Over the past 3 months I have taken up crochet for my free inquiry project. I have really enjoyed learning this new skill, and will definitely continue with it over time. I have made many projects over the past few months, including about 50 mini hearts, 1 blanket, a few granny squares, coasters and more.
Below I’ve included a picture of the blanket I made. The entire blanket it made of half double crochets. This took me roughly 6 weeks from start to finish, working on it when I had the opportunity. I used 10 skeens of yarn, which came out to about 1200 yards of yarn. I definitely could have made it larger, but I had already bought so much yarn and I was getting tired of working on the same project. In the future when I make a blanket I will try making it out of granny squares so I can work on one piece at a time.
I enjoyed the benefits of crochet, like a lower screen time, less stress, and the confidence boost gained through creating something. I am planning on making friends and family slippers for christmas which is exciting. My mom made me a yarn advent calendar this year, so I don’t think I’ll be dropping this hobby anytime soon.
This week I finished making heart pins so I had a full set to give out in class today. Over the last 2 weeks I have made roughly 50 crochet hearts and given them to family, friends and classmates. I like that they are small are not too time or resource consuming but are still super cute and easy to add to other projects such as hats, blankets, granny squares, etc. I think if i were to make them again I’d leave a loop on a few so people can use them as keychains but realistically I think if someone wanted to make theirs into a keychain it would be pretty easy to do. I love creating little physical tokens of my appreciation, I feel like it helps people remember they are appreciated, so I’m glad to have taught myself how to make these as I can totally make them for students in the future. I asked a couple classmates if I could add a photo of them with their mini heart to my blog, shout out to Ella and Hanne!
This week I’ve also been working on my blanket. I started working on a green blanket about two weeks ago and it has been coming along quite well! I greatly underestimated how much yarn I would need so I had about 4/5 days between running out and being able to get more but all things considered I’m making pretty quick work of it. I’m using a “half double crochet” stitch for the entire blanket and I love how it looks so far. I find it super relaxing and passive since I’m just doing the same thing over and over again so I don’t have to pay too much attention. Also through making my blanket I’ve had to learn how to “add on” which is just adding a new ball of yarn to the project. At first I was scared since it seemed like a skill that would be tricky but it was actually really simple.
Over the past week I’ve made 25 mini hearts! I’m hoping to make 10/15 more before “Link2Practice” next week. I have been following the same patten as I did last week, from “lilthings” on youtube. I have also started to work on a blanket, however, I’ll leave that for next week’s blog. Micheals, the craft store, had a 30% off all yarn sale this week. I was able to buy a ton of yarn for various projects and save a decent amount of money so that was really helpful.
Growth and Challenges
I’ve seen a lot of growth in my crocheting over the past week. I’m finding it much easier to follow patterns (instructions) and recognize any mistakes I make in my stitching. I’m able to crochet the hearts without watching and following along with the video anymore, which is motivating since now I listen to podcast/audiobooks as I make them. My biggest challenge this week has been struggling with patience. Since I know that I know how to crochet a heart I would get really frustrated when I messed up or felt like I was taking too long. I find that usually I just need to take a break and come back and I feel better.
Benefits of Crochet
So far the most prominent side effect of picking up crochet has been my decreased amount of screen time, especially on my phone. I don’t get stuck in the trap of scrolling on Tik Tok or Instagram for hours when I’m bored nearly as much as I just grab my hook and yarn. Social media, as I’m sure we are all aware, can be super harmful to our mental health and beyond that I find it can be a bir brain numbing. I feel much more productive and confident in myself after spending 1-2 hours crocheting and listening to a podcast rather than using that time to mindlessly looking through my socials.
I also find crocheting has helped me to put more time into processing my day, feelings, thoughts and emotions. It’s challenging to prioritize being thoughtful about my personal life when I spend so much time thinking about school, work, practicum, responsibilities, etc. but crochet has helped me to focus on myself for a bit. While crocheting I need to pay enough attention to my project that I don’t mess up, meaning I can’t really think about school work. This sorta gives my brain permission to ignore things outside of myself, since they would require too much focus. It’s nice to practice mindfulness in a way that still feels productive and thus eliminates some of the stress/guilt I can feel when my plate is full with responsibilities but want to practice mindfulness.
This week I sewed together the sides of the bag I created last week. It took alot of trial and error since I didn’t follow a pattern, and I’m sure it could be a bit cleaner bit I like how it looks. Somehow the top of my bag ended up uneven so I’m gonna change my plan a bit. I’m going to make a rice bag and put it inside to use as a heat pack. this should make it so I can hide the uneven-ness by just sewing everything together.
The light blue-green coloured yarn between the yellow near the bottom of the bag is what I sewed up
This week I also worked on a couple mini hearts and I’m seeing improvements which is really encouraging. They are pretty simple but not as mindless as just crocheting in a row, like I did for my bag. They require a “magic ring” which can be a bit tricky to work with. I’m really hoping to make at least 10-15 more over the next week.
Finally this week I made a granny square which is a crochet square that can be used to make larger projects such as slippers, blankets, table clothes, sweaters, etc. I followed Alt Knot’s Youtube tutorial “Crochet Solid Granny Square Tutorial”. It was a bit challenging to follow but It turned out pretty well for my first attempt. It required chains, double and triple crochets and slip knots.
This week I mostly focused on developing my single crochet stitch that I learned last week. My stitch has improved a lot since last week which I attribute to both practice a more closely following tutorials/instructions. I have included a photo of my first try at single crochet stitching from last week and my attempt from this week to show my growth. One thing I’m still struggling with my “turning chain” stitch which is the stitch when you reach the end of the row you are working on and have to move up. Mine look really messy and I don’t think I’m doing them correctly. This hasn’t ruined my work but it’s created a few inconveniences and is something I really need to work on to continue growing my skills.
