For those of you well-practiced in the art of crochet, I apologise for blogging about something that would be blindingly obvious to you. My first crochet mistake was a big one. As I set out last week to excitedly purchase yarn for my new blanket project, I let myself be persuaded to buy something I’d been advised against by my crochet mentor, Emily (she may already be sick of opening her virtual School Of Crochet doors to me). Acrylic yarn, or to be specific – 100% acrylic yarn, seemed to good to be true. It came at a bargain price, and it offered me a fantastic array of colours. I expressed my concerns to the lovely shop assistant (would it squeak on my hook? What would it feel like?), and she assured me that this particular brand of acrylic was a cut above all the rest, and my worries were unfounded.
And so I raced home and waited excitedly until that evening to get started. As I struggled to remember the stitches, I felt a growing sense of unease. I seemed to find the yarn even more difficult to handle than what I’d been practising with before, and it just wasn’t looking how I had imagined it would. I couldn’t picture myself snuggling under a blanket of these squares – instead they made my teeth feel funny.
I consulted The Oracle Emily and came to the conclusion I really didn’t want to come to – I had bought the wrong yarn. And so yesterday saw me making my second yarn shopping expedition, this time to John Lewis, where I felt I could blend in and feel less self-conscious about taking my time to try to get to grips with all the different yarns available.
Once I’d made my new purchase (all yarns from the sale), that sense of excitement returned. This time I KNEW I’d got it right. I couldn’t stop reaching into the bag to touch the yarn, and it looked just how I imagined my blanket would look. There was a stupid grin on my face all the way home.
And so last night I began again. And you can see the difference in the picture above. The square on the left is my acrylic yarn, and on the right is a square made from yarns that combine some acrylic with merino and cashmere*. I know which one I prefer.
*This square is riddled with little mistakes, but I’m still going to include this square in the final blanket because it should hopefully show how my crochet progresses.
Jen aka The Mad House says
Well done you. I start my crafting journey tomorrow. I am very excited
Heather says
I hope it went well Jen!
Decorator's Notebook says
Well done! I would love to be able to crochet but all attempts have so far failed. Even the slowest of the slow YouTube tutorials are too quick and my Mum has written me off as unteachable*. So despite your errors I am super impressed. Maybe once you’ve finished the blanket you’ll teach me!
* She is a teacher, so this is rather an achievement
Heather says
Unteachable, eh? Now there’s a challenge…
Rachel says
Interesting…! I have just learnt crochet, and am wondering about tackling my first blanket. Will remember this, and go straight for the blended wool!
Heather says
Go for it! I love doing squares like this because each one feels like a small achievement. I try to focus on how many I’ve done and not how many there are still to do!
Molly says
Yay for crochet! I so want to learn this skill this year. I need to get to grips with knitting first though. So far I’ve started and unpicked the same blanket four times. Oh dear.
Heather says
I can’t knit. Have tried on and off in the past but never quite got into it. Good luck!
Snafflesmummy says
It’s a yarn lesson that every new hooker learns. Cheap is cheap for a reason. The only acrylic I like is stylecraft special dk. When wool shopping don’t be scared to rub the balls over your arms or face, can you imagine snuggling up under it.
Heather says
I’m so glad it’s not just me. That’s what I did on my second visit – snuggled the balls!