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Read our most Frequently Asked Questions!
Limitless Crochet everyday
With crochet, the possibilities are endless. Throughout 2021, Limitless Crochet Everyday will teach you how to become a better crocheter with new techniques, stitches, and free patterns to go along with them. Crochet is an anxiety reducer for many of us and after a long and stressful 2020 year, I think this is exactly what we need.
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- WEEK 5 -
“It always seems impossible until it’s done” – Nelson Mandela
Moving on to Week 5 and this week is an important one. It’s all about not giving up. Whether you just started crocheting or you you’ve been at it for a few months, you might have thought about giving up at one point or another. Let’s change that!
If you missed last weeks topic, it was all about tips on becoming a better crocheter. We talked about the common mistakes, how to fix them, went over some FAQs on fixing mistakes, and learned how to crochet faster.
READ LAST WEEK’S EMAIL HERE
January Theme:
GETTING STARTED
Week 5 :Encouragement
January 31 - February 6
Learning a new craft is tough and at times, it feels impossible. But I promise that as long as you keep going, you will find what works for you. It just takes practice and patience.
What 4 Years Of Crochet Has Taught Me
Learning how to crochet has been one of the highlights of my life. Before I found crochet, I wasn’t in a very good place.
I couldn’t handle the stress of having a physically and mentally demanding job, working week days and weekends, paying for two different daycares. On top of that, I was having to leave that job multiple times a week because of my then two year old’s chronic asthma at the time.
What I did have though, was my amazing, supportive husband (who was actually my boyfriend at the time) who urged me to quit my job so I could stay home and do the things I truly loved. Being home with our little one and starting my own business.
Not only did it change me personally, but I’ve learned a lot about the craft itself in the past four years!
I’m going to talk about a few of them in this email, but if you want to read the full list, click the button below.
1. The more you crochet, the more you learn
You may or may not be tired of me saying “the more you crochet, the better you’ll get”, but it’s true! It’s really about learning more about the craft and that is what helps you to get better.
It is so amazing to me how many things you can do with just a hook and some yarn.
By crocheting a variety of different projects, you learn many different things. Things like the construction of a project, different stitch variations, how different types of yarn drape better than others, that you can use a 10mm hook with a lightweight yarn if that’s what you want to do, and so much more!
Did you know there are three different ways you can make a hat? There are also multiple ways to make garments and blankets and amigurumi. And that’s exactly why I put together the Limitless Crochet Everyday project!
Many people want to learn how to crochet so they can make blankets and hats and scarves. And that is all so wonderful, but I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to stop there. You can literally make anything you want and I promise to show you how.
2. Clover Amour hooks are worth the price
I know I’ve already mentioned this a few times these past few weeks, but this is one of the things I’ve learned over the years so I thought I would share it again.
The first year I learned how to crochet, all I used were aluminum hooks. These worked great for me and I never really had any problems. But I was always so curious as to why Clover Amour hooks were so much more expensive.. so naturally, I had to try one out.
I bought one hook in my most-used size because buying the whole pack was obviously out of the question.
I remember the moment I tried it for the first time. I was sitting in bed with my husband. He was reading a book and I just started my project. After the first row I looked over at him with my eyes wide, and said “no friggin way!”.
I can’t even explain how much of a difference these hooks make. My stitches are so much smoother. The yarn just glides through. They are simply amazing.
So that’s all I’ve used for the past 3 years now. When I lose a hook, because that’s bound to happen, I try one of my backup aluminum hooks but my hands are so used to Clover that I can’t use them anymore!
I recommended them inside the Crochet’dy Bunch Facebook Group a few years ago and it resulted in this really funny conversation that cracks me up every time I read it. 🤣 You could probably find more conversations like these in the group too!
Like I said, I never had any problems with aluminum hooks. I’m not telling you to switch if that’s what’s working for you. Just sharing my personal experience!
If you are interested though, you can find them in my Amazon Store under “Beginner Essentials“.
3. Do NOT crochet in the car
Ugh, I don’t even like thinking about this. Before that horrible day when I decided to crochet in the car, I never had car sickness or motion sickness of any kind.
I heard that crocheting in the car could cause it, but didn’t think I’d be affected because I never had any issues before.
Boy was I wrong!
Here’s the story: One day we went to visit my parents who live about 5 hours away. I decided that this time in the car would be a great time to finish one of my projects! 🙄
15 minutes into the trip, I started working on my project…5 minutes later, I started feeling nauseous.
