Let me start with an introduction! I’m Jay. I’m 72, live in San Antonio, TX, and I started crocheting when I was about 3. I liked making small things best – baby stuff mostly, and doll things. Rugs for the doll’s house, blankets for the doll’s beds, sweaters, hats, booties! I taught the craft to many others over the years, am a firm believer in the CGOA ( http://www.crochet.org/ ) as well as the Craft Yarn Council’s “Each One Teach Two” program ( http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/lesson-plans-posters .) I’ve been a member of the Yahoo Group Crochet Partners since almost it’s beginning, on a few Facebook groups, and keep up with who likes doing what in the craft. Over the years, I learned many things, and now that I’m older and no longer able to hold the hooks and needles, I’ve found myself wanting to share the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years, in hopes they help someone else, somewhere, somehow! So, let’s get started!
The first tip was "discovered" somewhat in the middle of my experience timeline, as I was in my 30’s before I came up with it, but a comment by a Facebook group member had me thinking of it again.
PATTERN READING:
I started teaching various forms handcrafts to handicapped folks through a program put on by the Social Services folks in MI in the 70's. It was a program to give them purpose and let them sell what they made at local outlets like Good Will to make a little spending money. I taught Senior Citizens (which I now am! LOL) as well as people with physical and mental disabilities everything from the basics to advanced uses of crochet. I came up with this idea when one of the seniors, who could look at any pattern and make it but couldn't read a pattern, needed to learn how. It worked well for her and several others, so I've kept using it all these years for people who just can't seem to get the idea in a 'flat sheet" pattern. Breaking reading into bits helped some.
Pick a pattern you want to try. Make a copy of it. Cut each row out and stick it onto either a 3 by 5 card or a post it. Put them in order by row. I punch a hole in a corner, then tie a loop of yarn through, so they can be flipped. If there are repeats, make a copy of that row for the number of repeats needed. As you work the pattern, you flip to the next row. I found some people needed to cross off the row as they worked it, as they lost their place in the pattern, as well. The most common problem beginners have with patterns is losing their place. If you find you lose count in a row of a pattern, use a highlighter to mark off each stitch, or repeat of a set of stitches, as you work it. The second most common problem is the count! Yes it takes time this way, but after a while, you'll find you don't need to do it this way, as you've learned the rhythm of reading patterns.
PATTERN DOESN’T WORK!
Oh, yes! Not all pattern's make sense as you're working them. I'm a very visual learner, but even with pictures and drawings I couldn't understand Broomstick or Mile A Minutes, but a few days ago I went to a YouTube video with a link from a Facebook Crochet Group I’m a member of and thought . . . That's why Broomstick made no sense! It turns backwards from the needle as you work it, and being left handed, it would be worked away from me. And I never understood how the loops got back on the needle for the next row. I'm sorry I can't try again!
And then there's the issue of badly written or printed patterns! When my nephew was born in the 70's I was asked to make a christening gown for him. There was a well-known magazine at the time called Golden Hands with exactly what I wanted to make. A neighbor across the street did too, so off to Lee Wards (Boy, I miss that store!) we went for supplies. About half way down the skirt, we both came to a screeching halt! After two days of rip it, rip it, we both said let's stop for a day and look at what's supposed to be happening. Turns out the pattern called for a gradual increase in the skirt section in the size of the shells, and when the pattern was printed it wasn't proofread - they left out two increase rows! Once we saw that, we finished in a day! LOL! We also made a matching hat and booties with shell stitch cuffs, and I found a Leisure Arts pattern for a cape with a similar shell pattern to match, so added that as well. A few years ago I was asked to make another one, went online and found a copy of the book it had been reprinted in on Ebay, and bought it! I may never be able to make it again, but it came up for sale and I grabbed it! Here's a photo of both patterns.
