Crochet Patterns for Beginners

Crochet, pronounced as krowshey, is a technique of creating a piece of fabric using a yarn and a crochet hook. The word crochet is derived from a French word which means a hook. If you know knitting, then learning crocheting will be easier as it is similar to knitting; the only difference between knitting and crochet is that in a crochet only one loop is active at a time. Now, let us discuss the common crochet patterns.

Easy to Learn Crochet Patterns

The things you will need for making a crochet pattern is a hook and yarn. Before you go shopping for material for a particular crochet pattern, it is advisable to read the tutorial of the particular crochet pattern you are interested in making and then buy the yarn, and the size of the hook. You can make a crochet pattern using different colors of yarns, but as a beginner make your first crochet pattern using the common off-white yarn, and then experiment with different patterns using various yarn colors.

Afghans Stitch
Just like knitting where there are different stitches, and few easy stitches for beginners; afghans are one such stitch when it comes to crocheting. Special hooks are used for making afghans, so that there is more space for the large number of stitches. For afghan crochet or Tunis crochet, you need to keep the right side of the work always facing you, and work on a base chain, and then make rows by looping the yarn first from right to left and the second half left to right. By learning these easy crochet patterns you can make scarves, blankets and other easy patterns.

Scarves
For this pattern you need to first practice making a basic chain and learn the single crochet stitches. To learn how to crotchet a scarf, use bulky yarn and J size or larger crochet hook. For making the scarf, first make a slip knot and base chain which is around 14 stitches to get the length of the scarf. Then make another extra stitch and turn, then insert the crotchet hook in the second chain and make another single crotchet stitch and this way make a row, this way keep turning the stitch and making the rows, till you are satisfied with the size of the scarf.

Baby Blankets
Select soft yarns which feels nice to your skin, like cotton yarns, for making a baby blanket. Then using a similar stitch pattern like the above mentioned scarf pattern, you can make the baby blanket. However, when learning how to crotchet a baby blanket the size of the blanket will be bigger than scarf, so instead of making around 14 inches for length make 36 inches for length and then work it to form rows to complete the blanket.

Hats
To crotchet a hat, select a yarn of your choice. To make the hat interesting you can use 2 or more colored yarns. Again the above similar stitch can be used for making a crochet hat. The only difference is that you have to work in a circular pattern. So start crocheting in a round, till it is as large as the top of your head, keep working in the round stitches and keep increasing the number of stitches slowly till the hat is large enough, and reaches till your ears.

There are many illustrated tutorials and video tutorials online, following which you can learn the basic stitches and the above patterns. So learn 1-2 simple stitches and then make any of the above mentioned pattern to create your very first crochet knit fabric.