Chapter 4

Some Great Crocheting Tips!

Like in any business undertaking, the trick is to diversify. In crochet, try not to stick to one kind of hook. If you can afford it, buy an assortment of aluminum, plastic, wood and steel. As you work on more projects, going from the simplest to the most complex, you’ll encounter difficulties with certain stitches and with certain yarns.

You need not give up on that project in desperation and go on to the next project. Try changing your hooks. Say, for instance, you’ve been using aluminum for a sweater project. The sleeves begin to pose some problems. See if switching to a plastic or wooden hook – perhaps slightly smaller or slightly bigger – might help. Keep experimenting, you just might hit the jackpot.

Bobbins

Bobbins are small plastic devices that look identical to your bread pins, except they’re larger. They are especially useful when working with many colors. Instead of handling balls of yarn, crochet from the bobbin. Wrap yarn around it before starting and this way you unwind only what you need for the next few stitches.

Always count chains from the front of the chain. You begin counting with the first complete stitch above the slip knot. When working with projects, crochet instructions will indicate how many chains to make and where to start your work on the foundation chain.

Having a snarl?  This is probably because you forgot to do your turning chains. The ends of your work will look “squished” because there isn’t any space to allow for rows. To fix the snarl, unwind the yarn back to the end of the preceding row and then making your turning chains. Remember, it’s okay to keep unwinding yarn so you could do the stitch all over again, what isn’t okay is to give up!

If you like crocheting round items like doilies and tablecloths, begin with the foundation chain joined in a ring. It is the slip stitch that joins the ring. To use a slip stitch to join a ring, insert your hook under the 2 loops of the first foundation chain, and then yo! (yarn over). Next, pull the hook through the chain and the loop on the hook. One loop remains on the hook, and you have now completed a slip stitch and made a ring.

Immediately after you take up crocheting and you browse books for future projects, you will find crochet symbols used in patterns. Crochet instructions can be:

• Written out in words, with abbreviations
  
  
• Presented as symbols
  
  
• A combination of written instructions and symbols

It’s going to take awhile to know the symbols and abbreviations by heart. Symbols are generally international symbols, which means that if you a pattern from England, the symbols used will be the same symbols as those in an American pattern. And since crochet symbols are international, 9 out of 10 they are the same in other countries.

Symbols are used because they save space, and experienced crocheters find they are easier to read.

Donna Kooler says it’s really up to the individual to decide if she prefers to read written instructions or interpret symbols. Her advice, however, is to have both handy, if possible. If a stitch or series of stitches is not working properly based on the written instructions, you can compare the instructions to the corresponding symbols. The error could just be typographical, so this is where having both written instructions and symbols is efficient.

As she said, “Charts and written instructions clarify each other. If written instructions don’t adequately explain a point, look at the chart and vice versa. Some things are almost impossible to chart, such as cylinders, while some things are much easier to read from a chart, such as lace. Both symbols and written instructions have their advantages:  used together they can answer virtually any question you may have about a stitch or pattern.”

Whatever you decide to do, memorizing the abbreviations will save you time in looking them up, enabling you to concentrate more on your piecework.

When reading instructions, you will most certainly see brackets and parentheses. These serve to bunch together related information or to indicate alternate stitches. Let’s take an example from Kooler’s book, Encyclopedia of Crochet:

“(sk 4 ch, 5 dc in next chain) across the row”

This instruction means that you will leave 4 chains unworked – sk here means skip, hence:  skip 4 chains. In the 5th chain, you will do 5 double crochets. You repeat the entire process – that is, skipping 4 chains and then doing 5 double crochets.

Confusing?

 If you’re just beginning, that’s perfectly understandable, but as we said earlier, practice makes perfect. And we might add:  practice makes comfortable!  Don’t worry, when you buy any book on crochet, the first chapters will always be devoted to abbreviations and symbols. And as you buy more and more books, you won’t even need to read the first chapters anymore.

When we made a recipe with a certain brand cheese one day, it tasted so good because the cheese’s distinct flavor contributed to the taste. We were so pleased with how the recipe turned out, we quickly dived into the garbage can to fish out the wrapper of the cheese so we could buy the same brand next time. What’s the point of this tip, you ask.

Well, the same principle applies to crochet. Keep the label of the yarn you fell in love with. If a project turned out successful, chances are you picked the right kind of yarn for it. Make a note of the brand (and size and texture as well) so you won’t be scratching your head next time you go shopping for crochet supplies.

