Tools

Hello.

So I have a teeny tiny addiction to buying wool. My poor husband is almost buried alive in mounds of yarn, it's in the kitchen; bedroom and living room. It overflows from my Cath Kidston weekend bag. I even have a little CK knitting bag to carry around my work in progress projects.

I live in the haberdashery at work (I was even laughed at for carrying my crochet hook in my pocket).  It was on this visit to the haberdashery that I was asked if I wouldn't mind helping some of the other ladies to demonstrate and coach some yarn enthusiasts in the art of crochet. Now I'm a bit of a worried so I was rather overwhelmed, panic set in. "I've only been crocheting for two months. I don't know everything, argh".

Many of the girls from work have been watching my progress on Facebook with my little creations and I've been asked just short of a hundred billion times to coach at the craft club, so being the damn people pleaser that I am, I agreed.

So I thought I would try to explain to you dear reader the wonderful hobby and art of making stuff out of loopy knots that is known as crochet. Please, please, please give me any feedback! It will be gratefully received I promise. 

Okay here goes. So the first step, is selecting your tools. If you have read my first blog hello I describe my first experience at a haberdashery. I was excited but it could easily be intimidating for a new starter. 

There is an array of different types of wool to choose from and in the above picture I show a selection of some of mine.

 It ranges from super chunky, chunky, Aran, to double knit or Dk at the end. This just refers to the thickness of the yarn.

 There are also different brands; Sirdar, John lewis, Rowan, Patons to name but a few. Honestly I buy whichever I like the look of and whatever is reasonably priced.

The yarn or wool will also tell you how much wool it actually contains. This can range from 100% acrylic (cheap) to a cotton blend (great for babies) organic (usually over £5 per ball) to softest baby alpaca (remortgage your house expensive).

You also have a choice of different size and material crochet hooks. Bamboo tends to be slightly lighter but usually double the price of a metal hook. 

The crochet hook will have printed on it the hook size, the hook that I am holding is a 4mm metal crochet hook. 

When picking your wool if you check the back or size of the packaging it will usually tell you which size knitting needles and which size crochet hook are best suited to the wool.

So this particular ball of wool states that the 4mm hook would be best. Well isn't that just the darnedest thing, I've only got a 4mm hook! Kismet.