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Crafts Books
Knitting & Crocheting Books
Karen Manthey
Susan Brittain
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Published:
November 30, 2016

Crocheting For Dummies with Online Videos

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Overview

Get hooked on the art of crochet

The crochet craze has taken the craft world by storm. If you've caught the bug and want to take your skills from beginner to beguiling, look no further than the friendly guidance in this bestselling guide. In Crocheting For Dummies, 3rd Edition, you'll find out how to choose the right hooks and yarns to complete your project, switch colors as you go, utilize various crochet stiches for different looks, and so much more. Online companion project videos will help readers master the concepts and techniques covered in the book.

Julia Roberts and countless other celebrities are doing it—and you can, too! Taking the intimidation out of the timeless art of crocheting, this updated edition gives crafters of every skill level the knowledge and know-how to choose the right tools, create basic stitches, and finish off their work to make beautiful pieces of art. From learning to create consistency with gauge swatches to decoding patterns, symbols, and diagrams, this easy-to-follow guide is all you need to create beautiful designs in no time!

  • Includes fresh new patterns, stitches, and techniques
  • Covers common crocheting mistakes and how to correct them
  • Provides guidance on crocheting with eco-awareness, like working with organic yarns, tie-dye yarns, and free trade and sustainably sourced fibers
  • Gets you up to speed on resources and events held within the crochet community
  • Provides free online access to videos to teach you how to tackle various stitches and crochet in the round

Whether you're a first-time crocheter or looking to expand your skillset, Crocheting For Dummies gives you everything you need to get hooked like a pro.

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About The Author

Karen Manthey edits crochet diagrams for numerous books, magazines, yarn companies, and designers.

Susan Brittain was an assistant editor for Crochet Fantasy magazine.

Sample Chapters

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crocheting for dummies with online videos

