Learn to crochet, in the right order

Buy the right yarn and hook first. The wrong yarn makes learning genuinely harder, and most beginners buy it because it looks the nicest on the shelf.

1. 1 What You Need to Start Crocheting: One Hook, One Yarn The single hook and single yarn worth buying first, why light solid acrylic makes stitches visible, and the popular yarns and gadgets that make learning harder. Read
2. 2 Left-Handed Crochet: How to Follow Any Pattern Almost every crochet tutorial is filmed right-handed. Here is how to mirror patterns, diagrams and videos so you can follow any of them left-handed. Read Printable

Crochet has its own shorthand and two rival dialects. Twenty minutes here and patterns stop looking like code.

1. 3 Crochet Abbreviations Chart: Every Term Explained (US & UK) A complete crochet abbreviations chart in plain English, plus the US-to-UK conversion table that explains why your stitches came out wrong. Read Printable
2. 4 How to Read a Crochet Pattern, Line by Line Crochet patterns are written in shorthand nobody teaches you. Here is how to decode a real pattern from the materials list to the last row. Read Printable

Five stitches build almost everything. Learn them, then learn the one thing that makes edges come out straight.

1. 5 The 5 Basic Crochet Stitches, in the Order to Learn Them Slip stitch, single, half double, double and treble crochet explained step by step, plus what each one is actually good for. Read Printable
2. 6 The Turning Chain: Why Your Edges Slant Turning chains cause more crooked edges and lost stitches than anything else in crochet. Here is exactly how many to work and whether it counts as a stitch. Read Printable

Everything that is not a rectangle is made here — hats, toys, bags, anything round or curved.

1. 7 Crochet Increases and Decreases: Shaping Explained How to increase and decrease in single, half double and double crochet, including the invisible decrease for amigurumi and where to place them for clean edges. Read Printable
2. 8 How to Crochet in the Round: Magic Ring, Spirals and Joined Rounds Start a magic ring that actually closes, pick between spirals and joined rounds, and fix the seam, the jog, and the circle that turns into a bowl. Read Printable

Finishing is most of the difference between handmade and homemade, and it is the part everyone rushes.

1. 9 How to Change Yarn Color in Crochet Cleanly Change colors without a visible knot or a wrong-colored turning chain, plus when to carry the old yarn up the side and when to cut it. Read Printable
2. 10 Finishing Crochet: Weaving In Ends and Blocking How to weave in yarn ends so they never come loose, plus when blocking is worth doing and when it does nothing at all. Read Printable

The last two steps: get the size right, then go find something worth making.

1. 11 Crochet Gauge: How to Measure It and Fix It Gauge is why your hat came out too small even though you followed the pattern. How to swatch, measure properly, and adjust when you are off. Read Printable
2. 12 Where to Find Free Crochet Patterns You Can Trust The best sources for genuinely free crochet patterns, how to tell a well-written one from a bad one, and how to spot the fake AI patterns now flooding Pinterest. Read