Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
I had the great pleasure of teaching six more beginners the crochet basics recently at Amble Pin Cushion
In my “Crochet For Absolute Beginners” Workshop we start by going through the principles of how to hold your hook and yarn to maintain tension and maximise control of the hook. I feel it’s important not to be too prescriptive about this. After all, everyone’s hands are different. I myself don’t have full movement in my wrists. I’ve taught people with arthritic conditions and a lady who had very little movement in her left forefinger. In every case I’ve tried to find a hold that works comfortably and effectively to suit that person. I’ve also developed some illustrated “how to” sheets in both left-handed and right-handed versions. Crochet should be accessible for everyone!
It’s always nice to come away from a workshop with something you’ve made, so my beginners worked on some colourful striped bookmarks (I also gave them full instructions to take away in case they didn’t finish or wanted to make more at home). I think they absolutely nailed it!
All three made great progress and were crocheting like pros by the end of the session.
I think they enjoyed themselves. They certainly look pleased with their work, and rightly so!
Look out for news on my next workshop….coming very soon!
I had the great pleasure of teaching six more beginners the crochet basics recently at Amble Pin Cushion
In my “Crochet For Absolute Beginners” Workshop we start by going through the principles of how to hold your hook and yarn to maintain tension and maximise control of the hook. I feel it’s important not to be too prescriptive about this. After all, everyone’s hands are different. I myself don’t have full movement in my wrists. I’ve taught people with arthritic conditions and a lady who had very little movement in her left forefinger. In every case I’ve tried to find a hold that works comfortably and effectively to suit that person. I’ve also developed some illustrated “how to” sheets in both left-handed and right-handed versions. Crochet should be accessible for everyone!
It’s always nice to come away from a workshop with something you’ve made, so my beginners worked on some colourful striped bookmarks (I also gave them full instructions to take away in case they didn’t finish or wanted to make more at home). I think they absolutely nailed it!
All three made great progress and were crocheting like pros by the end of the session.
I think they enjoyed themselves. They certainly look pleased with their work, and rightly so!
I’m currently getting ready for my next improvers workshop at the end of this month. This time we are making cosy textured headbands.
Participants will receive a 100g ball of James C Brett Aztec yarn in the colour of their choice.. Aztec includes some alpaca in the fibre blend that gives it a gorgeous soft feel. It’s an Aran weight yarn so thicker than the double knitting I use in my beginners classes, and requires a bigger hook – 5mm).
We’ll be perfecting our half treble stitches (UK terminology) and learning how the stitch placement creates the ridged effect, which resembles knitting.
Having mastered the basic stitches, we’ll then go on to make the headband. I’ll be explaining how to adapt the pattern for different child and adult sizes and how to make the central twist.
As usual I’ll provide full illustrated instructions to complete the headband at home, including left-handed versions of how-to stitch guides for those who need them. There’s still places left – full details can be found here.
It’s the first brand new workshop I’ve developed in a while and it’s nice to do something new , especially something seasonal…..perfect as colder weather approaches.
My friend Edi kindly agreed to model it for this photo so you can see how good it looks and what a nice fit it is.
I’ve been continuing to teach crochet this year at Amble Pin Cushion, developing new courses and honing my skills as a tutor.
It was workshop day last Thursday, teaching 10 participants over 2 sessions. I teach a maximum of 6 people per session. It’s about the right number for the room I use but I also want to ensure that everyone gets the tuition they need,, and avoid spreading myself too thinly. I limit the sessions to 2 hours at a time.. Teaching can be quite intensive and I don’t want to run out of steam!
We were making the classic granny square, so called (I think) because our grandmothers and those before them were the queens of recycling and ‘make-do and mend”. Nothing was wasted out of a need to be frugal. These crocheted squares were the perfect way to use up scraps of yarn left over from other projects or unravelled old and unwearable jumpers. The squares could then be joined up to make colourful blankets and other useful items. Granny square garments are now gaining popularity as much for their looks as their sustainability.
I did enjoy Thursday – both groups were an absolute pleasure to meet and to teach…. and from far and wide too, with one crocheter from Australia (now living locally) and another who has local connections but was visiting from the USA , where she now lives.
There was a range of abilities too, from complete beginners, those needing a bit of a “refresher course” and one experienced crocheter who wanted do her homework to prepare for an imminent big Granny Square project.
