I’m so excited that you’re ready to learn how to crochet! This step-by-step video tutorial covers everything from picking your materials to weaving in your ends. Find a comfy chair and get ready to learn your new favorite skill.
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Crochet is the practice of making compound knots into fabric using a hooked tool. With a crochet hook and yarn, you can make anything from decorations for your home to clothing, toys, heirlooms, gifts, and anything else your heart desires. And crochet is not as hard as you might think With a little patience and the right teacher, you got this!
What You Will Learn
There are hundreds of blog posts, books, and videos out there teaching crochet. My video sets itself apart by not only teaching you how to crochet but also helping you truly understand what you just did. Learning to crochet is the foundation of your knowledge. Having a strong foundation will help you better grasp more complex concepts down the line.
Here’s what you can expect from my learn to crochet video:
- Ideal yarn and tools
- Holding your hook and yarn
- How to make a slipknot and understanding the starting chain
- A full walkthrough of single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, and slip stitch
- How to work in turned rows
- How to fasten off and weave in ends
Materials
Your initial investment should be pretty minimal. The items mentioned here would collectively cost less than $20 (USD) if purchased brand new. For learning, consider borrowing materials from another crocheter, dropping by a thrift store to scout for supplies, or get a coupon before shopping at your local craft store.
To learn how to crochet, gather the following materials:
- YARN: Smooth yarn with a medium-to-light color that is consistent throughout. I recommend a category 4 worsted weight yarn or a category 5 bulky weight yarn. If you need some help picking a yarn, check out THIS post.
- HOOK: A crochet hook, specifically a 5.5mm for worsted weight yarn or a 6.5mm for bulky weight yarn. Learn more about crochet hooks in THIS post.
- NOTIONS: Scissors, a tapestry needle, and locking stitch markers. Learn more about crochet accessories in THIS post.
Learn How To Crochet
Click play on the video below and let your crochet journey begin!
Continue Your Crochet Journey
Now that you know the basics, there is a whole yarny world to explore. Try new yarns, stitches, and patterns to better understand your style and what you like to make. Start with a few of these resources:
- Crochet books on Amazon
- Free beginner crochet patterns
- Basics of yarn fibers and types
- Crochet Hooks 101
If you’re looking for like-minded fanatics, join the TLYC Makers Facebook group. We are small but mighty and we enjoy sharing our latest projects and helping each other out. Request access to this private group HERE.
Thank you Toni!! I am so excited to watch the video this evening and practice after work. I have all the items ready to start. You are an amazing woman to take the time to teach us all the basics from the hooks, essential tools and notions, and even how to hold your yarn properly. Can’t wait to continue this journey with you.
I was so excited to see your post this afternoon!! I am all ready to start practicing this evening while I watch the video. You are such an amazing woman to take the time and energy to create this academy for us beginners and current crochets’ who are learning something new with each post. You inspiring me to practice something new. Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing your email each and every day.
Thank you, Toni! Wonderful, clear instructions for beginners & lots of enthusiasm and inspiration for everyone else. Crochet Academy is everything you promised–and more!
This is great information for the past few days and think you Toni for making this and have a great weekend.
I’ve been crocheting for a long time and still struggle with tension – man do I love to go tight! I realized watching your videos that my tension issue has a lot to do with my hook hand rather than how I’m holding the yarn … this has really helped me start to loosen up!
Hi Toni,
I just finished by swatch and it looks pretty good. I have to figure out how to tag you a picture. I enjoyed the video. The steps were clear and I understood them. Of course, I had to back up the video a couple of times to keep up and to make sure I was in the correct spot. I have done the stitches before, but now I understand the anatomy of the stitches better.
Thank you so much, Toni. I have been crocheting for many years and your video taught me several things that I will now do differently. Always good to go back to the basics. Can’t wait to see what comes next.
Thanks Toni for this video! It was so informative! I’m excited to see more!
Thanks, Toni! I again learned something new. Still waiting for my kits to come in but they are on the way! Have a great weekend.
Awesome info and video
That was a great video! I have been crocheting for about 2 years now and I learned things that I’m going to start doing that I didn’t know. I love the chain 1 method for all the stitches when turning. I hate the holes they leave especially with the double crochet. And also the tension method, especially with the slip stitches. I’m also too tight and can’t get back into them. Thank you Toni so much for the info. Loved it!!
Toni, thank you for the very detailed video. Even though I know all of the basic stitches I want to show my 11 year old granddaughter this video. I’m lefthanded and she is lefthanded but when she pick up the crochet hook she used her right hand. I was so disappointed because I though I would be able to teach her how to crochet.lol Anyway I really liked how you broke everything down. I hope this will help her to learn the basic. Can’t wait for next week. I have really enjoyed the class and have learned alot. Have a great weekend!!!
