Crocheting 101

I thought I’d post this today, so everyone can practice over the weekend. 🙂

To get us ready for the Christmas CAL, I have compiled a few tips & tutorials to help beginner crocheters or those of us who haven’t crocheted in a while.

The first tip is to become familiar with the crochet lingo. This is a must in order for you to follow the pattern. When I first started crocheting I was super confused. I thought yo mc pat was an ’80s rapper, not a bunch of crochet terms. But, thanks to some abbreviation lists on crochet sites I caught on pretty quickly.

To view a complete list of crochet abbreviations, click here or here. These links are for US terms, so if you are using British crochet terms just Google British crochet abbreviations for a complete list.

For our project, we will only need to know the following terms: repeat (rep), stitches (sts), chain (ch), single crochet (sc), round (rnd), and slip stitch (sl st). Not too bad!

The second tip is to take a few minutes now before starting on the pattern to brush up on the following stitches: chain (ch), slip stitch (sl st), single crochet (sc), and back loops only. These are required for the Christmas Trees pattern. You will also need to know how to make a slip knot so you can attach your yarn to your hook. Some of these stitches are a little more confusing and complicated than others.

Youtube is a great resource for crochet tutorials. My favorite tutor is the knitwitch, so I’ve included her video tutorials and a few others for you to follow. Or, if you prefer to print out and follow illustrated instructions, Annie’s Attic is a great resource.

Slip Knot