Digital Learning is a Blast

I decided a couple of weeks ago to try my hand at crochet. Members of my craft community said it might be up my street, I did learn the basics of crochet as a child when about 7 years old, and I promised my Nan I’d have another go as soon as I had time. This is a big deal, Nanny’s a big time traditional make’n’mender, and shouts A Lot for Not Having A Go. This is exactly how I ended up crafty, despite myself, in the first place. So, while on holiday last week, I figured hey, just bite the bullet.

There’s a lovely little craft shop, Whitby Crafts, in the Shambles Market. I have cold hands and with painful fingers have never managed knitting of any kind, but the shop owner was not perturbed in the slightest. In true craft community spirit, and with the in-depth crafting knowledge that I personally think is the absolute hallmark of crafters everywhere, I was soon kitted out with a beginners pattern, soft grip crochet hook in the right size especially for painful hands (fantastic), and yarn that matched the pattern requirements.

With the kids and man settled on a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon to match with the seaside theme, I got my nervous self together. Phone, earphones, and very limited wifi notwithstanding, I tried a bit of YouTube digital learning. The first thing I learnt is that US and UK terms differ. My pattern was a UK pattern but the first tutorial I tried was by a US crochet fan. This set me back a little. The clip was also filmed by a very young (and very talented) crochet fan. The video was great to watch and the teacher an absolute pleasure to listen to, but the problem there was that I couldn’t keep up. I’m just not that nimble these days! The result was that I struggled to work out what I was looking for when I turned my work for another line, which meant I dropped stitches really quickly.

I finally discovered a crochet tutorial filmed by a UK crochet fan that worked at a slower pace. Thank you Bella Coco! I had started at 57 stitches, and ended up with a count of 36. I thought this was pretty good for a first go until Nanny started laughing. Over the next few lines, I managed to find the V and avoid any more dropped stitches. The work started looking much less clunky as I went along, and I settled into a fairly steady though slightly awkward rhythm.

Over the next 3 evenings I watched a variety of tutorials using click to pause SkullCandy earphones with my Samsung smartphone, and although I tended to drift back to Bella Coco as best matching my preferred learning style, by flicking through a selection of the YouTube videos, I did find ways to hold the yarn and move my hands that felt the most natural for me. Almost like muscle memory. Perhaps certain methods were unconsciously remembered from my dabble in crochet as a child, who knows!

The end result then was this; if you’re going to have a go at YouTube learning, check the country of origin for the video, or check that instructions are likely to be the same anyway. Try out a selection of tasters. Don’t be afraid to stick to one you really like. And most of all, just give it a go. The worst end result is a half size cushion…