This thing called ply – you see it in toilet paper labels. It’s used in yarns as well. Ply refers to the number of strands that were spun together to produce a yarn – usually two, three or four. But it does not tell you the diameter of the yarn because it can be large or small.

Some yarns are difficult to crochet with. We’ll name a couple so that if a project calls for these types of yarns, you’ll be prepared for potential trouble spots:
Mohair – this is a soft yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. It is an attractive fabric but it is not easy to crochet – unless you have a very openwork pattern.

Bouclé

Bouclé – also an attractive yarn for crocheting certain types of work, but not easy to handle because it is a type of yarn that has been interspersed with tight clusters, and it has an erratic thickness.

And here are yarns that are easy to crochet with:  acrylic, cotton, crêpe, nylon, tricel and wool.

Fastening Off

Fastening off:  when your work is complete, or if you simply want to change the color of your yarn, cut the yarn a few inches from the work. Pull this end through the last loop on the hook and draw tightly. Darn this loose end in later.

Never allow a crocheted garment to become too dirty. Careful washing does not damage any garment, but when it is very soiled, washing it will not remove all the dirt without rubbing; it is this repeated rubbing that can damage the garment. Make sure that whatever detergent you use (soap, gel, powder, etc), it is soaked in hot water, and the diluted with cold water afterwards to reduce the temperature. Make sure the garment is covered completely in the water and detergent. Allow the detergent to remove the dirt. Do not rub, and do not bring the garment up and down from the water because this will stretch it.

When shopping for crochet materials, shop intelligently. The first rule of thumb is to find a reliable store. A good store usually has inventory from reputable manufacturers. A good store also has knowledgeable and competent sales persons on site to answer your questions or give recommendations for products and materials.

Lastly, a good store will have a generous policy of returns and exchanges. It often happens that we buy an oversupply of yarns because we overestimated our needs for a particular project. When buying yarn, check label for the dye lot number because colors can vary from one dye lot to another.

Good wool yarn can be re-used. When you no longer like a wool garment that you crocheted, don’t throw it away. Rip the yarn apart and re-work it into a new piece of garment.

Think “suitability.”  This simply means that when we buy yarn and crochet with it, it looks great on our hands but when we wear it, it turns out a disaster. Remember that yarns have characteristics that have to be considered before starting a project. For instance, fine thread yarn is good for a Victorian type doily, but it definitely won’t do for a pot holder. A soft yarn would make a lovely lace shawl, but would be wrong for a man’s rugged sweater.

Working rows – you’ll come across this term when you start to crochet. A row is a group of stitches crocheted from one end of the piece to the other. Rows are generally worked from right to left. Count your stitches as you work or at the end of a row. Double check your count to make sure you did not increase or decrease a stitch.

• Increase and decrease – these are terms you will also encounter when crocheting.

• Increase – adding one or more stitches. External increases are worked at the beginning or end of a row. Internal increases are worked within a row.

• Decrease – eliminate one or more stitches. Internal decreases are worked within a row. External decreases are worked at the beginning or end of a row.

Randomly Crochet

Time:  late 80’s – early 90’s
Place:  Honduras

She was a Peace Corps volunteer in that country, and we don’t know the exact moment when the idea hit her. She was focused and determined – two qualities that led her to form an organized group. The group started small, but it now has a large following.

And what a following it turned out to be.

An idea with a solid “foundation chain”

The movement that fired her imagination had nothing to do with the Peace Corps or a local rally in Honduras for women’s rights. Her name was Gwen Blakely Kinsler and it was while she was in Honduras that she fell in love.

With crochet…

A few writers tried to trace the history of crochet, but nothing can be established, at least prior to the 18th century. There were accounts of knitting and embroidery, but crochet and crocheters were not rallying noisily to have their position in history recorded. They were more preoccupied about creating.

And anyone knows that a talented individual can be notoriously creative with hook and yarn -  just by sitting quietly in a corner, head slightly bent, fingers nimble…and maybe even daydreaming. Because crochet is a relaxing activity, once the foundation chain is made, a crocheter just continues to build rows and rows of stitches. And loops and double trebles.

Gwen Blakely Kinsler returned to America and focused on her needlework by attending meetings and seminars, but most of these were attended by people who had a fondness – and possibly a side business - in embroidering. Ms. Kinsler participated regularly because she was a faithful member, but she had something else in mind:  to find people among the crowds of embroiderers who wanted to unite and form a strong core of crocheters who were proud of their craft and wanted it recognized. No doubt the camaraderie was also an incentive to band together.

