Crochet Christmas Presents Ideas

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  As a student, Christmas time is an exciting time once exams are over and you get to go home however it is a really tricky time because of how expensive it is.  This week I'm going to consider ways that I can gift my family members crochet gifts (probably as well as some proper ones). This may be a very easy task if you have a relative which has a very similar style to you however I have two brothers and all male cousins non of which would appreciate  this top  or  this top . I will link patterns that I plan on making as well as photos of projects that I am currently making. With a lot of older female relatives, I plan on making a fair amount of scarves but want to find either some really nice yarn or an intricate pattern. Pinterest was a huge inspiration for these designs however a lot look fairly complicated and I am a beginner still so am expecting a fair amount of trial and error in the coming weeks. These  Turtle Coasters by Gina Jiang  would make super cute Christmas present
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Knowing what yarn to use and beginner stitches

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 I picked up this yarn from flying tiger on a whim as well as a 5.0mm crochet hook.

Despite it only costing £2 for both the yarn and the hook, I realised quickly I had made an error, the yarn was far too fine and kept on getting knotted.

This is when I turned to google and found that you have to pay attention to hook size vs yarn weight, I have compiled the information I discovered for other beginners much like myself:



yarn weight vs hook size crochet - what hook size should I use for yarn

Having researched the appropriate size yarn for the hook I was using I ordered DK 100% acrylic yarn off from eBay in shades Lipstick and Clematis

As a visual learner, I figured youtube would be a good place to begin learning the basic patterns.

These are the videos I used to create my first proper crochet creation :

https://youtu.be/GcOzdAzmtNM - starting point (slip knot and chain stitch)

https://youtu.be/80YEYnyw11w - first crochet stitches (double crochet UK)




Once I had enough practice with this I decided I would expand and create a blanket using my pink and red yarn.

I started again from the beginning using the same videos as before but this time I chained 125 to begin with to make sure it would be large enough.

I found this large project to be quite therapeutic once I got the hang of the basic stitches, I managed to watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy while finishing my first ball of pink yarn.










When I had completed 30 rows of the pink yarn I now had to consider how to add in the new ball of yarn and add the new colour.


I again used the same youtube videos to learn how to do this. I would recommend this video to any beginner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaIuAWV2BA4&t=218s

Comments

Jennifer Drennan said…
Love this Kate, cant wait to try it for myself!
October 17, 2022 at 6:04 AM
Anonymous said…
Will be saving this wee table for future reference !!!!
November 8, 2022 at 7:15 AM
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