Monday, April 27, 2009

Need some crochet teaching help

I know some of you are yarn experts so I need some help. Samantha want to learn to crochet and she is working on making a chain right now but she is getting it soo tight that sh won't be able to do anything with it later. I don't know how to teach her to loosen up. I have taught and re-taught her how to hold her yarn and needle. She is doing the stitches correctly but they are just so stinking tight. Any suggestions?

3 comments:

Melanie said...

It might help if she used a bigger hook than is required for the yarn til she's got a better grasp of the tension thing. I don't do the more complicated wrapping of the yarn around fingers like I was taught to for a good tension - it gets too tight for me. So I hold the hook in my right hand and let the yarn go over the middle section of my left index finger, letting it go back down between my fingers. I lightly pinch or hold the yarn between my thumb and middle finger for tension so that I get let up or tighten down at my discretion.
Tension is one of those things that only improves with practice, even if you find a good technique. Good luck to her and I would love to see some of her crochet when she gets the hang of it :)

Melanie said...

Oh, and it might also help if she resisted the urge to pull the hook or yarn after making the stitch. Purposely fighting the urge to pull helped train my muscle memory. (I'm just offering what made a difference in my learning ) She can use her fingertips to pinch the stitch she already made and keep it from tightening up as she makes the next.

jamnsfld76 said...

Thanks Mel, I was reading that maybe working w/ a bigger hook my help. The hook I have for her is pretty big (it came in a kit and it isn't labeled but I would say it is a J) but I think I have something bigger so we will try that. And I will tell her to try to hold her stitch.

I think like you said it is just going to take some practice and getting used to holding the yarn and stuff.
thanks for the suggestions. :)