1994 was Ms. Kinsler’s year. Coming out of a meeting of the Chain Link Crochet Conference that August, she was ecstatic. It was decided – by unanimous vote - that the Crochet Guild of America was going to be formed. It was a precarious beginning but Kinsler and others like her worked hard to make the Guild work. It wasn’t long before the DMC Thread Corporation and Monsanto offered financial assistance and sponsorships.

What began as a lonely hobby for Kinsler while she was in Honduras finally blossomed into a united force of crocheters who are on their toes (and we hope fingers) with Guild activities every month of the year. Membership is open to anyone, beginner or advanced. The Guild has chapters in about 40 out of the 52 states.

Crocheters Busy as Ever!

If you think crochet is an industry on its way out, think again. Crocheters are as busy as neuro-surgeons, organic fruit growers, and fencing champions. They also share one thing in common with writers. It has to do with the words “submission guidelines.”

The efforts of Ms. Kinsler and other crocheters who went on to form different organizations and councils have not been in vain. Crochet is very much alive in America and there’s a demand for patterns that perseveres to this day.

As more crochet collectives form, more newsletters and magazines – not to mention e-zines and bulletin boards and community forums – are asking crocheters to send in their patterns. According to one crochet entrepreneur, there is a sustained demand for wearable crochets and crochet projects that incorporate some beading work and knitting. Granny squares and baby merchandise are fine and still have a huge following, but the new trend seems to be veering towards wearables.

Afghans were a favourite of many, and may not be the # 1 item on a crocheter’s shopping list these days, but if the afghan has a unique pattern and displays an uncommon design and non-conventional style, crocheters can still submit their afghan ideas.

This is how the submission process works:  a call for submission is published, usually in crochet magazines and e-zines. A good number of these publications have a section exclusively for guidelines. The publication will state its preferences as to the kinds of patterns they’re looking for. They’ll say “wearables” if these are what they are targeting, and the guideline will say something like “any wearable from classic to modern to hip, as long as it’s fun to wear and fun to crochet.”

Competitive rates are offered, and some will even offer to have your picture and your product published. So that they don’t mislead any contributors, some will add a line saying that they are currently not interested in baby clothes at the moment.

Pattern submissions are then submitted to catalogs, yarn manufacturers or to any entity in the needle trade and fabric milieu that might be interested in using the pattern.

If the guidelines state “wearables”, then you’ll want to increase your chances of getting published by submitting a well-researched and well-written pattern. You may need to do some research in wearable catalogs, as recommended by the Crochet Guild of America.

When you submit your pattern, you will need to check your calculations (yes, do the math!) and compare your measurements against industry standards. You’ll also want to make sure that the yarn you used for the pattern is still available in the market. As with writers, you sell your rights to the buyer, but as soon as your pattern goes out of print, the rights revert to you. There’s a 99% chance they’ll ask you for photographs and diagrams in a specified format.

Submitting patterns and getting paid for them are only one part of the picture.

How about annual conferences, state-to-state seminars, and attendance at trade shows where the cotton and synthetic fiber industries converge and show their latest innovations in thread and yarn?

Crochet has not been put to bed. It’s a dynamic collection of people who love what they do and are proud of their creations.

Some crocheters prefer to do a solo act. Every now and then you’ll spot an ad from a lone crocheter showcasing her designs and patterns and is ready to accept orders. Crocheting is a brisk business, and experienced crocheters know a good piece when they see one.

Some Crochet Innovations

It’s called diversification. Indeed, crocheters know a thing or two about it. Beads are the rage in crochet these days.

Would you like a schmoo?  You don’t know what it is?  Schmoos are mythical critters that bring joy and happiness to anyone who carries them around. With a curious variety of beads these days, you can create schmoos and personalize them.

Or, has anyone heard of Clover’s new hairpin lace tool?  Or lariats that are made with cut pearl beads?  There’s one crocheter on cyberspace who talks her own language, and she’s having a lot of fun. That’s the wholesome quality of crochet. People like her make you wish you had pursued that grade school crochet course you took. Maybe we should have watched grandma more closely when her agile fingers tackled hook and yarn. Crocheters live in their own universe, and judging from what we’ve read so far, it is a happy universe.