CHEAT SHEET

You're never too old or too young to discover crochet. The skills you master, the benefits you receive, and the beautiful heirlooms you create can last a lifetime and be passed on to future generations. To get started with crocheting, you need to decode crochet symbols and abbreviations so you can follow patterns with ease, and you need to find out what gauge is (and why it's so important).
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Articles from
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People have experimented quite a bit with the art of crochet over the years. They've taken the basic stitches and found unique ways of manipulating them to create variations on the original art form. They've also combined the use of the crochet hook with other tools to produce totally new techniques. They've even experimented with a variety of materials to broaden the scope of the craft.
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You don't have to be an expert in crochet to make a difference with it. The moment you found out how to guide your hook through the stitches you became empowered to make positive changes in the world. here are nine ways that you can do good things with crochet — for your friends, your community, and your planet.
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The mattress stitch, also known as the invisible seam or invisible weaving, is a very flexible seam that works best for sewing garment pieces together because it makes for a flat, invisible seam. You always work this stitch with the right sides facing up so you can make sure the seam is invisible on its best side.
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The backstitch produces a strong, bulky seam that doesn't have a lot of stretch. Use it whenever you need to join two pieces together with a sturdy seam, like for bags or baskets. You work the backstitch on the wrong side of the project because it's visible (and not exactly pretty). The key to understanding the backstitch is to think of it as two steps forward and one step back.
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When the corners of your crochet project are starting to curl and just won't lie flat, you may need to try adjusting your tension. Stitches that are worked too tightly together result in a stiff fabric, which often causes the corners to curl in.To fix this problem, try stretching the fabric. That just might loosen up the stitches and allow the piece to lie flat.
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Occasionally you may find that the edges of your crochet project are actually growing. If your work is getting wider and you didn't intend for it to, that means you've unknowingly added stitches somewhere.To trim your project back down to size, count the stitches in the last row to determine how many extra stitches you have.
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You're crocheting along when suddenly you realize that your work is getting skinnier — something it's not supposed to do. This problem is a common one for those who are still getting the hang of crocheting. If your project is growing narrower as you work, then you probably lost one or more stitches somewhere along the way.
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If after working a few inches of your project you notice that the piece is getting wider and you didn't add any stitches, there's a chance your foundation edge may be too tight. The chain stitch is easy to make narrower than the other, more structured stitches, so accidentally making the foundation chain too tight is quite common.
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It is to get frustrated when you're struggling to slide your crochet hook into stitches. Following are a couple of reasons your stitches may be too tight (along with a couple of easy fixes): You're pulling the working yarn too tight as you work. Try loosening up your tension by adjusting how you hold the yarn.
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You're never too old or too young to discover crochet. The skills you master, the benefits you receive, and the beautiful heirlooms you create can last a lifetime and be passed on to future generations. To get started with crocheting, you need to decode crochet symbols and abbreviations so you can follow patterns with ease, and you need to find out what gauge is (and why it's so important).
Read More
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This simple cuff is the perfect crochet project to get you started with joining motifs as you go, which means you don't have to do any seaming at the end. This project uses crochet thread that's easy to find in most yarn and craft stores.Crochet thread is available in a variety of colors and fibers, so you can make a cuff for any occasion.
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Here's a crochet pattern for a simple throw rug made from several pairs of old jeans. If you'd like a larger size rug, increase the stitches in the foundation row, work more rows, and cut strips from more pairs of jeans. Materials and vital statistics 3–4 pairs of jeans, depending on size Hook: Crochet hook size Q U.
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You can slip stitch two pieces together to create a flat seam, which crocheters often use when they want the seam to be invisible (think of a side seam joining the front and back of a sweater). To slip stitch a seam in this fashion: Lay the 2 pieces to be joined side by side on a flat surface, with right sides facing up (for a right side seam) or wrong sides facing up (for a wrong side seam).
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If you choose to create a ridge along your seam, you can either hide it (on the wrong side of the fabric) or make it part of the design (on the right side). Ridged seams are sometimes used to create a decorative look, like in an afghan made up of motifs; you can use a contrasting color to add another design element.
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You can recycle your old sheet sets into crocheted pillow covers to create a wonderfully textured effect. You can cut sheets into strips for crochet in several ways. The most basic way is to simply cut the fabric into equal-sized strips and then knot, sew, or loop them together into one long, continuous strand.
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This is a great project for all those old T-shirts hanging around. Use one for a trivet or multiple for a set of placemats. See the figure for an illustration of the instructions. Trivet stitch diagram. Materials and vital statistics 1 Large tie-dye T-shirt, or in color of your choice Hook: Crochet hook size P-15 U.
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You can heat block your design by either ironing it or steaming it. Faster than wet blocking and spray blocking, heat blocking works best on natural fibers, such as wool and cotton, but you must take extra care not to burn the fibers. Don't heat block fibers because they can melt, thereby ruining your design.Ironing it out The ironing method of heat blocking works well for flat items, such as doilies, that have no three-dimensional stitches.
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Ties and drawstrings make fun and easy closures for the front (or back) of a garment. They can be as simple as a single tie attached to each side of a light sweater's front or as elaborate as a threaded drawstring criss-crossing the back of a summer halter top.You usually attach ties to the top-front portion of a garment, close to the neck opening, or at the beginning of the front neck shaping, centered over the chest.
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Spray blocking is similar to wet blocking, but instead of immersing a piece completely in water, you spray it with water to dampen the fabric. It's kind of like spritzing your hair to spruce up your 'do when you don't have time to wash it.Use spray blocking when your piece needs only a little bit of help to shape up or when you don't want to take the time to wet block.
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To wet block an item, you submerge the whole thing in water. This method works for just about any yarn, but read the yarn label just to be sure it's not a dry-clean-only fiber. You can also gently wash your crocheted item at this time to rid it of the dirt and oils that the yarn is sure to have picked up from your hands.
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Joining two crochet pieces with another row of stitches creates a different look from the other seams. Instead of working through the double thickness of two crocheted pieces, you work back and forth between them, usually on the right side of the piece. The row between the two pieces can be as narrow as a single stitch, or it can be wide and lacy.
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Some crochet pieces are joined together while working the last row or round. Joining pieces as you go saves you from the daunting task of having to sew or crochet lots (and lots!) of pieces together at the end of a project. Because motifs use an endless variety of stitch patterns, not all of them are joined in the same spot, but some general guidelines do exist: Motifs that have side edges, like squares or triangles, are usually joined along one or more sides.
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Crocheting a basic edging of one or two rows or rounds on the outer edges of a design can smooth out the rough spots and add a finished, professional look to your crocheted items. You can even add crocheted edgings to other materials. Here are a few options: Crochet a round of single crochet stitches around the bottom edge, neck edge, and cuffs of a sweater, especially one that you worked in a heavier-weight yarn.
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As more and more plastic grocery bags are being replaced by cloth totes, why not turn your leftover plastic bags into a reusable crocheted bag? Plastic bags can be crocheted like yarn; they just need a little bit of prep work to become plastic yarn, or plarn. If you don't have enough plastic bags to make the bag shown here, ask around and help relieve your neighbors of their unwanted bags.
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Not all crochet is designed to be flat. One of the beautiful aspects of this craft is that with it you can create three-dimensional designs, whether your creation is as simple as a hat or as complex as a decorative, three-dimensional Lilliputian village that you work in many pieces.Many three-dimensional designs need to be coaxed and shaped after you finish the actual crocheting, however.
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To get most crocheted garments, such as sweaters, vests, and jackets, to match a pattern's finished measurements, you must block them. Blocking is a process used to shape crocheted work. It can be as simple as spraying your design with water or completely immersing it in a tub to get it good and wet. Or you may use some heat by applying steam from your steam iron.
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