I’ve been doing the “chain 1” for sc, hdc and dc since watching one of your earlier videos. The edges are so much nicer! Thanks for all of your great videos.
Thank you so much for going over the anatomy of a stitch!! I am a knitter that’s tried to learn crochet dozens of times and it never clicks. I’m only through the single crochet portion of the video, but this is the FIRST time I’ve crocheted three rows without messing up the number of stitches. I’m so happy 😀 I’m going to practice that for a while and then come back to learn the next stitch. Thank you, Toni!!!!!
Thank you so much Toni. This academy is a great push/inspiration to get me going again! It’s hot and humid here where I am, so will be a good weekend to crank up the AC in the BR and enjoy working along with the video!
Toni! You are a great teacher!! I am enjoying your videos SO MUCH and even though I’ve been crocheting for over 50 years, I honestly picked up some of your hints. So, teacher, SCORE!!!
Thanks for this, it was so helpful and fun!
It may already be in your plans for Crochet Academy but I’d appreciate any additional tips/resources you can share on how to read crochet stitches — I can tell that (coming to this as a knitter) I’m going to need a lot of practice reading my own work, and when I did a quick Google search I mostly saw resources on reading patterns.
Hi! Thanks so much for the recommendation. I hope that, as I continue with Crochet Academy, you’ll get to practice this more. The video for crochet stitch patterns should help – that’ll be coming up next week.
Hello, I have a problem, that after taking off the stitch marker i can’t identify the stitch do you have any advice for that?
Try leaving the stitch marker in until after you completed the final stitch, then remove the marker. I think that will help you until you recognize the stitch. Good luck
What a lovely video, Toni, thank you so much! My friend Chris taught me how to crochet by giving me bunch of her favorite links. And now I’m excited to found someone and help her to learns too via your video. Which cover the whole necessarily basic in less than hour! Wonderful synthesized and structured!
Thank you for the video, Toni. I have crocheted for years, but you are definitely going to help me improve my efforts. Your instructions are so clear and easy to follow.
I have been crocheting for several years, but I jumped in with out a solid foundation. I read a pattern and just try to figure out what everything means through much trial and error. This video tutorial has helped me to bridge the gap between what I’m doing and why it’s done that way. You are making sense of everything for me, and I appreciate it. God bless you for your heart to serve 💜
I have been crocheting a while but watching your video really helped me understand what I was doing while I was crocheting. Thank you so much for the anatomy lesson! I do have a question about turning your work…Do you turn it away form you or towards you? Does it matter which way you turn?
Hi! It doesn’t much matter which way you turn your work. Whatever feels good to you 🙂
You’re a genius!
Thank you. That was fantastic. I’ve been crocheting for a little while now but the help with tension and hook holding was invaluable. Can’t wait for this he next posts
Thank you Toni, I enjoyed your tutorial a lot!!
Thanks! Quick question-how important is how you hold the yarn with your opposite hand ( not the hand you are holding the hook)? In the video, you have wound it around your pointer figure but I usually just hold it up between my pointer & next finger. Btw- love your nail polish in this video!!
Hi! How you hold your yarn plays into your tension and it’s unique to every maker. If the way you are currently holding your yarn provides smooth, even tension, stick to it!
I really enjoyed this tutorial! I have been crocheting for 20 years now, but wanted to watch to be sure I didn’t miss any fundamentals when learning to crochet. I already sent the link to a friend of mine that wants to learn crochet.
Thank you Toni. You are awesome!!!. I love all the details.
Thanks so much for our first lesson, I heard that there’s a difference in one or two crochet stitches described in UK to the US description, do you know anything about this ??
Fifty years ago I taught myself some crochet from patterns and magazines, now I learn to do it properly.
May I email you my sample photo, I don’t have a mobile.
Hi – yes there are differences between some UK and US crochet terms. There are some abbreviations charts that can help you better understand those differences. Just Google “crochet terms UK and US” and they’ll come right up.
This is the most valuable and the very best post of Crochet Academy so far! The video is truly worth the time because it is slow enough for the *complete* newbie, but detailed enough to answer questions that someone who has been crocheting a year can appreciate. Thank you so much for this post and video.
This was great! It took me a little while, but I finally finished my first swatch! Toni, you are a great teacher. The details you included in this video made a huge difference . Bring on a project! Where is that washcloth? 😆
Thank you so much for the great tips on making the chain and keeping consistent tension. I’ve always had trouble with varying stitch sizes, but your tips helped me make such a pretty chain! So excited for the next video!
Love this Toni thank you for doing this course!
