Crochet tension

Hello
I am new ish to crocheting. I’m struggling to get my tension sorted. I’m looking at a crochet along on Sirdar. Their tension is 2 whole hook sizes tighter than mine! What am I doing wrong, please? I hold the yarn around my little finger and over my middle finger on left hand. :woman_shrugging:

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Hey Mags welcome to KH! Tension is something you’ll learn with time. Are you pulling yarn out of the skein to work with? If you are crocheting straight from the ball your tension will be tight. Pull a few lengths out then crochet until you get to the skein again and pull some more. If you really struggle with tension you can size up on the hook for now but that’s a bandaid not a solution. It just takes time to sort out. Just be sure to relax and have lots of working yarn pulled out. Tension was a problem for me for my first couple of projects. You’ll get the hang of it!
Also it’s more common to wrap the yarn around your pinky behind all your fingers and use your pointer finger to control the tension. There’s no right way to hold the yarn it’s whatever works for you. But most tutorials I see suggest you hold it that way.

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Thanks for your efforts, but I’m loose not tight! :smile:

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Whoops totally misread that lol. I tried googling a solution for you but every blogger on the planet rambles for 2,000 words and has nothing practical to say so I’m not sure how to help you. You could look into a tension ring. I’ve heard some people really like those. Sorry I couldn’t be more help lol

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I know from knitting that even tension is something that comes with practice. As you relax and become more familiar with the stitches, muscle memory takes over. After some practice, the tension evens out.
If you are a loose crocheter you might try going to a smaller hook size. Adjusting hook size is the way to get the gauge that the pattern calls for. At any rate, too loose is better than too tight.

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No problem! I’ve searched Google too to no avail. :woman_shrugging:

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See if this video helps. Bella Coco is my sister, the crocheter’s favorite source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSTbjj0PHzY

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Are you using the same weight of yarn as the pattern calls for? If your yarn is thicker then you’d naturally be needing a smaller hook to make gauge. If your work pleases you and looks good you can work on being consistent and see if your tension changes. Crocheting loose is better than crocheting so tight you can barely get the hook into the stitch which is a common problem for new crocheters.

Could you please share a link to info on the CAL and tell us what yarn you’re using?

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I think running it over your middle finger means that there’s too much space between the work and the yarn. Most of us run it over the pointer finger, and hold the work with the thumb and middle finger. It will feel very awkward at first, but it means you’ll have a shorter piece of yarn to work with, which should help a lot.

I have my yarn wrapped all the way around my little finger, behind my ring finger, in front of my middle finger, and then behind and over my pointer finger.

It can take a lot of experimenting to find the best hold for YOU, but it will be worth it in improved tension. I really do think getting the yarn onto your pointer finger is crucial.

Good luck, and please let us know how you get on!

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Thanks I’ll look at the video.

Yes, the yarn is the right one. Thanks again.

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Thanks, that’s very helpful.

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Hey Mags, you may be pulling your yarn too high away from your work when you finish a stitch. I recently saw a video on this and I bookmark everything but then can’t find a particular one. Sorry I don’t have the link. But try googling “golden loop”. I think I found it when I was looking to match gauge.

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Thanks, someone has sent me that video. Bless you.

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So there is a great crocheter and a great knitter in your family? How nice!

Do you have other siblings covering spinning, weaving and macrame?

:slight_smile:

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That would be grand. My mother sewed and tailored but alas, I did not inherit her ability. There’s no way to convince my brother to spin, weave or raise sheep either. Oh well.
How about you?

Thank you very much for your help.

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