Tutorials and Help

8 Crochet Tutorials to Try in 2018

Posted in Tutorials and Help on January 19th, 2018 by Rachel Choi – Be the first to comment

If you’re interested in expanding your crochet skills this new year, here are some fun tutorials to try. Ranging from arm crocheting, to Tunisian, to crocheting with beads, there is something new for everyone to learn and share with others. So what are you waiting for? Grab some yarn and try out these tutorials!

How to Arm Crochet – In arm crocheting, the loops which you would usually put on a crochet hook, are placed on your arm/wrist instead. You can still crochet using the same crochet stitches and patterns, but you are supersizing it by using your arm as a giant crochet hook.

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How to STOP Buying Yarn

Posted in Fun Ramblings, Tutorials and Help on October 20th, 2017 by Rachel Choi – 11 Comments

Why would someone ever want to stop buying yarn? Perhaps you’re on a tight budget or you already have an entire closet or room full of yarn you haven’t used yet. While this post’s title might seem ridiculous to some, I know there are a bunch of yarnaholics out there that might need a little (okay, more like a lot) of help taming their buying impulses.
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How to Crochet a Wire Bracelet

Posted in Free Crochet Patterns, Tutorials and Help on September 6th, 2017 by Rachel Choi – Be the first to comment

If you’ve been following along recently on the blog, you’ve come across a few beginner level wire jewelry crochet patterns: Circle Wire Earrings and Wire Fashion Ring. In this post, I have a video that demonstrates a bracelet being crocheting. Hopefully this video will help those that are having trouble working with wire.

As usual, the crochet pattern itself is super easy, but the tricky part is getting used to crocheting with wire. The pattern used is simply a few rows of single crochet stitches. 30 gauge wire is used to crochet the bracelet, which is softer and easier to work with compared to my previous patterns. The softer wire, also works wells to create a flexible bracelet.

The video below, by Beaducation, will walk you through crocheting a practice swatch with regular yarn, to crocheting the wire bracelet from beginning to end. It is a long video that is very detailed, so feel free to skip around if it is too slow for you, or pause it every now and then if you are crocheting along.

I’m a huge fan of Beaducation (with no affiliation), and love their tutorials and supplies for jewelry making! What do you think of this video? Did you enjoy crocheting jewelry?

Crochet Help Desk, Ask a Question!

Posted in Tutorials and Help on August 5th, 2017 by Rachel Choi – 31 Comments

Have you ever had a question about a crochet pattern you’re working on or simply a general question about crochet? If you don’t have a lot of local friends or family members to ask, then you’re likely to turn to the internet to find answers. Sometimes your searches aren’t always helpful. I can understand the frustration from not being able to crochet a pattern you want or figure out a technique you’re working on.

If you have a crochet related question, feel free to leave it here on this post in the comments below! It doesn’t matter if it’s a Crochet Spot related pattern you’re working on or not. I’ll do my best to answer your questions! I will publish your question along with an answer in a blog post for you to read and others to learn from as well, if many folks have the same questions. I will admit that I’m not perfect and don’t know everything about crochet, so if I don’t know the answer to your questions, perhaps someone else reading the blog will!

My goal in creating this new help desk is to help as many folks as possible because I know how frustrating it is when you’re project just isn’t going right. So feel free to leave your questions below! Be sure to make them as detailed as possible so that I can help you as best as I can.

So what are you waiting for? Ask away!

How to Arm Crochet

Posted in Tutorials and Help on June 16th, 2017 by Rachel Choi – Be the first to comment

A couple weeks ago I discussed how to hand crochet without a crochet hook, now let’s talk about arm crocheting! Both methods of crochet are done without a crochet hook. In arm crocheting, the loops which you would usually put on a crochet hook, are placed on your arm/wrist instead. You can still crochet using the same crochet stitches and patterns, but you are supersizing it by using your arm as a giant crochet hook.

