very pretty yarn, @lucysmam !
Hi @Mumtothreeandadog - don't be embarrassed! I found crochet a bit hard to get my head around at first too, even though I could already knit, which is supposed to be harder!

I'm a bit excited... I have had a bit of a clearout and managed to end up with an empty cupboard which dh has put shelves in for me! I haven't fully filled it up and sorted it properly yet, but... ta daaahh - my new craft storage!

That yarn is so pretty @lucysmam!

I keep looking at nice yarns and thinking how lovely they could be, but then feeling perhaps I need to pitch at the lower end of the market until my skill level improves! I'd hate to spend £££ and then not produce something I was proud of with it.

Words cannot express how jealous I am of that cupboard, @Fairislefandango. I have my eyes on a shelf in our fitted wardrobe I could commandeer, but I will have a LOT of sorting and decluttering to do before then.

In actual yarn craft news: I pressed on with the Aviva this weekend and got half of the second panel's 100 rows of moss stitch done, aiming to finish that panel by this time next week, just leaving construction and sleeves for the week after. And I'll hopefully be doing some of my mindless lunchtime hexagon cardi through the week.

But ...but ...but @Fairislefandango you have SPACE! Surely you need some of @lucysmam 's lovely yarn?

Words cannot express how jealous I am of that cupboard, @Fairislefandango

I told dh when he'd put the shelves in that people on this thread might be jealous, and he said "Jealous? Of a cupboard?" and shook his head in bafflement .

You enabler, @MerylSqueak - I haven't finished putting everything in there yet, and I'm already looking at it and am a bit shocked at how much I've got!

Wonder if I could re-purpose the pantry here and get away with it 🤔🤣

@LancreWowhawk maybe that's what's stopping me. The most expensive I've bought yet is Stylecraft dk.

This is the top I've been eyeing up for myself using the yarn I linked.

I'm a shocker for buying expensive yarn Tbf, I only buy properly pricy stuff for small projects, but I almost always buy entirely natural fibre for everything, so it's never exactly cheap. Drops seems to be the most affordable brand for real wool - I'm one of their biggest fans!

@Fairislefandango I love how baffled your DH is. I’ve said to my DH that there should be a support group for yarn widows that can focus on topics such as why your partner was so happy you put shelves in a cupboard, how long it’s been since you sat on the sofa because it’s covered in projects, not being able to talk when they’re counting stitches and having to spend endless amounts of time in yarn shops. We replaced a shelf unit with a cube storage, so DH cut part of the shelf unit so it would fit under the stairs for me to have proper shelves to put my stash on.

Oooh, @lucysmam - that top needs a really special yarn! Go for it!

I'd love to use more natural fibres, but neither DH nor DD will wear wool of any kind, which does cut down my choices. DH has requested a jumper, and the recommended yarn would cost over £80 for his size. Now, I don't mind spending the money as such, but spending the money on something that ends up being a bit shit because I'm not quite good enough yet is another thing entirely!

For this reason, when I move onto the Marzanna sweater in a few weeks time, I'm downgrading my yarn choice from Long Cole Luxury Merino to James C Brett DK with Merino, which is about 70% cheaper, mostly due to containing 90% less actual merino wool.

Still, I'm currently working in cotton for the Aviva, and next after that will be a Granny-Go-Round dupe in cotton bamboo, so it isn't all bad news.

I went to Iceland last September and dragged to DH and DS to this place Actually they were fascinated as Hespa was lovely had lots of pots of natural dyes on the go.
I bought a couple of skiens which were the most expensive wool i have ever bought. I also bought a ball of Istek lettlopi in the pink which actually is quite reasonable