One of my resolutions for 2025 is to learn to crochet. It’s a skill I’ve wanted to master for ages, but all previous attempts last year left me feeling overwhelmed and confused. I’ve purchased numerous assorted DIY crochet kits – all labelled as suitable for beginners – and yet, none of them was good enough to actually teach me how to crochet. How frustrating! However, I never gave up the dream of being able to make myself the perfect cardigan or a plushie toy. And finally, just before Easter, I decided to dedicate a few hours to getting started. I’m happy to report that I’ve made a little bit of progress, and even completed a few simple projects! Here’s how my first couple of weeks of learning to crochet went.

Assorted DIY crochet kits

If you’ve been following my blog, you probably know that I love assorted DIY sets. I buy lots of them for cross stitching projects, but I’ve also had ones for other types of crafts, like soap making or bath bombs. The best thing about those kits is that they typically include all the supplies you need, along with beginner-friendly instructions. So naturally, I assumed that assorted crochet sets would be similar and I’d learn to crochet with just one of those kits.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go so smoothly.

I bought my first crochet set over a year ago. It was a set for making hanging egg decorations. I bought it on sale after Easter. It included yarn in a few colours, a crochet hook and a leaflet with the pattern instructions, which I didn’t understand at all. Discouraged, I packed everything back into the box and put the kit away.

If you’re not a crocheter yourself, here’s an excerpt of an example crochet pattern:

Make a magic ring and work 6 dc into the ring.

Rnd 1: 2dc inc, 2dc [repeat 3 times], do not join (8st)

Rnd 2: *2dc inc, 1 dc* [repeat 4 times], do not join (12st)

Instructions like that clearly require you to have prior knowledge. Some of the sets included pictures for different types of stitches, but frankly – they weren’t helpful at all.

Over the last year, I’ve bought more of those assorted crochet kits, in hopes that one of them would come with instructions suitable for absolute beginners. But for some reason, none of them did. I must have bought close to 10 different sets and still didn’t know how to even begin crocheting! The sets weren’t expensive – no more than £5 each – but I was getting increasingly frustrated, and they were taking up space in my small flat.

At the end of last year, I made a list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2025, and made learning to crochet one of them. A few weeks ago, I finally made a start.

Crochet book for beginners

A few months ago, whilst making an order from Hobbycraft, I came across a crocheting book for beginners. It had really good reviews, with many people saying that the book had helped them learn to crochet when everything else failed. I immediately added it to my basket, and it did help me a lot later on.

First crocheted egg

A few weeks ago, I decided to spend a few hours learning the basics – just the things I needed to know to complete an egg from the first Easter crocheting set I bought last year. The pattern seemed relatively simple and only required knowing how to make a magic ring, double crochet stitches (UK version) and basic increase and decrease. At that time, I had no idea what any of those meant, but I was hopeful. After all, I only needed to learn 4 things to complete an egg, apparently.

I spent about two hours learning how to make a magic ring. The book that I had bought helped a lot, but I also needed to watch dozens of YouTube tutorials to see it in action. It seems like every crocheter has their own way of doing things, and I found it a bit confusing to see the tutorials differ between each other. But eventually, I had my magic ring completed.

I then moved on to figuring out how to add the second row of stitches over the magic ring. Once again, I studied the pictures in the book and watched video tutorials. I managed to make some stitches in the end. Far, far from perfect! But at least I managed to convert a piece of yarn into a rectangle that held its imperfect shape.

I followed the rest of the egg pattern – or at least I thought I did – and I ended up with something that resembled an egg, sort of. Frankly, looking back, I don’t know how I managed to do that! I didn’t properly count the stitches and I accidentally skipped a few rounds, but the final result still looked like an egg.

I reviewed my creation and understood the importance of following the pattern to a tee. My first crocheted egg was imperfect, but at least I had a chance to practice making double stitches and increases/decreases. It was a good start.

I moved on to crocheting a second egg. This time, trying to more accurately count the rounds and stitches. I feel like I did better than I had with the previous egg, but this time, the tension proved to be an issue. The egg ended up looking like a cucumber! It turned out way too long.

I lost track of the stitches a few times when crocheting the second egg, but at least I managed to get more valuable experience.