Here is a YouTube video by Vickie Howell from Yarnspirations that demonstrates arm crocheting single crochet stitches to create a bulky cowl. Even if you aren’t interested in making a cowl, you can use this video as an example to get you started with the arm crocheting technique. Once you understand the technique, the projects you can make are only limited by your imagination!

Note: Vickie mentions crocheting in the front loops only, which I think is a great idea for such a bulky project. By crocheting in only one loop, it will give the project texture and also thin out the fabric.

Be sure to check out more videos on the Yarnspiration YouTube Channel.

Have you tried arm crocheting? What will you make with this technique?

How to Hand Crochet A Blanket

Posted in Free Crochet Patterns, Tutorials and Help on June 3rd, 2017 by Rachel Choi – Be the first to comment

If you haven’t heard of hand crocheting, you’re in for a fun surprise! You can crochet an entire project without a crochet hook, simply using your fingers and hands. Grab your yarn and get your hands ready to try out something new!

Before starting, I recommend having a basic knowledge of how to crochet. You can learn to crochet as you go, but the basics of how to chain, and make single crochets will give you a head start with hand crocheting.

Although you do not need a crochet hook for this project, you will need yarn. Use a super bulky weight yarn, and/or multiple strands of yarn held together to create a thick yarn. Your hands will act as a giant crochet hook so you need a yarn that will be proportional to your big hook size. The exact weight of yarn isn’t too important. Feel fee to practice the technique and then adjust the yarn weight and tension to suit your project.
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Substituting Light Weight Yarn for Bulky Weight Yarn in Crochet

Posted in Tutorials and Help on April 21st, 2017 by Rachel Choi – 6 Comments

I LOVE the look of bulky yarn and I LOVE working with it as it makes projects work up fairly quickly. But have you ever encountered a crochet pattern that calls for bulky weight yarn, and you only have medium or light weight yarn on hand? One solution is to crochet with more than one strand of yarn held together to achieve the thickness required for the bulky yarn. The double stranded crochet technique is easy to do, but requires you to have multiple skeins or balls of yarn to pull from.

Here is a hack that I came across, shared from Briana K. This one skein is used to make a bulky weight yarn, crocheting with three strands of yarn together without having to cut the yarn or separate it into multiple balls. It’s too hard to describe in words, so check out the video below!

P.S. I’m a huge Briana K fan! Some of my other favorite hacks are Finishing Off Crochet Round with Seamless Join and Avoiding Twists In Long Crochet Chains. You can also see a lot more of her videos on YouTube.

What do you think of this hack? Will you try it in an upcoming crochet project?

Alternative to the Magic Adjustable Ring

Posted in Tutorials and Help on March 22nd, 2017 by Rachel Choi – 14 Comments

The magic adjustable ring and the adjustable double ring are popular methods for starting a project in the round without having a large hole in the center of the work. However, I know a lot of folks who aren’t fans of those techniques, or have trouble working the adjustable rings, and prefer to crochet the traditional way by starting with chain stitches. In this post I’ll show you a very simple technique that I often use to achieve a closed circle when starting a project in the round with chains.
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Tutorials for Crocheting in the Round

Posted in Tutorials and Help on February 15th, 2017 by Rachel Choi – Be the first to comment

Crocheting can be done in rows and also in rounds. In this post, I rounded up a bunch of tutorials and special techniques for crocheting in the round. If you’ve never crocheted in the round before, start with the first few tutorials. If you’re an experienced crocheter, feel free to skip towards the middle and end of the list to see special techniques.
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How to Crochet… Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

Posted in Fun Ramblings, Tutorials and Help on December 27th, 2016 by Candace – 4 Comments

Right now, this topic is near and dear to my heart. You’ve probably been there, too, or maybe you are now. Maybe life got in the way, and once it settled down enough for you to crochet, you just couldn’t. Or maybe you crocheted too much (gift-making overload, perhaps) and are just a bit fatigued. Either way, you come to a point where, even if you have a WIP, you just can’t crochet. So how do you get back to it? Well, there’s no one true method, but here are some things to try.
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