We read a primer on bead crochet ropes recently, and it is fascinating. It was a step-by-step procedure for working with bead ropes for crocheting and yarn overs and thread sizes. The writer was sharing her bead rope savvy and explained her tips and tricks on how to pull the thread and how to get the first line of beads into the thread.

Freeform crocheting is another innovation. What is it exactly?

We compare it to a kind of experimental cuisine with no set recipe. In freeform crochet, we work without a pattern. It goes something like this:  take a crumbly piece of yarn, do some stitches until it takes form, then attach it to another crochet piece of a different color, fasten the two pieces together, then put in a stitch on top, another one below, and now add a motif…another stitch here, there, time for a yarn over, make rows, throw in a bead maybe.
What did you end up with?  You bet it’s something that’s definitely worth showing in a freeform crochet forum or ezine. Even crazy shapes built out of nothing have a place in the crochet world. That’s why it’s called freeform. Anything goes - sky’s the limit - disco dancing minus the dance instructor.

Freeform, according to one crocheter, is like painting. It can be born out of an abstract idea or a realist one. It can be 2-D or 3-D; whatever it is, it is always beautiful. Like love, it is never planned, it just happens.

Spread the Word; Share Your Love

The Craft Yarn Council of America initiated a brilliant idea. Using the motto, “Each One Teach Two” it is encouraging all teachers nationwide to teach students six years old and older how to crochet. The Craft Yarn Council provides the lesson plans and tells teachers what they can teach beginners, given that starting a chain is probably one of the hardest techniques to master.

Students are asked to use a larger hook – the H or I aluminum hook – since these hooks will give them a better grip on correct tension. Most beginners tend to crochet too tightly, the Council says. The idea is to establish a “chain” of crocheters; each person teaches two other people, and those two people will teach two others. The goal is to have everyone – well almost everyone – crocheting.

Teachers don’t have to be experts as the instructions are clearly spelled out. Instruction sheets can be downloaded from the Council’s web site and certificates are awarded at the end of the lessons.

If you think about this initiative, it dawns on you that the Yarn Council of America is making a last-ditch effort to save the yarn industry. The more there are crocheters and knitters in the US, the more there will be demand for yarn and other supplies. It’s a tested method to keep any particular segment of American business to stay afloat.

But then again…

We hardly think the yarn industry is faltering in any way. Evidence suggests it is thriving and doing very well. If crochet and knit managed to make it to the present century, that means that the needle trade has nothing to fret about. Knitting and crocheting are mainstays of a country’s clothing endeavors, and as long as people continue using their creative bent, then hook and yarn will be in constant supply. And even if the hobby was pushed towards oblivion, people all over the world will still need sweaters and mitts and pompom hats. Who’s going to make them?

Going back to the Yarn Council of America, their campaign does have merit even if the commercial motive is blatantly visible. First, by urging teachers to engage their students in a few minutes of crochet each day, these youngsters will have something to keep their hands busy.

If it’s one more efficient way of keeping them out of the streets and away from drugs, the Yarn Council just killed two birds with one stone. They promote the interests of the yarn industry, and they keep children safe at home. Instead of poking needles into their arms, they simply take up the hook and loop threads and create a piece they can use or turn into an entrepreneurial hobby.

There is something uplifting about the blissful “I made it myself!”

We know of many career women and housewives who are experts at a craft and somehow, wearing what they make – be it a crocheted scarf, a beaded pendant, a knitted mitten – elicits admiration and “would you consider making one for me, I’ll pay you” type of question. In fact one woman we once knew at work wore a bracelet and necklace set that she had made from some Japanese glass beads and that same day, she left work with $400.00 worth of orders. She didn’t expect that to happen, and she never thought that it could turn out to be a small home-based business for her. The lady now has a web site and can’t keep up with orders from people she doesn’t even know who are emailing her from as far away as the Yukon.

We suspect the same is going on with crocheters who are wearing what they make, with no hidden motives. Remember how one individual remarked that there are dozens of silent millionaires all over the world?  We wonder what percentage of them are crocheters. We’ll never know, will we?  They sit quietly at home, by the fireplace perhaps, and churning out these marvelous pieces of crochet that will simply be added to an inventory with rapid turnover. Silent waters run deep. The wealth of a nation lies in the nooks and crannies of every home – suburban and rural. Our Wall Street types can hustle all they want – they can blow their horns about how many mergers and acquisitions they’ve accomplished in a 45-day period, but you know something?

