What was Your First Crochet Project?

By Emilee Gettle – 43 Comments

I remember as a young child watching my grandmother crochet. I was simply in awe how she could turn a ball of yarn into a toy, scarf or other creation in no time flat! I remember receiving crocheted gifts from her and my mother. Even as a young child I knew this was one skill I had to learn; a tradition to continue in my family.

In my teens, I joined 4-H and my mother became the crochet teacher of our small group. My first project was a washcloth. At first I couldn’t figure out how Mom made it look so easy. My washcloth was a sorry representation compared to her’s! Yet, because of her patient encouragement I finally was able to create something I could be proud of. It took me several years to put it to use. I grew so attached to my first project dirty dishwater seemed to be an injustice!

What was your first crochet project?

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43 Comments

  1. Nicole says:

    I don’t know exactly, maybe a pair of potholders or a pullover for a teddy bear or a doll. I learned crocheting in school, when I was 8 or 9 years old. It is (or was?) a part in “visiual arts” here in germany in third grade (in fourth it was knitting).

  2. MoMoCraCra says:

    A Flower that I made over and over again !

  3. Teena says:

    When I picked up crochet for the 1st time as an adult, I made a scarf.

    But when I learnt how to crochet as a child, I remember making what I called ‘handbags’ for my barbie dolls, which was just one round repeated over and over upon itself as I didn’t know how to start the 2nd round, with a chain for a handle!

  4. nancy says:

    my first project was a granny square lap afghan and I gifted it to the patient whom taught me how to crochet.I’am ashamed to say I don’t remember her name,but I can picture her telling me that I could do it even though I’m a lefty.

  5. Angie says:

    My first project was at the back of the Klutz Crochet book, the hardest one in the book. I always push myself to do things BIG the first time. It was a hat. It turned out great except it was too small b/c I didn’t make it long enough and I didn’t put the hook in exactly the right spot. I still have it and wear it even though it looks like a little Jewish hat πŸ™‚

  6. Paige says:

    A large red & black (my high school colors) granny square afghan. My grandmother taught me how to crochet a granny square and how to change colors so I just kept going until the thing was huge, lol.

  7. Maureen says:

    my first project was a doily that I decided I needed to learn. my mother showed me how to do each stitch at the beginning of each row and away I went. I gave it to my teacher that yr as a gift.

  8. Lynn says:

    Wow, that was a long time ago. I think it might have been a sheath dress for a Barbie doll. πŸ™‚

  9. Jackie says:

    My first crochet project was a potholders ..I took a class in high school..And that is where i learned to crochet and knit…Long time ago!!!

  10. Riah says:

    Since I started crocheting when I was about 6 it was probably a bookmark (just a chain of yarn). Then it was a scarf after I got the hang of things with crocheting.

  11. Erin Lea says:

    When I first learned in 3rd or 4th grade, in girl scouts, I think our project was supposed to be a potholder or something. I don’t remember. I do remember the first “square” I finished turned out to be a triangle because I wasn’t making a turning chain so each row was a stitch short. And I didn’t realize it until I was almost done! lol
    As an adult getting back into crochet I made an oragutan. It was a big project! lol I tend to jump into the deep end on things like that… His face turned out lopsided because I didn’t count the stitches correctly. I learned though and made a second one for a friend and he turned out SO good. I am very proud of that guy.

  12. Thea says:

    I think it was little rugs for my troll dolls. I didn’t remember that you had to make a chain first, so I just went around in circles.

  13. tennyemaye says:

    Scarves. Lots and lots of scarves. As soon as I learned how to chain and single crochet, thats all I ever made, lot of lopsided scarves. Eventually, I guess I graduated to hats, thought they looked more like mushrooms. I must say though, I think I was a bit more ambitious than my sister, who, as soon as she learned to chain, was content to make a chain rope with the entire skein of yarn!

  14. Linda says:

    can’t exactly remember… it was too long ago. may be a scarf with skew edges, and it barely went arounf the neck cause i had no patience to make it longer πŸ™‚ i remember something like that. πŸ™‚ could be some 15 years ago πŸ™‚

  15. LaneÒ€  says:

    Haha, well, my first crochet project was a little blanket. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out right. Somehow I had kept decreasing the middle so it looked more like an L than a blanket. So I turned it into a cape for one of my stuffed animals. I think I still have it not positive though.

