Creative Kids Complete Photo Guide to Crochet

By Deborah Burger

A kids’ guide to crocheting, featuring step-by-step photos and fifteen fun projects to build skills and boost confidence.

Crocheting is fun! Get your kids started with a hook and some yarn, and spark their interest in a hobby they can enjoy for a lifetime. Crocheting doesn’t take an investment to begin; you can find everything you need at your local craft or yarn shop. You’ll be amazed at the creative things you can crochet, even if you’ve never tried before.

• There’s something for everyone. Fifteen projects are designed with both boys and girls in mind and include a range of difficulty levels.
• Never crocheted before? Begin with some basic techniques, such as making a slip knot and chaining. Then gradually learn more stitches and unlock more possibilities.
• Learn the basics and then move beyond. Before you know it, you will be able to crochet toys, fashion and décor accessories, and even clothes for yourself and others!
• Kids learn as the pages turn. Every completed project is a step toward confident crocheting.
• Fun for the whole family. This creative crocheting journey is also an enjoyable way for adults and kids to spend quality time together. While kids are having so much fun, they’ll also learn versatile skills and build self-confidence—everyone wins!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781627882545

Book preview

Introduction for Creative Kids

Q: What can you make with a hooked stick and a ball of yarn?

A: Almost ANYTHING!

Crochet is the art and skill of using a hook to pull loops of yarn, string, or thread through other loops to create fabric. What kinds of fabric? All kinds! We can make soft or sturdy fabrics for blankets, clothing, and stuffed toys. We can make fabric with decorative holes and spaces for interesting scarves, jewelry, and other accessories. It’s almost like magic to watch a string become a hat, or a toy, or a blanket! And it’s a fun sort of magic that you make happen, in your own hands, before your very eyes. But as Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat famously said, It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how. This book will do two things—teach the basic skills and stitches of crochet, and provide fun projects to make as your skills grow. It will be helpful to have a grown-up who crochets handy too. It might be a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, group leader, neighbor, or family friend. Although you’ll find that the instructions in this book are thorough, there’s nothing quite like having someone with experience nearby to help guide you through the tricky bits or those otherwise frustrating moments. Often it is only a small adjustment that needs to be made, and advice from someone whose hands already know what you’re learning is the easiest way to figure out that adjustment.

The chapters of this book are arranged with easy learning in mind. First, we’ll look at the tools and materials you’ll need to have on hand in your Crochet Kit. Then we’ll learn how to hold the hook and yarn, how to work the yarn and hook together to begin to stitch, and how to create that first stitch. Once the first crochet stitch is learned, you’ll already be able to make some fun projects! Each of the following chapters will teach a new skill and offer a project or two that will use the new skill along with the older skills from earlier chapters. Plenty of photographs provide guidance, showing what the stitches, the fabric, and the projects should look like, every step of the way.

So, gather a few supplies, and let’s crochet!

tip A Note about Safety—Scissors and yarn needles are sharp! They can puncture or cut fingers, and can be very uncomfortable to step on! Remember that these, and the crochet hooks are tools, not toys, and use caution. Always be sure to lay scissors, needles, and hooks down carefully, and to put them away when not in use. Most importantly, keep them out of the reach of younger children.

LET’S GET STARTED

The Basics

This chapter will introduce the tools and materials used for crochet, and teach you the first crochet stitch: the chain. You’ll also begin to understand the language of crochet pattern instructions. It’s a bit like a secret code, with initials and abbreviations standing for whole words, punctuation marks that stand in place of whole phrases, and symbols that can show the whole pattern at once, in picture form. Most people don’t learn this language all in one sitting, so it will be introduced bit by bit, as you learn the skills in each chapter and follow the patterns to make the projects. Finally, this chapter includes a fun project to make with and for your friends—a Braided Chains Friendship Bracelet.

Tools and Materials

One of the great things about crochet is that only a few tools are needed, and once gathered, they are quite easy to carry anywhere, either in a zippered plastic bag, a small fabric bag, or a plastic case with a snap closure.