I did not take my advice from last week and started working on a piece without an end goal in mind. Once I was feeling ready to start working on a new project I started to brain storm what I could do with my work and I decided to turn it into a bag. Stitching together the blue side was pretty easy but issues arose when I tried to bring the other sides together. I originally tried to sew together the shorter (multicoloured) side with white yarn to try and create a seamless look but since my turning stitches are so messy it was next to impossible to make that work at my current skill level. I have decided it will be easier and my bag will look better if I sew up the long side (yellow). I will be working on finishing my bag over this next week by sewing up the yellow side and crocheting a strap to sew on as well. Below is a picture of my set back when i tried to sew up the shorter sides.
Besides my bag I also crocheted a small heart for the first time. It was much more challenging than the single stitch but still pretty simple all in all. I’m hoping to get better at making these as i would love to be able to make a lot and give them out. I followed ‘Lilthings’ tutorial on youtube, it was super beginner friendly and easy to follow. I struggled to get the right yarn tension and to keep track of my stitching counts but my heart still turned out well. Over the next week I will be working on finishing my bag and making more hearts. The hearts are made using a magic circle, chains, single, double and triple crochet stitches so making them will help me develop multiple skills.
Weekly recap: Last week I decided I was going to learn how to crochet for my free inquiry and ordered some supplies, meaning I spent most of this week waiting for it to arrive. Once my supplies arrived I organized a bit and got right into practicing. I watched a couple videos on youtube, first was Bella Coco‘s “HOW TO CROCHET FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS | EPISODE ONE” which taught me how to make a slip knot to put on my crochet hook and how to chain stitch. I also watched Simplydaisy’s “How to Crochet for Absolute Beginners: Part 1” which taught me how to crochet a single crochet stitch. After watching the videos I made a few chains to figure out how to comfortably hold the hook and yarn and then I tried to single crochet stitch. This week I also stopped by my local yarn store, Sooke Yarn and Fibre, to see what they had in stock. I met the owner of the store and had a great discussion with her. I told her about my free inquiry project and some of the projects I want to accomplish over the coming months. She was amazing and shared lots of free resources with me, as well as letting me know she could order special items for me if I was ever in need. She gave me her business card and I look forward to keeping her updated to my progress.
Below I’ve included an image of all my work over the week. Each of the chains took between 5-10 minutes and my attempt at a few rows of single crochet stitching took about 2-3 hours over a few days. It may not look like much but I had to unthread my yard and start over a few times which took a while.
Progress, successes and struggles: Ideally I would have accomplished more this week, however, between waiting for my supplies, other classwork and feeling under the weather it was hard to find time. I had a lot of small victories with my crocheting this week. I had zero experience and was able to get the motion and general idea of it relatively quickly. It kind of reminds me of my Rainbow Loom which is a toy/craft I used to love as a kid. One of the challenges I’ve been having this week is trying to control my yarn tension. When crocheting you want the yarn you are stitching in to have some stress, this is called yarn tension. I’m struggling to not pull the yarn too tight as that makes it challenging to pull my hook through. I think that is a skill that will develop with time and a bit more intentional practice. I also realized part way through crocheting my larger piece, I wasn’t doing it correctly as I got a bit too eager and didn’t want to rewatch the video explaining how to single crochet stitch correctly. I’m not sure what the stitch I ended up with is called or if it has a name but I think it looks neat nonetheless. Moving forward I’m going to try and follow along with tutorials a bit closer, just while I’m still grasping the basics.
Overall thoughts this week: So far I’ve really enjoyed teaching myself how to crochet and it’s filled my week with some positivity. I love looking for project inspiration and coming up with different ideas. My great grandma had a yearly tradition where she would knit a pair of slippers for everyone in my family and fill them with goodies as gifts for christmas. Everyone in my family loves her slippers and I hope that over time I can develop the skills to be able to make similar slippers and continue the tradition. I was also so pleased with my visit to my local yarn shop, the owner was so friendly and excited to help me with my project. I also came to the realization that I should probably start with a plan for now as I was kinda aimlessly creating my larger piece which was nice in some ways but I think it would be more motivational to have a goal when creating. I’m hoping over the next week and can get a bit better at stitching and start making small projects like crochet hearts or granny squares.
For my free inquiry project I’m going to teach myself how to crochet. I chose to learn how to crochet for a few reasons. First, I always find myself being drawn to the crochet businesses at markets or in gift shops and I’d love to figure out what it takes to make some of those pieces. Secondly I love hand making gifts for my friends and family and this is a great way to get a head start on making some holiday gifts. I also think this could be a great skill to teach in the classroom as an art unit or as a during/after school club. Lastly there is research that claims crocheting has a positive impact on mental and cognitive health.
This week I had my meeting with Rich, watched some videos to find beginner friendly materials and techniques and bought some of the materials I’ll need to get started. I’m not entirely sure of everything I’m going to try and create over the next couple of months so I bought a handful of Holly Auna’s recommendations from her youtube video “Crochet shopping list! What to buy as a beginner crocheter!” just to get started.
As previously mentioned, many claim crocheting is great for stress relief and can be meditative once you get the hang of it. I’m hoping crocheting can become a new relaxing hobby to help me manage the stress that comes with the busyness of school, work and life’s responsibilities. Over the coming weeks I will be documenting my progress in learning how to crochet, the different resources I use and keeping track of any mental health benefits I feel crocheting provides.
