Let’s get the yarn ball rolling!

How long have you been a hooker?

What got you interested in the craft?

What are you really good at?

What is one thing you’d like to learn?

  •  Alahu   ( @Alahu@lemmy.ca ) 
    5•1 year ago

    I’ve never done crochet before, but I enjoy cross stitching and knitting.

    I’ve always been interested in crochet, but haven’t tried it yet. I was wondering how difficult it is to manage tension in crochet (do you even have to lol)?

    •  cicatrized   ( @cicatrized@lemmy.ca ) OP
      4•1 year ago

      Tension can be a tricky thing to master. This is why a lot of patterns will include a guage to indicate how big a certain number of stitches should be.

      I tend to wrap the yarn throughy fingers on my off hand to help keepy tension consistent. I’m sure there are other tricks you could try too. Maybe someone else will have a suggestion?

      •  StillPaisleyCat   ( @StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website ) 
        4•1 year ago

        Wrapping around the the fingers and developing the ratcheting movement with your hand to move the yarn along seems to be the way to develop this.

        Practice helps a lot.

        I think it’s easier to start with a yarn that has a bit of natural flex.

        Cotton is often recommended because it produces nice clean crochet stitches but it’s unforgiving in terms of tension. Fine if you’re wanting to start off with dishcloths in handicrafter yarn, but otherwise not a great thing for novices.

    •  thegiddystitcher   ( @thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ) 
      3•1 year ago

      Sadly the only thing I can really recommend for tension in crochet is “practise”. Which I know is not a satisfying answer. Generally among the people I’ve taught to do it though, it seems like when you feel like you’re holding the yarn loosely enough already as a beginner you should loosen up even more. If it feels like everything is “too loose”, that’s probably about right!

      Also just wanted to mention we have a brand new cross stitch community (!lemmy_stitch@sh.itjust.works) now too that needs some content, and I for one would love to see what you’ve been stitching :D