Hooks

First, you’ll need a variety of crochet hooks because different sized hooks are needed for different projects. The size of the hook in relation to the size of the yarn being used creates different kinds of fabric—stiff and tight for holding in the stuffing of a toy, or soft and loose for a scarf or blanket. Most craft stores sell hooks either singly or in sets. For the projects in this book, a set that includes sizes F, G, H, I, J, and K will be adequate.

Crochet hooks are made in two different basic shapes, inline and tapered, and most crocheters find that their hands work best with one shape or the other.

Bates/inline hook (left), Boye/tapered hook (right).

Knowing the names of the parts of a crochet hook will make it easier to understand the directions in this book.

tip If possible, you may want to try a single hook of each shape for the first project, and then decide on a set.

In addition to hooks, you’ll need a few other tools, including a small scissors, ruler or tape measure, large-eyed yarn needle, sticky notes, and stitch markers.

tip Many items can be used in place of purchased stitch markers—paper clips, bobby pins, or stray lobster claw earrings work well. A stitch marker simply needs to be something that can be easily inserted into a stitch, removed when no longer needed there, and is unlikely to fall out on its own.

Yarn (and other materials)

It’s possible to crochet with any material that can be wrapped around the hook. But most crochet, like most of the projects in this book, is done with yarn. Yarn can be made from many different kinds of fiber, each with its own characteristics. Some are softer or stronger or more absorbent than others. Some can be thrown in the washer and dryer, and others cannot. Some are more stretchy, less scratchy, or more expensive. There seems to be an endless variety of different kinds of yarn. Yarn also comes in different sizes or weights, such as sock weight or sport weight, just to name a couple. It’s important to make sure that the yarn you choose for a project is the same weight as the yarn called for in the pattern, because the size of the yarn determines the size of each stitch, and the size of each stitch determines the size of the finished object. It would be disappointing to end up with a hat that fits a doll when the pattern was for a hat to fit your brother! Most yarn labels have a Yarn Weight Symbol—a little picture of a yarn ball, with a number from 0–6 at the center. Those numbers show the weight of the yarn.

Most of the projects in this book will use [#4], medium, or worsted weight yarn, which is easy to find in craft and department stores. Some of the projects need to be made using a yarn made from cotton (because of the way it absorbs water); some require wool (because of the way it can become solid felt); but most will use acrylic or acrylic blend yarns. Acrylic is a man-made fiber that is easy to wash and dry, and inexpensive to buy. Check each pattern to determine whether you need a specific kind of yarn, or if any yarn of the correct weight will do.

While the beautiful color of a ball of yarn may be the thing that draws your attention, be sure to check the weight symbol before buying it for a specific project!

Read the labels carefully to make sure the yarn you choose will work for the project you’re making.

The Slip Knot

To begin, the yarn must be attached to the hook with a loop, and a slip knot works best. Then we will make more loops by pulling yarn through the original one—these are called chains. All crochet projects begin with a slip knot on the hook, and then one or more chain stitches. It’s the basic foundation, and a great place to start. If you can tie a bow in your shoelaces, you can tie a slip knot!

1 Make a loop, by crossing the yarn tail over the working yarn. (You can use your finger to help the loop keep its shape.)

2 Push the base of the tail (not the end of the yarn) through the back of the loop you just made. This will form a second loop.

3 Place the hook in the new loop, and pull gently on both yarns to make it snug, but not super tight, on the shaft of the

Reviews for Creative Kids Complete Photo Guide to Crochet

[rochesterknittinggui · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Are you looking for the perfect guide to teach your child to crochet? Look no further! Creative Kids Complete Photo Guide to Crochet starts with the absolute basics about stitching, beginning with a discussion about hooks and yarn and how to make simple chains, then gradually introduces skills and techniques until kids are crocheting confidently.Veteran crochet author Deborah Burger, author of Crochet 101 and How to Make 100 Crochet Appliqués, will guide you and your children through projects. With over 200 photos and clear, concise instructions in language easily understood by grade-school kids, you're going to be creating crafty crochet projects with your child in no time!Each project lists the crocheting skills that will be exercised in making it and projects are rated for difficulty, so kids can learn and grow as they develop dexterity and coordination. Your children will learn to crochet by making simple projects and building skills by practicing the essentials, and this book provides a sound foundation for a lifetime of crocheting enjoyment.