There are crocheters who are making much, much more.

Kudos to the Yarn Council of America. It’s helping America sell thread – a noble mission no doubt. That way, no child, woman or man needs to ever live a threadbare existence. At least everyone will be adequately clothed. Whether they have adequate food and shelter remains to be seen. So far so good, though. Ninety nine percent of world efforts are geared towards salvaging the human race.

Who? Martha Stewart?

And who has not heard of Martha Stewart?  She was that lady that turned dinnerware and table clothes into a billion dollar industry. But let’s leave that to the business analysts to dissect – this whole affair about how much money she made and the insider trading and whatever other felony crime she was charged with.

But let’s lighten up here. When she left federal prison, Martha Stewart was reported to be wearing a poncho that was crocheted by a friend in prison. You guessed right!  Martha Stewart managed to steer away attention from the facial worry lines she earned in prison to the poncho!

That poncho hugged the headlines – at least in Omnimedia and bulletin boards of crochet community forums. Interpretations of the poncho pattern have been circulated widely, but we can’t ascertain whether the original one was ever traced back to the creator. One crochet designer – Lily Chin – tried to replicate it and wore her version on the CBS Morning Show. She called it…the Freedom Poncho (what else?).

We’ll put on our crocheted thinking cap on and analyze this poncho item more closely:

Famous celebrity Martha Stewart wears a crocheted poncho while leaving prison

The poncho was crocheted by an inmate

Did the inmate learn crochet while in prison or was she already crocheting before incarcerated?

Why would prison authorities give an inmate a hook that she could turn into a weapon?

We think the last two points are revealing. Sadly, they only reveal our idiotic misperceptions and our urban neurosis. We need to broaden our minds a bit, get some fresh air so we can think like poetic thinkers do. A wholesome way of thinking is the better alternative.

Isn’t it wonderful that people in prison can be given something to do so that they too can be productive citizens like the rest of us outside bars?  Many of us who are free merely meander our existence away, a steep price to pay for freedom. Is there something about prison life that turns people into contemplative beings, where they end up realizing that working with one’s hands can be one of the best therapies in the world?

It shouldn’t be a case of “let them eat cake”. Why not take the Yarn Council of America to task and tell them, “let them learn crochet?”  A poet once said that it’s not the destination that counts, it’s the journey. In crochet, it’s not the poncho that counts, but each of the creative strokes that form together into a cohesive and beautiful whole. Nothing too tight, nothing too footloose and fancy free. This is what crocheting means. It’s a compromise between two extremes, a coming together of one row, one chain, one single stitch, and two double loops. Crochet is like life slowly coming to be. And when it does, it comes in vibrant colors and amazing swatches. It becomes a source of pride for the maker, and a source of genuine desire on the part of others to imitate. Life imitating life.

Well, maybe we’ve stretched that thought too far. But do think about it. Drugs and prostitution eventually destroy human minds. Crocheting can save them.

Shed off all perceptions about crocheting being an older lady’s craft. Not by a mile. Citing a study done by Research Inc. in Atlanta, Cindy Wolff said there are about 38 million women in the United States who know how to knit or crochet. In 1994, that number was 34.7. Those who learn to crochet and join the fold are usually women under 35. We’ve got Hollywood celebrities like Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz to thank for sharing the limelight with the craft.

Resources A-Bounty!

It’s never too late. If you’re nine or tugging your 90’s and your hands will let you, you can try your hand at crochet and see if you’ll get hooked. Apart from the 20 or so books you can pick up at your local library, there’s hundreds more in the bookstores and even on eBay.

Freebies, you ask?  Of course!  They’re all yours to take from the World Wide Web. Start with the Yarn Council of America (www.craftyarncouncil.com) and the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) at www.crochet.org). They’ll all be waiting for you with open arms.

Be lonely no more. Even if only for the sake of camaraderie – even the online kind of camaraderie – reach out and show them what your fingers can concoct.

If you’re fascinated with history, take a look at CGOA’s hook classification that goes back as early as 1880. And if you happen to travel to Canada and you’re cruising along the banks of the Ottawa River, the Canadian Museum of Civilization – minutes away from Ottawa – has an interesting collection of crochet hooks. The collection may be a bit slanted, because Canada is proud of its Inuit heritage, but our aboriginals could share some enlightening facts about the crochet hook with you.

Why wait?  Get chained and hooked now. Yarn over. Do a double and treble stitch. And then join the club!

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