  16. Nykki says:

    Mine was a ripple patterned afghan.

  17. Abi says:

    I made a square with mom doing about half of the work because she had to show me. I caught on pretty quick. The internet helped a lot with the self teaching of the rest.

  18. Natalie says:

    Well, I made a square and a circle, but I wouldnt call that a project….just practice. My real first project was a crocheted bug! πŸ™‚ with hearts for wings: my love bug. <3

  19. SoSaje says:

    I made a hat and mini-scarf for my brother out of an orphaned skien of variegated rainbow yarn because it seemed a shame to not do something with the yarn. I was self-taught using Mr. Google … and it wasn’t until after the thing was completely done (and I was looking in a bona fide BOOK) that I realized the reason the thing looked so weird was b/c I’d managed to construct it completely out of the slip stitch! So when they tell you that you can’t make fabric using the slip stitch, that is incorrect. You can. It just takes forever and is really ugly!! πŸ™‚

  20. Dorita says:

    oooh!!! i remember that i have 9 or 10 years old, when my mom was pregnant, and she taught me the art of crochet, because she is so good in that and she made me that i like it…
    i remember that i did a little bag, i almost dont use it, by the way, but i learn it so fast.. im a good student! πŸ™‚

  21. Heidi says:

    I learned from old Crochet Magic magazines, and my first was a doily in size 20 thread and a number 9 hook. I still have the hook and thread is my 1st love.

  22. willemijn says:

    Oh the pain!!!!! my fingers are now used to it but i started with the granny’s, lots and lots of granny’s. Still like to make them tho. I still wanna make the big granny blanket.

  23. Tx Grammy says:

    I first taught myself to crochet from a book while I was in Germany over 40 years ago. I had just learned that I was expecting and decided that I needed to learn to crochet so that I could make baby blankets. The PX did not have a big selection of yarnsm but I found a book and picked out yarn for a practice piece, bright orange verigated no less! I sat down with the book and pretty soon I had the hang of it. There is no way to detimine how many things I have crocheted in the last forty years, but I have enjoyed each project! The small orange blanket is now being used by
    my 2 year old Grandaughter as a blanket for her babies. I hope to teach her to crochet one day, as odd as it sounds, I taught my Mom and Grandmother to crochet too!

  24. Mich says:

    My first crochet project was a baby blue baby blanket. My 5th grade teacher, Sister Mary Oscar, asked me to stay after school one day. She said there was something she wanted to show me. She had already bought the yarn and hook. She showed me how and then sent me home to do it. I kind of thought it was homework. But, now as an adult I can see that she thought I was a little lost – latchkey kid, sick Mom transferring schools a lot and so she took it upon herself to teach me something I could do that would be constructive with my time. Who was the blanket for? I have no idea — I didn’t even know anyone with a baby, but it worked. I fell in love with crocheting and have been doing it and teaching it to my 4 / 5th grade students for years. So, thank you Sister Mary Oscar.

  25. Grandma taught me to crochet when i was about 5 & i was so proud of myself. I then made Mom a potholder & could not figure out why she was upset. Those were the days when flour, sugar etc came in bags with a pull string & i took all the strings & worked on the potholder when she was not around. Since Mom did not go into the storeroom every day it was not noticed right away. The sugar i remember was a little hard.

  26. Cari says:

    My grandmother taught me to crochet, and the summer of the Watergate hearings, my mother and I made a bzillion granny squares with black and all different other colors, that we stitched together with more black. It was beautiful, and I remember escaping to the cool of the air conditioner while we crocheted and watched the Watergate hearings on TV.

  27. Linz says:

    Well in order to learn the basics I made a scarf. It turned out rather badly, I kept missing stitches, and I over compensated for them by adding too many stitches. I turned out completely uneven and a complete disaster. After that I moved directly onto a gag gift I made for my friend, a crochet thong. Yes it looked beyond ridiculous, and was in no way meant to be function, but all my friends got a real hoot out of it and I found out I loved making really odd, out of sort things without ever having to glance at a crochet pattern.
    Although truth be told I stumbled onto this website to learn how to finally crochet spheres.