I felt so sick that I had to tell my husband to pull over. Then for the rest of the 4 1/2 hour ride, I felt more nauseous than I did during both of my pregnancies.
Horrible. Just horrible.
Of course this might not be the case for you, but I will never try it again 😂
4. Tension affects you in all stages of your journey
A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of a blanket I made for my mother-in-law that took me 3 years to make (see it below). And I talked about how much of a difference there was from the squares I completed a year ago compared to today.
I created one “Sunshine” panel years ago and another “Sunshine” panel a few months ago and the first one I made was significantly larger than my newer one. There was so much of a difference that I had to scrap it and make another!
And that wasn’t the only panel like that. But because I made so many panels previously, I wasn’t going to restart the whole blanket so I just crossed my fingers and prayed that it would work out.
And it did!
I don’t know what made my tension change so much, but that just goes to show that the more you crochet, the more you evolve.
Many things affect tension. It could be the hook you’re using or even your mood that day. Things change.
The most important thing to do is understand tension and what you should do if you’re crocheting too tight or too loose.
If tension is something you struggle with, watch the video I released last week.
5. Losing your crojo is a real thing
Have you ever heard someone say they lost their crojo? If you haven’t, crojo means crochet mojo. It can go one of three ways.
- – When you’re working on a project for a long time and you’re just feeling beat. You don’t want to work on it anymore because it’s boring or repetitive or you’ve just lost interest.
- – When you desperately want to make something, but you can’t find a pattern that really speaks to you so you feel lost.
- – When you’ve been making one thing after another and you want to keep making, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it. And then you get mad at yourself for not wanting to!
These are three different ways you can feel when you lose your crojo. In the beginning, I thought I would never lose my crojo. “Crochet is my life and I’m obsessed and I love making“, is what I said. But sometimes you need a break and that’s okay!
Crochet takes up a lot of time and mental capacity. Especially if you’re like me and you get stuck in the black hole of Pinterest and just want to make all the things! But of course we don’t have time to make all the things and then we start feeling overwhelmed.
So what I’ve learned is to plan out my projects at the beginning of the year for all the people I want to make things for and I put them inside my planner. I don’t always get to them and sometimes I’ll change the patterns up, but it helps me to stay focused on the things I want to make.
If you need help planning out your projects, I have a free video training showing you exactly how I do it.
6. Frogging is GOOD
I mentioned this last week, but if you missed it, here it is:
Frogging is not a bad thing.
Is it frustrating? Yes.
Can it feel like a waste of time? Yes.
Does it diminish your confidence? Yeah, I get it.
But just know that EVERYONE frogs their work. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been crocheting for 5 days or 50 years.
Frogging doesn’t mean you’re inexperienced, it means you’re learning. But the thing is, we’re always learning. That’s why I started LCE. To really show you all of the possibilities.
Learn from your mistakes, build confidence by creating more projects, and the next time you have to frog your work, ask yourself, “What did I learn?” Stop looking at your unravelled yarn as a waste of time and take it as a “what not to do next time.”
Last week I released a new video talking about the common mistakes that I see and how to fix them. A LOT of the video is dedicated to encouraging you to embrace frogging and to not give up. If you’re feeling frustrated, go give it a watch👇🏼👇🏼❤️
FREE PATTERN FRIDAY
Here’s another free pattern Friday that’s filled with lots of goodies! If you read through the entire article about what crochet has taught me, you’ll know that I mentioned losing your crojo.
Sometimes when we’re working on a project that’s taking longer than we hoped, we could use a quick win.
That’s why I put together this long list of small, quick-win crochet projects for you! Some of these patterns you’ll be able to whip up in as little as an hour. Others you can finish in a day or so, depending on how much time you have to crochet.
Even if you’re not working on a larger project in the background, these are some really fun patterns to try.
Click the button below to subscribe to my YouTube channel and get notified when it’s released! In the meantime, check out all of the other videos I’ve put together!
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
JOIN THE LCE FACEBOOK GROUP
The Crochet’dy Bunch // Limitless Crochet Everyday
I created the Facebook Group, The Crochet’dy Bunch as a space for those who love crochet. And I’ve decided to group it together with the Limitless Crochet Everyday project. This is a place where we connect, share work, get your questions answered, and support each other. I hope you’ll join us!
Please don’t forget to agree to the group rules! It’s so important to me that this is a supportive, loving community, and I won’t tolerate any negativity.
