What Do I Need to Start Crocheting?

Crocheting is a fun and relaxing hobby. It’s also a great skill if you want to surprise your loved ones with hand-made gifts.

Starting crocheting is really cheap. The absolute basics include:

1. Hook
2. Yarn
3. Needle.

And that’s it! You can learn all the crocheting bases with these three items.

For some more advanced patterns (such as amigurumi) you will also need a yarn needle to join the parts together. Some other accessories, such as stitch markers are also useful, although not essential.

Crochet kits for beginners are a great way to start you off if you don’t want the hassle of assembling all your crocheting essentials separately. If you’re struggling to find a good kit, I recommend that you have a look at this basic crochet kit. It contains the following:

• 12 x Silver Hooks
• 10 x Aluminum Hooks.
• 10 x Locking Stitch Makers.
• 3 x Cable Switch Knitting Needles
• 2 x Row Counter
• 2 x Stitch Holders
• 6 x Plastic Sewing Needles/Yarn Needles
• 2 x Needles Point Protectors
• 1 x Gauge Measure Ruler
• 1 x Scissors
• 1 x Convenient Case

I got this kit for my birthday (all my friends know that I am a keen crocheter). It contains a great deal of useful stuff for both beginner and advanced crocheters. I never went into the trouble of buying stitch markers – I always used a scrap of yarn for this purpose. Now I can’t imagine my life without stitch markers, and I can guarantee that they will make your life much easier. Scraps of yarn tend to fall off at the least convenient moments or get in the way of my hook.

But the thing I love most about this set is that it contains A LOT of hooks. You get 10 aluminium ones ranging from 2 mm to 6.5 mm AND 12 smaller silver hooks. Chances are, you won’t ever need to buy another hook, unless you want to get a hook made out of another material. That said, aluminium hooks are great for beginners.

I recommend that you start off by using the bigger hooks, because you’ll find it easier to learn your first stitches that way. 5 mm – 6.5 mm hooks are much easier to handle than the smaller ones, especially for beginners. It’s also more straightforward to count bigger stitches than small ones if you get lost when crocheting.

The kit also provides you with yarn needles, which are handy for making amigurumi. In the video below you can see how to seamlessly sew amigurumi parts:

Another cool thing about this set is the row counters. They remove the need for scribbling down the number of rows you’ve completed, which can get messy and annoying.

The kit even has a handy pair of scissors, which I take with me whenever I want to crochet on the go. The scissors are very small, so you can even fit them in your pocket. Perfect for summer crochet.

You’ll get as well some knitting stuff, such as cable needles and stitch holders. I hadn’t really knitted before I got this kit, but it encouraged me to take up knitting as well. The stitch holders are especially useful for longer project. They basically hold your incomplete needle-work together, so you don’t have to worry that the stitches will slip out of the knitting needles, especially when you want to take a couple of days off knitting.

You may need to buy some additional items, but this set should be sufficient for the first few months (and even for years) of your crocheting adventure. And AMZDONET offers a 45-day money back guarantee and an 18-month warranty in case you don’t like it something breaks down.

All these items come at an unbeatable price - $8.80! Buying several hooks separately would cost you much more, and you would not get any of the other items. I tried hard to find any flaws for the purposes of this review, but I couldn’t. It has also only highly positive reviews on Amazon.

With all the types of yarn available, it buying your first one may be a daunting task. However, as a beginner you shouldn’t really worry about the nuanced differences between yarns – that will come later. For learning your first stitches, buy a cheap yarn in a light colour, so that you can see your stitches clearly. Remember to buy a yarn fit for the size of hook you’re using. Every yarn should have a label with such information.

Keep an eye on discounted yarns online. You can also buy your yarn in thrift shops and save some money this way. Some crocheters also sell leftover yarn from their previous projects – it’s a great way to get yarn for penny. Check ebay for offers like that.

When you are more experienced, you may want to check out impartial reviews of yarns on reputable websites, such as knittersreview.com.

Some people may find it useful to buy a book for beginners to learn basic stitches and patterns. That said, you’ll find plenty of free material on YouTube. The stitches that are most commonly used include:

• Chain stitch
• Single Crochet
• Double Crochet
• Half Double Crochet
• Treble Crochet

There are plenty more, but you won’t need them for your beginner’s projects. Below you can watch a tutorial explaining all those basic stitches:

You also need to learn how to make a magic ring. A magic ring is how you’ll start most of your crochet projects. Below you can watch a short explanation:

You will need to also find some tutorials for beginners. I recommend that you look for those on YouTube first. When you understand more or less how to crochet, you can also look for written patterns. Some crocheters offer them for free, whereas other charge a small fee.

As your crochet skills progress and you pursue more and more advanced projects, you may need a variety of haberdashery items, such as safety eyes, zips, textiles, or felt. But you just need to worry about them on a project-to-project basis. Every good tutorial should include a list of necessary materials.

And that’s pretty much it. Happy crocheting!