This may be a dumb question but I’m using a ply yarn and it’s unravelling as I go along, ultimately, when I push through my hook I’m picking up extra or not all of the strands.
What am I doing wrong?
Hi! You’re not doing anything wrong 🙂 It is common to have some issues like that with yarn that is loosely plied. I’ve found that metal hooks work best with this yarn because the yarn is allowed to glide freely over the hook, as opposed to the friction it might create on plastic or wood. Other than changing the hook, loosening your tension and going slowly should do the trick.
Toni,
Thank you! I’ve been crocheting a long time, yet never taught some of these basics. The single chain at the turn for hdc and dc makes my heart happy because it gives such a nice straight edge! Your clear directions are easy to follow, and this ‘going back to basics’ has made me more confident. You are bringing back my crojo!
Toni, Thanks so much for this video. I downloaded all of the Crochet Week videos but couldn’t do them at the time, so I am running through them all now. I consider myself an advanced beginner, but you’ve taught me a few new tricks. I didn’t realize I was doing the slip stitch wrong. Now I know! I also love the single chain before double crochet instead of the double chain. Definitely makes for even edges. Even the baby step of putting the stitch marker in the first and last stitches helped me keep my counts straight. I always had problems with coming up a stitch short on my counts.
May I ask the reason for crocheting only in the front loop for the first row instead of both? It does produce a lovely edge.
Hi! I’m so glad you found so much value in Crochet Academy so far 🙂 Working in one loop of the starting chain is just a preference for me. My default is to work under the top loop of the chain, but I work into the back bump of the chain sometimes, if the project seems better suited to it.
Thank you Toni for the how to crochet video. I was getting overwhelmed by all that was on YouTube. Your gentle voice I calming and made me feel I can do this. I know I can. Thank you for the time you give us. Thank you for all that you do. God Bless.
Thank you soooo much for Crochet Academy! I can’t believe you took the time to create this whole academy available for free! I just sent you a coffee and will continue to do so….my grandmother taught me to crochet when I was very little, and it brings back so many memories of her just to watch this video. I just ordered some supplies and can’t wait to get to some of the projects later in the course.
Wow! Thanks so much for the support – it means the world to me. I’m so glad I can be part of your crochet memories 🙂
I love this. I am an intermediate beginer so all tipps are welcome. I was wondering if you will do a video on reading patterns. The ones with all the symbols on it. I am trying to learn abit about how to follow those patterns instead of only the ones with written words.
Hi! I have a day planned for how to read patterns and it will address charts as well 🙂
Thank you so much for all the posts. Thank you.
I love your videos!!. Yours were the first ones that I watched when I started crocheting and I keep coming back to them.
I must say it was a pleasure to sit and actually watch this video and learn how to actually go step by step learning and understanding how to properly crochet. Every little details was carefully noted, I made notes and I now I have got the techniques. I am now truly excited to continue Crochet Academy knowing that there is so much to learn and enjoy.
Thanks again Toni, for sharing your knowledge, time and patience.
Hi Toni, thanks for this video, it’s a great beginning, enough to be a challenge but not overwhelming. Using the stich markers was a great help. When I first tried the half double my stitch count kept increasing. I’m embarrassed to say how many times I had to pull it out and try again. I finally got it with the help of the markers and very careful stitch counting. The yarn you were using was great for showing each stitch clearly. I still need practice to see the structure of each stitch and to tell the front side from the back side. I’m sure I’ll get it with your great teaching.
Thank you so much Toni for all of the time you spend teaching and the great detail you offer to help us, your students. Your projects are so beautiful. Much appreciated!
If you start with a chain of 10; how do you end up with 15 stitches? Should we always end up with 5 more stitches that what was in the chain?
Hi – in the video we start with practicing 10 chains, then at 10:41, I explain that I’m adding a few more. So the chain count is consistent.
My grandmother taught me to crochet some 65 years ago. This video clarified many things for me, and I now am more confident about these basic stitches. You are a wonderful teacher, and you have taught this old dog some new tricks! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!
Thank you Toni for sharing you knowledge and expertise.
I was wondering if you ever have amore advanced crochet academy.
Possible teach mosaic and tunision?
Thanks again
Hi! I don’t have a separate academy for other techniques, but there will be an independent study on Tunisian Crochet in Saturday’s email (May 13th).
Thank you, Toni, for this great video. I’m definitely going to use it to help me teach my granddaughter how to crochet.
Loved this lesson. My biggest problem is tension. I have a neurological disorder call “essential Tremor” which causes my hands to tremble, especially the left hand (where I hold yarn). It is almost impossible to control my left hand and I have a terrible time making even chains and the first row. Any suggestions? Thanks.