I was really proud of the progress they all made in just 2 hours. They went away with full instructions to complete their granny square and make more, how to join them together and some helpful tips and tricks, along with a yarn pack to practice at home. I wonder if they’ll get hooked on crochet!
One of my new workshops this year is “Crochet for Absolute Beginners” This came about following a conversation with another crochet tutor. We agreed that describing a workshop as “suitable for beginners” covers a pretty broad range of abilities, from true beginners with zero experience to those that are pretty good at the craft, but are either not very confident or they haven’t picked up a crochet hook in some time. I began crocheting when I was about 8 years old, taught by my grandmother and when you’ve been doing it that long you take some of the skills involved for granted. It’s all too easy to assume that others will have some basic knowledge.
That’s why this workshop was developed: for people who have never picked up a crochet hook – nothing is assumed! It really is back to basics and though participants may get as far as making a bookmark, there is no pressure to complete anything in the session.
As well as some basic stitches we cover the principles of holding the wool and hook, to maintain tension and control the hook efficiently. I feel very strongly that there is no set way of holding your work, wool and hook as long as you can stick to those basic principles. After all, everyone’s hands are different: left or right- handed, large or small, with long or short fingers, maybe some joint stiffness or other impairment. I try to work with my students to find the best hold for them. I’ve also recently begun to develop some new hand outs for left-handed participants – I tried them out for the first time last week in the Granny Square workshops and they seemed to work well.
I have run the Absolute Beginners workshop a few times now and it’s going really well, but there’s always room for improvement. I ask everyone to complete a very short anonymous evaluation at the end of each session. It’s good to get feedback so I can improve what I do and get ideas for future workshops. A left-handed participant on one of the first Absolute Beginners sessions inspired me to develop the LH specific handouts I used for last week’s Granny Squares.
I think it’s important to have fun too. Enjoyment is important for its own sake, but it turns out that it also helps people relax and stops their crochet becoming too tight!
One particularly enjoyable session included a husband and wife. He had bought her a crochet kit as a gift and he suggested that it would help her learn to use if she did a workshop and she agreed, but only on the condition that he came along to. They both did well, but he was exceptional. producing some really beautiful skilled crochet work Then, he confessed. After they booked on, he had been watching You Tube tutorial videos on the quiet and practicing in secret! No wonder he’d got so good!
Do you have any funny crochet-related stories to share. I’d love to hear them
STOP PRESS
I’ve just added an extra Absolute Beginners Session to run on Saturday 4th October from 10.30 to 12.30pm. (The one on Thursday 25th is now full, but please check for cancellation).
Last month I taught my first crochet workshop at Amble Pin Cushion. You can read more about it here. Initially I’d agreed to do this as a one-off and see how it went before I decided to do more. I ended up really enjoying the afternoon and the group taking part were absolutely lovely…..I’m now just about ready for my next workshops on Wednesday – this time I’m running one in the morning, and repeating it in the afternoon – there are still a few places left before the list closes tomorrow afternoon. You can watch the video I made about the course here
This time I’ll be teaching how to crochet either a scarf or a cowl, using a simple pattern of trebles. This course is suitable for beginners.
I chose this, crocheted in rows because I know this can be difficult when you first start with crochet, specifically where to place the first and last stitch of each row.
The treble stitch is great for quick-t0-crochet items: it grows quickly – it’s a great opportunity for beginners to perfect their treble stitches in this very simple pattern.
I strongly believe that simple doesn’t have to be dull, so I’m using a variegated yarn – the different colours in the yarn do all the work to make the design.
I used Stylecraft “Knit Me Crochet Me” in Nebula – a grey/blue main colour, alternating with lengths of rainbow colours. It’s an acrylic/wool blend double knitting yarn and feels very soft, without being too fluffy. Of course there are loads of different variegated yarns on the market and most would make great scarves (maybe not the harsher wools, which could be a bit scratchy to wear round your neck!). All will give a completely different result however, even using the same basic pattern of treble stitches, depending on the size of the colour repeats.
I like to give my students some handy hints to help them up their crochet game – this time I’m going to include the mysteries of the ball band – decoding the information on the back like dye lots, gauge and yardage, so there’ll be plenty to talk about as well as the practical crochet tuition.
With just a few more info packs to print out, I’m almost ready to go!
Stitches by the Sea 