I think this is an awesome site and I have it to thank for teaching me everything I need to know to knit. However, I have decided to give knitting a break and work on my crochet skills. I know all the common stitches, but can’t read a pattern to save my life. I am hoping someone out there knows of a website that is just as good as this one, but for crochet?
Can anyone recommend a good website?
I like about.com for instructions but if it’s video you want, YouTube is great. If there is a site just like this one for crochet, I’m not aware of it.
Thanks so much. I did find a great youtube channel and learned all the basic stitches in about 15 minutes. I guess I just need to figure out how to read patterns. I get overwhelmed with it. I will probably just have to sit down and rewrite a pattern on note cards so I can break things down easier. Thanks for the about.com advice 
There is a thread at the top for [U]Crochet Patterns[/U]
Have you looked there? 
I know it has at least a few links to patterns if not sites with lists of patterns.
If you think crochet chat will help you there is a place: crochetville.org. The ladies (and gents!) are very helpful there and will lend a hand in deciphering patterns. After a while, you’ll be able to read them. Just takes practice and the more patterns you work, the easier it gets.
At the risk of sounding like I’m tooting my own horn, I’d like to recommend www.HookedOnNeedles.com for help with crocheting too. If you look on my sidebar, you will see a crochet link and in there you will see links to all the articles, tutorials, pictures, patterns and everything I have posted on my website concerning crochet.
A few readers here on knittinghelp.com visit my site regularly. I hope you will too!
MGM
Thank you MGM and Craw for those links, that sounds like exactly what I am looking for!
[QUOTE=MGM;1238083]At the risk of sounding like I’m tooting my own horn, I’d like to recommend www.HookedOnNeedles.com for help with crocheting too.
Oh, and Mary Grace, if you have a horn, you should definitely toot it! If you don’t toot every once in a while, how will we know you even have a horn?
I have looked at your website and am so impressed with your video and blog library. Thanks again!:woot:
crocet cabana has tutorials and patterns which are very helpful and Crochet Partners on yahoo is an exceptional group to join.
Nexstitch has some excellent videos. If you are a lefty then Iamintheloop has some videos to help you.
I’m in the same boat! I tried crochet for the first time yesterday and I think crochet stitches are a lot easier to learn than knit stiches, but the pattern is impossible to read!
I found some great websites after a search on this forum. in addition to what others have suggested, I really like her youtube channel and blog:
Youtube (you’ve probably seen it)
blog:
Her blog is especially helpful because she has easy to read patterns and some of them have youtube videos to go with!
I really love tjw1963’s videos on Youtube. I especially love the puff stitch!
I still haven’t figured out how to read the patterns, but I hope to find someone to work with one-on-one, eventually!
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Knitterific, what’s wrong with staying tuned right here in the crochet section of this forum? :oo:
There are several of us here that started with crochet and then learned to knit. I admit there aren’t any crochet video’s here, but there are at least a couple people here that can do anything in crochet and are quite willing to help those like you who are learning.
:balloons: :balloons: And we’re not afraid to celebrate :balloons: :balloons:
:balloons: :balloons: when we convert a knitter-only :balloons: :balloons:
:balloons: :balloons: to a knitter and crocheter! :balloons: :balloons:
Am I right, Mary and Mary Grace?[/color]
Thank you OffJumpsJack. I have, in fact, stayed tuned in here! I can’t turn my back on this great place. I know eventually I will learn to read a pattern withouth having an anxiety attack or migraine. I just needed to find some videos to get me more comfortable with crochet. Now, honestly, I feel more comfortable with it than with knitting (sans being able to read a pattern). I am half-way finished with my very first crochet project–a blanket for our new baby due in a few months. I plan to start on a second one for my 2 year old son as soon as I finish. He is a little Linus…he loves his blankets.
Thanks to everyone for their guidance and support!
Amen to that! I love both, each one for different reasons and for different types of things.
Any help you need, just ask!
MGM
If you ever find a pattern or a stitch that you just can’t figure out and would like someone to step you through it, please PM me! I’ve done this many times for other readers here and I make the videos available on my website for the person who asked and anyone else who might be interested. I will take the portion of the pattern you are having difficulty with and work up a sample, then make a video showing exactly how to do it, referring back to the pattern, so you learn how to read the pattern correctly and do the stitch at the same time.
Don’t be shy!
MGM
There is one very similar. It’s called Crochetville Forum. Their website is www.crochetville.org
This is my favorite site though. 
And, yes, MGM’s video’s are really very good for crocheting and knitting. :yay: :notworthy: :yay:
I’ve been teaching some of my friends at work to crochet and read patterns, and they find that if I actually read the pattern out loud to them, one section at a time, they are able to understand it. Then, they will read a section to me and tell me what they think it means. If you have a friend who is an experienced crocheter, try it that way. Good luck!
One thing I learned the hard way and I have been crocheting for 46 years is some authors are too wordy. If the wordy part doesn’t confuse you then the unnecessary repetition of a direction will. I was doing a doily and I won’t say who wrote it as she is very wordy in all of her patterns, she confused the heck out of me with her repetition of her directions. Now I like the word but I have gone over to the dark side to get away from words and am doing symbol patterns at the moment. No confusion, there is some written word but it is only for clarification.
If you ever get confused we are here to help!:waving:
[color=#300090]Ah, the first “stone in the road” of learning crochet is learning the stitches. Congratulations on learning the crochet stitches: what they look like, how to make them, and how to recognize and correct errors in stitches.
The second “stone” is learning the abbreviation of stitches and how they are used (or will be seen) in a written pattern. It helps to vocalize when you read a pattern and listen to what you are reading.
I remember a pattern that confused me and I read part of it aloud to myself. I repeatedly read that part of one row or round because I just didn’t grasp where it was going, then I just plowed through to the rest of the round and it finally formed a complete picture in my mind.
˙puıɯ ʎɯ uı ǝɹnʇɔıd ǝʇǝldɯoɔ ɐ pǝɯɹoɟ ʎllɐuıɟ ʇı puɐ punoɹ ǝɥʇ ɟo ʇsǝɹ ǝɥʇ oʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ pǝʍold ʇsnɾ I uǝɥʇ 'ƃuıoƃ sɐʍ ʇı ǝɹǝɥʍ dsɐɹƃ ʇ,upıp ʇsnɾ I ǝsnɐɔǝq punoɹ ɹo ʍoɹ ǝuo ɟo ʇɹɐd ʇɐɥʇ pɐǝɹ ʎlpǝʇɐǝdǝɹ I ˙ɟlǝsʎɯ oʇ pnolɐ ʇı ɟo ʇɹɐd pɐǝɹ I puɐ ǝɯ pǝsnɟuoɔ ʇɐɥʇ uɹǝʇʇɐd ɐ ɹǝqɯǝɯǝɹ I
If a portion of the instructions are confusing or hard to understand, sometimes you need to see the rest of the repetition to get a framework which will bring new meaning to the part that was confusing.
For me, I visualize the stitches as I read them and how the stitches build up to a row or a part of the project. Pictures can mean the difference between success and frustration, because I am visually oriented in my thinking. I also know and use [U]crochet symbols[/U] to help me develop a picture of what the pattern is instructing me to do.
After all, a pattern is just a list of instructions on how to put the puzzle pieces together. If you don’t have a picture, then the end result will be a mystery until you build enough of it to recognize the whole based on the repeating patterns that appear.
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