I love Walmart's inexpensive cotton yarn. At just over $1 a ball it's one of my favorites (since there's no way that merino wool will be in my budget in the very near future!). I just finished most of the work on this outfit for Sadie's baby doll (for her birthday in less than a month). It's just a little crocheted dress and hat with a matching knit sweater that I'd posted earlier this month. I made the dress yesterday in the car while we were driving to pick up the washer and dryer and just did the hat while Sadie has been napping.I need to actually learn how to crochet though... I taught myself the single crochet stitch off the internet a couple of years ago and have "made up" a few stitches of my own, but for some reason I haven't managed to teach myself how to read crochet patterns. I can read knitting patterns easily and taught myself with Debbie Bliss books, but every book on crochet I've checked out of the library has just been over my head (maybe it's because most of them are 30 years old and seem to expect a whole understand of crocheting that I just don't have!).
I have a few more balls of cotton yarn... so there should be more crochet experiments coming up (and maybe I'll manage to finish one of my knit projects soon too!).
If you can find a Klutz book on crochet that should help you. The Klutz books are designed for children to teenagers, have lots of pictures, and plenty of projects to practice on. I love them and anytime I want to learn something new like Knitting, Quilting, Braiding my hair, etc. I go find one of them. Your library should be able to get their hands on a copy of the book even if they don't have it themselves. This is what the book looks like: http://www.amazon.com/Crochet-Learn-Great-Projects-Klutz/dp/1570548706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275007280&sr=8-1
ReplyDeleteOne thing you might be interested in is the history of Crochet. It was invented in the Victorian age (1800's) and popularized by Queen Victoria. They didn't have instructions so much as a diagram and you-figure-it-out-yourself policy. Almost all patterns were made with single crochet and the slip stitch. It wasn't until recently, within the last 100 years, that stitch dictionaries were created and much more helpful books came out.
Oh man I LOVE yarn too! And fabric, to bad I can't sew at ALL! Very cute dolly outfit :)
ReplyDeleteI learned crochet using the single page instruction sheet available FREE from Bernat at my local craft store. I used the same thing for basic knitting. You could also check out www.bernat.com and see if they have it there (or something similar).
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