I decided to crochet another egg, using the same pattern. This time, I used a paperclip to mark the stitches. I also tried to control my tension and keep all stitches even. Finally, the completed piece looked neat! I then crocheted another egg, just to get more experience under my belt. I even added a loop for hanging the egg.

Sudden realisation

Content with the neat-looking egg, I kept watching crocheting tutorials and realised that my egg didn’t look like other items crocheted with double stitches. After further review, I finally noticed the mistake. I was crocheting my double stitches into the front loop of the stitch underneath, instead of both loops. Such technique is actually a variation of a double stitch that’s sometimes used intentionally, but it wasn’t part of the pattern I was meant to follow!

Crocheting in front loops makes a visible seam, which explains the spiral line on my previous eggs. Armed with that discovery, I went on to crochet a fifth egg, This time, it was a complete success! I counted the stitches and rows without any mistakes, and made sure to crochet in both front and back loops. The egg looked like the eggs in the photo in the instructions.

Another Easter egg crochet set

There were plenty of Easter-themed DIY kits in the shops before Easter this year, and I ended up buying two more egg crochet sets.

The first of them, I bought in London. I managed to crochet one egg before my Easter trip back home. Sadly, I only have a photo of the egg in progress, not the final result. The egg looked neat and even, but my tension was off – the egg measured way smaller than indicated in the instructions.

I bought the other Easter egg crochet set in Poland. This one included styrofoam eggs instead of fibrefill, which was a change. I managed to crochet a neat-looking egg, and a pair of ears for it (this set included patterns for many egg decorations, like bunny ears and flowers). My tension was bad again, and the two ears – made with the exact same pattern – ended up completely different sizes. Oops! Honestly, crocheting isn’t an easy skill to master!

Witch’s hat – new stitches and a success

To take a break from crocheting eggs, I decided to try something new. I had a crochet kit that I bought on sale after Halloween last year, for making a miniature witch’s hat. This pattern utilised skills I had already practised – working in rounds of double crochets – but it also let me try a couple of new things: colour changes and half treble crochets. I referred to my trusted book to learn how to do those two new things, and the project ended up a complete success. I’m super thrilled with how cute the hat turned out!

Things I need to learn

Apart from the obvious, which is learning other types of stitches, I already noticed a bunch of things I need to improve after just a few simple projects.

First of all, I need to learn to control my tension. I’ve noticed that I tend to crochet too tightly, and although my stitches are fairly even and consistent, the final pieces end up smaller than they should. Every crocheted piece I’ve completed was below the final size indicated in the instructions. I feel like I should try to fix this before it becomes a habit of mine – it might be much more difficult to change if I allow it to get rooted in my muscle memory!

Another thing I need to work on is something that might also help me fix the tension. I need to learn how to hold the yarn! I’ve seen various methods for wrapping yarn around one’s fingers, and there doesn’t seem to be a single right way to do it. I just need to find one that works for me, and use it consistently. Until now, it’s been very random and I often worked with yarn hanging in the air, coming straight from the skein (omitting my fingers altogether).

The next thing I struggle with is joining rounds and turning. The initial projects I worked on required working in continuous rounds, without any joining stitches. It felt super beginner-friendly, as I was able to complete the whole piece without any turns of round joins. Some of the later projects I worked on used a different method, which required slip stitches followed by a single chain stitch to join rounds. I tried to follow some tutorials on YouTube, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been doing it wrong regardless. I need to find some more tutorials and try to wrap my head around it!

As far as turning the work goes, none of the projects I’ve worked on so far required it, but I know that some of the other assorted kits that I have do. I’ll need to learn how to do it properly! I once attempted to make a few rows of stitches in a rectangle and it went horribly wrong around the turning points.

Embroidering details onto finished crocheted pieces is another thing I struggle with. I attempted to sew a face and some flowers onto one of my eggs, and it was a complete failure!

To be continued…

My crocheting journey has only just begun, and I can tell that it won’t be an easy one. I still have a handful of DIY kits to work through, which I hope will be a good way to practice some of the basic skills. Longer term, I’d love to be able to crochet my own clothes, or even design plushies and similar items. I realise that it will take months to get there, but I hope I can make it one day. I will definitely document my realistic journey of learning to crochet on this blog.

Also see:

• DIY