  28. gatyamgal says:

    I am sure at the beginning I made simple pieces like rectangles that I would wrap around my barbie. But the project I remember the most is the Ripple Afghan I began when I was 16. I did not finish it until I was about 30. I still have it so it is nearly 39 years old! I’ll need to take it out and give it a place of honor in my home. Thanks for bringing back memories.

  29. Kristy says:

    My first projects were dishcloths. They were a great way to learn because in the end, it really didn’t matter what they looked like – they’d be bunched up to wash dirty dishes, anyway! πŸ™‚

  30. Jill says:

    I first learnt to make squares, 6yo, but at the age of 14 I contracted Hep.A and some family friends gave me some yarn to make a trendy 70s vest…….when I think back I was very chuffed at having finished it. As a young adult I crocheted sample and test garments for a major wool company here in Australia.

  31. DaVida says:

    I first learned how to make granny squares. My older sister taught me how to crochet about 35 years ago (I was about 10). I made granny squares of all sizes (and not following any guage). I never put them together. My first completed project was curly hair ties. They were great! I made them for myself, my younger sister, and my niece. All colors . . . and tons of them. I’ll bet I can still find one or two at Mommie’s house. LOL

  32. Mayra says:

    OMG! I was about ten (I’m 31 now) and the first project I made was a baby blanket. It was made of acrylic yarn and had big bold stripes, pink, blue and white and it was for my baby brother. It turned out great and was passed from baby to baby in our family. The last time I saw it was at my late aunt’s home when she was sick in bed; she said that it was comfy; that was about 2 years ago and I don’t know where it’s hanging out now but I hope that it’s comforting someone who needs it.

  33. pldrake says:

    Endless lengths of chains!

  34. Deille says:

    The first thing I made by myself was supposed to be a round potholder. I was probably 6-8, but I did not really know how to do round and surely did not increase properly as it is quite oval – but, my mom still has it : )

  35. Anna Marie says:

    My first project was a ripple afghan from Lee Wards. It was in yellow and browns. The ripple is my favorite afghan pattern.

  36. eliska says:

    My first crochet project was probably the chain that I made on my eighth birthday that went from my bedroom all the way out the front door about twenty feet that I made the night I learned to crochet, but that’s not really a project. My first project would have to be a wacko mismatched blanked that I tried to make from random scraps of yarn, which didn’t really work.

  37. Sandy says:

    At the age of 12, after 3 failed attempts, my mother successfully taught me to crochet. Back then, most crochet was done with thread and thats what I learned with. I still have the hook….a steel Boye size 10 hook with the priced molded into the handle….10 cents. And I also have the doily…..its graces the back of my upholstered rocker. I still have trouble believing I made it as a first project…..but I have it as proof. πŸ˜€

  38. Sarah Dee says:

    Actually, when I started crocheting in single crochet (I was 10), my mom forgot to mention to me to chain 1 at the end of every row! So, of course, my “scarf” that I wanted to make, turned into a triangle! After four whole years, I consider myself an experienced crocheter. I can make nice clothing now, and I can crochet anything I put my mind to! Right now, I’m working on a GORGEOUS cowl neck sweater that is turning out to be amazing so far.

  39. Bella says:

    potholder

  40. maggie says:

    i made three different chains and hung them up in the playhouse for a long time. My first project once I learned to do more than chains was the caplet, but it kept shrinking because I didn’t increase, so I pulled out a few stitches andmade a headband, then made a bow and attached it.

  41. maggie says:

    i forgot to mention- i made the chains when i was 6.

  42. Chris Dickson says:

    My first crochet project or how i learned to crochet was scrunchies. I made hundreds of scrunchies which I sold and made for family and myself. Then I began with new stitches and projects and found your website, which taught me alot of what I know today. Thanks Rachel and Team!

  43. Meghan says:

    I kind of have 3 first time items. As a child I first made a butterfly.

    When I started crocheting again as an adult I made a touque, followed by 203894834957 more of the same thing. Then I stopped for quite a few years.

    My third first item, aside from some fiddling around with mini toques (beer can cozies) just to get a feel for crochet again was a crocheted amigurumi zombie, which i think is my favorite posessions, not just out of things I’ve crocheted, but out of anything I’ve ever created in any medium..

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