do you have any advice for a novice crochet-er? was planning to make a blanket for a friend and you know A Lot of old ladies/quilt guilds so i was hoping you had some Secret Trade Tips
My advice for a novice crocheter is to find someone who actually knows how to crochet, because I do not.
Facetious Jacknapery aside, that's actually my advice. If you've got a local yarn shop, join their maker's circle, or your local fiber arts guild or your local SCA (there's HORDES of fiber people in the SCA. At this point it's basically a fibercrafts guild with an MMA hobby and funny hats), but in general FIND SOME PEOPLE IRL to teach you because so much of this learning is tactile and you really do need to do it in person.
How To Find a Fibercraft Group:
Open facebook. I know, it's like opening the gates to hell, but all the people over 55 are on there.
Type in "(Your Region) Crochet Group" or "Yarn group" or "Knitting Group" because pretty much all yarn people are bilingual these days.
Several groups will appear, within varying commute distances.
Send emails or facebook messages or (the horror) actually call them if they list a phone number.
Someone will respond, probably with tremendous enthusiasm, that a "Young Person" (Read: anyone who can't order off the senior menu yet) wants to join.
You will be BESET with affection and free yarn and instruction and free fabric and new project ideas and free craft supplies of all descriptions because nobody here is just into the one craft and they all wish to keep the Craft Materials Shoggoth under control.
Congratulations on your new friends and own personal Craft Materials Shoggoth.
Actually, this is the time of year that people make resolutions, right? Here's an easy one: go to one (1) in-person craft group meeting and see if you like it. Odds are you will, honestly.