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Crochet Newbie…No REALLY!?

I have crocheted MINIMALLY YEARS ago. I never learned to read the patterns but rather my cousin would learn one and teach me. I would like some advice on how to read patterns. I have ONLY single/double and granny square crochet. My daughter who will be 10 soon also wants to learn so it will be a good time for us to learn together ( I think) Please help. Those patterns look SUPER hard to follow and I get discouraged when I even open a book. I have purchased those kid crochet books for my daughter and she would LOVE to get going on a project. Myself, I would like to make a blanket……..with scalloped edges. Thank you in advance for ANY and ALL help I am happy to be a member and hope to find some support here.

I think it’s wonderful that you’re returning to the world of crochet AND that you’re doing so with your daughter. As part of a mother-daughter crocheting duo myself, I know you’ll have fun selecting patterns, hooks, and yarns to try as your skill levels increase. My daughter has been crocheting since the age of 5 (I’ll put a link to her website below)

You ARE good at reading crochet patterns, only you don’t know it yet. It comes with practice AND since you already know two of the three crochet stitches (single and double crochet — just missing the half-double), you’re well on your way! Patterns are like road maps — they will tell you when and where to place your stitches. The key is in figuring out what all those abbreviations mean!

History tells us that, once upon a time, printing was very expensive. First, paper was once made of linen (back then you had a choice of using the linen for clothing or as paper — since both were badly needed it made the decision to use as paper a very difficult one!) and printing presses relied on someone lining up individual letters — something that could take weeks to do for a single page! This was quite costly and so crochet patterns were actual crocheted motifs and tacked into fabric books for later reference.

Once the discovery of how to create paper out of wood pulp, along with the invention of better printing presses, was made, crochet patterns started appearing in many types of publication. (the earliest I own is from the early 1850’s) But cost, as it is today, was still a major factor. To reduce the production costs they came up with abbreviations to save space on the printed page.

Because there are two styles of crochet — European vs. American — I strongly recommend you use the key provided in the publication hosting your pattern. No matter which version you use, I always recommend to my crochet students to write the pattern out in long hand. So if the pattern should read: Row 1: Ch 1, Sc in first st and in ea st across. (32 sts)

it would read in long hand: Chain one, single crochet in first stitch and in each stitch across. When done count should be 32 stitches.

… and you would do this for every row. About the 5th or 6th pattern you write in long hand you will notice that you’ve absorbed a lot of the lingo and at this point you can stop the long hand method.

If your pattern does not come with a key, then please feel free to use my webpage here for reference: http://members.aol.com/crochetwithdee/rules.html

Like I said, you ARE good at reading patterns, you just don’t know it yet. Don’t let those abbreviations fool you — take the plunge and give them a try! You and your daughter will enjoy reading crochet patterns together in no time!

~Dee Stanziano
CYCA Certified Crochet Teacher/designer
Mother of Casey, a multi-blue ribbon winning crocheter (www.CaseysCrochet.com)

Large Scallop Square card with Dawn

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