Learning to Crochet - Free Instructions to Make a Child & Doll Shawl

The art of crochet is extremely new to me, but I learned some basics over the holidays this year. I have to say it has been a crazy load of fun!!! I can't believe how generous people are with their time in making tutorials online for beginners like me and others who are just looking for a bit of help, a refresher or some fantastic new ideas!! I created a crochet board on Pinterest to keep track of some of the things I LOVE and would love to make!!

I am a sewer and love all handcrafts... basically anything crafty, but I must say that even if you are not crafty, crochet can be quite simple to achieve some amazing work in a short time!
I thought I would share a few things I have made, and where I found the tutorials and patterns for them!! I will also share my Crochet kit, and all of the things I found helpful as a beginner!

 I posted about a crown I made for Ava here! This was one of my first projects.

I just finished the amazing Boot Slippers for Ava! This is the blog of the pattern maker.This is the pattern. This pattern also comes in women's sizes!!
I used Red Heart Yarn, and a size K hook as indicated in the pattern. The patterns cover multiple sizes. I LOVE these slippers!! They are so cute, and fit so well. I found the pattern so well done and simple to read, and it came with photos to help out!!

I used the above pattern in women's sizes, and used the largest to make slippers for my husband, and a smaller child size for Xander. I used chunky yarn, so I had to reduce a row or so to account for the larger yarn.

I used Lion Brand Yarn for these. Though it is recommended that you use 2 strands of worsted weight yarn - I did this for Ava's boots above.

I made some cute little Mary Jane slippers for Ava!

I used this tutorial and a size 6.5 Hook and made a small version of Mary Janes for Ava. I used the same yarn I used for the crown. I wish I had a better explanation for how I adapted this tutorial, but basically as I was crocheting them I just kept putting them on her foot to see how they were fitting.

I also made a pair for me with this tutorial.

I just tried them on at each stage to see if the fit looked correct.

I used Lion Brand yarn for these, the packaging looks like this.

I am making this sweater for myself here, but have taken extra time because sadly I ran out of yarn:(

I did order more and am up and working, and almost finished! I will share that soon!

In the meantime though I made one for Ava! I scaled down the pattern to fit her. Basically I just created a chain and laid it across her shoulders (experienced crochet artists may cringe at this idea) to decide the length of the sleeves and body (they are one unit), and went from there using the pattern as a guide for the construction of the sweater. It worked out so well and is so cute on!! I used chunky Bernat Yarn in a hot pink colour and a size P hook - and mine was the huge Q hook.

This is a shawl I made for Ava by using this tutorial for a women's puff stitch cowl scarf. This person makes amazing tutorials, and I made several chunky scarves from watching her! I basically started out watching her work! I really thought I would only make some scarves and move on, but I was loving it so much I decided to try a few more things!!

I worked her scarf pattern until it was a good length for Ava. I added her ties at the neckline.

This was Lion Brand Yarn as well in two colours. The packaging looks like this in this yarn, but in the two colours you see above.

Here are a couple of scarves that I made from her tutorials. Ava's shawl was done with crocheting the puff stitches one directly above the other instead of off-set, this was a happy accident.
Poor Xander is my scarf model:) Below are Lion Brand yarns.

This yarn is really nice, but a bit hard to crochet with because it's tough to see the stitches. I did use it for some loom knitting and loved it for that. I do love how this scarf turned out though.

This scarf (below) was inspired by her tutorials as well but the stitch is a rib stitch with a size Q hook.

Below is the puff stitch of hers again, but one on top of the other. I may make this into a shoulder shawl for Ava with a tie as well.

This is a shawl I made for Ava. This is a series of yarns and weights, that I put together with a few different stitches I had learned. I will attempt to show you how I made it. This was very simple to make, but as I said I am a beginner and will do my best to show you what I did to make it.

Ava is 5 so this will give you an idea of how I made it for her in a tutorial download below.
Just remember it is not perfect, and I made this with lots of left over yarn.
The end of my rectangles were not perfect, but I was ok with that since they were stitched to each other and it hid any imperfections. If you spaced your stitches perfectly this would not occur. Regarless I love how it turned out!

I used these yarns and a size 6.5 hook.

The below yarn was in orange.

I used the yarn below in blue, purple, and a dark green.

I also made one for her doll 😃

This is my little beginner kit that I thought I would share with you.

I started out with a set of hooks that my husbands grandmother passed along to me.

I decided to purchase a little carrying case. I bought this case from Joann's Fabrics but can't seem to find it on their site so you can see it here.

The contents so far are as follows...

Westcott 4" Titanium Non Stick Straight Scissor - Pink

Clover Knitting Stitch Counter Mini Kacha-Kacha x2 packages

Clover Chibi with Darning Needles

yarn threader

Clover Lock Ring Markers

hooks

I have to say that I am loving this row counter, and am so happy I bought it!!! The hook on the counter is a stitch holder (?) more for knitting. I am just using it at the moment to attach the counter to the handle of my kit.

These are the hooks that I was given.

These are the hooks that I purchased. I was shocked at how many different types of hooks are available. Some hooks are literal works of art!! 

I am not sure that I needed all these hooks, but I am loving these.

The beige one is a size P, and the large turquoise one is a Q hook.

Plastic Crochet Hook-Size P16/10mm

Plastic Crochet Hook 8 Inch -Size Q 15.75mm

 The above metal hooks are Boye size 6, 6.5, 9

The rose coloured one on the end is Susan Bates size 8.

I do have some duplicates, but decided to try a couple of different ones. I am really liking the ones with bamboo handles.

Susan Bates 5-1/2-Inch Bamboo Handle Silvalume Head Crochet Hook, 6.5mm, Green

Susan Bates 5-1/2-Inch Bamboo Handle Silvalume Head Crochet Hook, 10mm, Salmon

Susan Bates 5-1/2-Inch Bamboo Handle Silvalume Head Crochet Hook, 9mm, Blue

Here are some of my favorite beginner how to tutorials!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqca00LdmAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUOjaeBnZls
I loved these tutorials there are many!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28ilbmzmDGM
I used many others but basically looked for anything I was not sure about, and found a great tutorial!

I had posted a picture of Ava's shawl on our Facebook page! I was so excited to hear that some liked it and were interested, so I did my best to document how I made it.
As I said I am a beginner, and I hope a version works out for you!!

If you make this please share it with us!!! I started out making a smaller swatch to test the stitches, and that is where the doll shawl was born.

You can download the document here!

If you make this please share it with us!!

Come check out some of our latest projects here!

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