The Crochet Capers: My misadventures with a metal hook!

Several years ago, I took an online knitting class with Barnes and Noble. I had SOOOOO much fun knitting sampler blocks to make an afghan! There was just one problem: I never could get my squares to be the same size. So I decided maybe I'd better try crochet. The local Hobby Lobby had 50% off their crochet hooks so I bought several sets of hooks (metal and plastic), and even bought a little zippered case to put them all in. Well then we moved, and I lost them.


Fast forward to two years after a SECOND move, and I FOUND my little zippered case with all my crochet hooks neatly stored inside. I also found a little book I'd bought: Beginner's Guide: 30 Easy-To-Crochet Pattern Stitches! Whooppee!!! I was starting to get bored with quilting so this will give me something new to try!


I hit Jo-Ann Fabrics yesterday to buy some yarn and a new crochet book. I found a great little Leisure Arts booklet with a sampler afghan made from 63 blocks (or squares--what do you call them in crochet?). It's done in mint green, rose and ecru.


So... back at the hacienda, I decided to make the very first pattern in the Beginner's Guide book: the "lattice" stitch. If you're not familiar with crochet or knitting patterns, you have to know they're totally written in CODE. I hate abbreviations. I think they're lazy. That's how I feel about texting--it's just lazy (however, I can type 70 words per minute and don't have to hunt a peck around a keyboard). In a REAL "Beginner's Guide," I think it would be a good idea to have the CODE first and then a translation beneath it. That would be very helpful.


Anyway, Ha! Ha! It took me three tries to make that stinking lattice stitch! The first time, I got a little bit of an arch because my stitches seemed to be expanding. The second time, I got a full curve! Not sure WHAT I was doing. Three's a charm because I finally got a square out of it. The picture looks like the edges narrow, but that's just the angle of the picture. Anyway, I was proud to learn how to do hdc (translation: "half double chain") to make a lattice block (unfortunately, I've already forgotten how...).

Next, I checked out the new Leisure Arts booklet I bought at Joann's, and decided to try the very first stitch: the single crochet--which is the very stitch I would think a REAL "Beginner's Guide" would start with. They recommended a Size H/5mm needle, and said that 25 sts (translation: "stitches") = 7"; I should use ANY size needle I need to to obtain that guage.

Well... see... the problem with me is that if that size needle is SUPPOSED to = 7" then that's what size I'm going to use! I had to pull out all my stitches (translation: "sts") several times until I finally got 7". My problem is that I pull my sts too tight. I need to learn to LOOSEN UP!

Here's what my block/square looks like:

Here are the directions:
ch 26 loosely
Row 1: Sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across: 25 sc. [I don't know why they called them "ch"s here and not "st"s?]
Row 2: Ch1, turn; sc in each sc across
Repeat Row 2 until piece measures approximately 7".

How hard is that? Well... I don't think you can see in the picture, but the first 2 rows I did are jacked up. I don't know what I did. I got it right by the third row, though--ALMOST. There should be 25 sts across, but I ended up with 21 instead. Also, half way through, I noticed I was supposed to be doing the block in green. And... notice the fuzzy thing at the bottom toward the middle? The yarn came out of the skein tied in a knot from the manufacturer!!! This is just wrong!

Anyway... I ordered a crochet dvd from Overstock.com this morning. Maybe that will help me figure out how to decipher the CODE a little better. For example, yesterday (out of the "Beginner's Guide"), I tried making a pattern that called for a row of tr (translation: "treble crochet"), but then on the next row, it said to "dc in each dc across"--huh? How do you dc when you just tr'd?