Do you ever feel...

[AbbyNormal]

Here lately I have been feeling a bit insecure about my crochet skills. I get to a point where I think I am doing a pretty good job,then I will see a pattern that makes me go cross eyed or a picture of something that somebody made and I feel like a kindergartener showing off their painting to Picasso.

My mother makes some things that blow my mind. I have no idea how she does them and the only advice I get is "practice and you'll get it"

Here I am 36 years old and I feel like I need a teacher to show me step by step how to do things.

My mother lives in another state and I live in a small town where I don't know a soul. So I guess that means I have to be my own teacher and figure things out for myself.

[teapot]

I think everyone feels like that at some point or another. Best part of things is you always have alot of help here.

I've been crocheting a long time and I make mistakes, alot of mistakes.

I too live near a small town, a really small town so I know what that feels like.

Hey give me shout if I can help you sometime! Teapot

[Nilliem]

I know that feeling well. Its taken me over 5 years, with no one to show me except the videos online, to get confident enough to show off some of my things. I have some really early stuff that makes me giggle, heh.

 

Keep going; you will get it and you WILL find the confidence, I promise.

[magiccrochetfan]

I think most crocheters, no matter how long we've been at it, still see some things that seem awesome and make us say "how'd they do that?" There are some real artists in the world of crochet.

 

As far as patterns that make your eyes cross, there are plenty of written patterns that are like that for me! Some are just very intricate and I would understand them more easily with a symbol diagram, but some are confusing because they are poorly written.

 

So don't feel alone, i think most of us have similar feelings!

[Finnbar]

Speaking for myself, and I have been crocheting a long, long, long time (heh heh) the best way I learn something new is by struggling though it and making mistakes. Then the light bulb goes on and what a great feelng that is!

 

My mother taught me to crochet before I was 10 years old. She knew what she was doing, but she didn't necessarily know the correct "crochet" terms. It took me over 25 years to put together that "yarn over" and my mother's "wrap the yarn around the hook however many times" were the same thing. You can only imagine the struggle I had following patterns, but somehow I managed to make all kinds of items from a simple scarf to afghans to sweaters and booties. You have no idea the amount of time I spent trying to find an exact descripton of what yarn over was. This was before the internet and you tube.

 

We all have brain freezes now and then, usually about the most simple elements of a pattern or project. There is no shame in coming here and asking to for help of any kind. We are all here to help each other.

 

Lastly, have you checked with the local craft store, library, churches, hospitals, Chamber of Commerce if there are any crocheting or knitting groups in your area? I don't myself, but I've heard that a lot people that knit also crochet and vice versa. You might be able to join a local group or hey, even start one, that would get you involved and bring together different skill levels.

 

Hang in there.

 

Best,

Kat

[FrLopLady]

..........So I guess that means I have to be my own teacher and figure things out for myself.

 

I know that feeling well. Its taken me over 5 years, with no one to show me except the videos online, to get confident enough to show off some of my things. I have some really early stuff that makes me giggle, heh.

 

Keep going; you will get it and you WILL find the confidence, I promise.

 

Nilliem has the best suggestion I can think of for you. The online videos that are available online are a great way to help one figure out HOW does one do THAT with a crochet hook??

[AbbyNormal]

Thanks ladies. I guess I just needed to vent a little.

 

My mother taught me the same exact way and I didn't have the internet either when I started using patterns to figure out what all of the sl,dc,hdc stuff meant.

I actually never though of looking at youtube. I usually get frustrated there trying to find the "right" video.

 

I know of a knitting group in town but no crochet groups. I told hubby that I was going to pack up my crochet stuff and go sit in with the knitting group anyway lol I wouldn't learn anything new though.

 

I guess for now knowing that my family thinks what I do is great is good enough. So as I learn they will think it is that much greater.

[FrLopLady]

I know my crocheting skills are not up to par with the 'greats' of the crochet world, but i can impress people who don't know as much

 

I sit in a knitting group every week! some do both, but most are usually knitting.

[CraftyZone]

Got to love this thread been crocheting for over 50 years guess even I can really get stump by patterns or stitches took me six months to learn to make a round ripple then one day a light bulb went off I made many more of them. I find that you tube to be great help I rerun video many times to figure out the stitches. Diagrams have not really learned at all but when I need help great resouces are here on the Ville. Like learning new stitches to try different things. It is the process of learning sometimes we need more time to make things other times this mind clicks right away and I got the pattern or stitch down pat.

[PBLKNP]

I think we all get this way about any skill--that is to say, thinking other people do whatever it is so much better than we do.

 

Try not to be hard on yourself. I find over the years that my skills have improved. I actually take a stab at those patterns that look like you need a degree from MIT to pull off--that's how I learn! After all, it's only yarn. If it's awful, you can always pull it out again. It's not like you spent $$$ on paints, didn't paint that great masterpiece, and now the $$$ is down the drain. The lovely thing about yarn is that it can be reused...

 

Also, keep in mind that it's not so much the wow factor of what you're doing, but the fact that you're putting your loving energy into each piece.

[RoseRed]

Some of those patterns are deceptively simple.

[~Kel~]

I know I've felt like that. I've never understood how to do a popcorn stitch until last week, I've just never understood it from the directions then I picked up a book at the library with pictures and all of a sudden it made perfect sense. Also just learned the solomon's knot after being totally bewildered by it, found a great video, it made all the difference. But there are still times I see things people have made and I'm just in awe.

[GoldenGryphon]

Howdy!

 

Every time I start work on a project, I do so with the idea that I am going to 'frog' that project at least three times. Sometimes I only rip a little of it, sometimes I start over from scratch. On the amigurumi I am currently working on? Last night I pulled the body apart twice, the head apart twice and this morning I 'frogged' the entire body again. Including the part where I *taught myself intarsia!!*.

 

The whole point is that every time I redo this project, I do it better. I am learning where that stitch should go to get the look I want. I am learning how to make the yarn go where I want it to make the project end up the way I want. I am smarter and more stubborn than the yarn and, eventually, I will have a strange looking beastie to call my own.

 

Then I'll take what I learned and start something new.

It'll work. You'll see.

You are a very creative person. Who cares what anyone else thinks?!

[Bailey4]

I have an advanatage in that many of the gifts I make go to family or donations that wouldn't get the toys I make if I didn't make them. I learned to crochet because nobody in my family could crochet the doll's clothes I so badly wanted when I was a kid and I wanted my nieces to have them. Then I saw how many wonderful other toys I could make. Mine are not masterpieces that I see other places, but I also know that a dressed Barbie is better than one with no clothes, but the ones the doll came in. They fit, the child can put them on and off and the ones I make now are one hundred times better than the first one I made.

 

I try to admire the artistic work others do without diminishing my own efforts.

[Ellie 13]

I recently came across one of the first teddies I crocheted (my own design) and thought how bad it looks compared to the ones I make now (15+ yrs later). I've been since I was about 13yo, now I'm 50 (+1/2 on the 13th ). I still feel that way when I try something new. When I create my own designs I'll think it's perfect and use it for years. When I don't use it for year or 2, then start again, I'll think it's no good and change it (eg. my teddy bear pattern).

Ellie 13

[Hookerangel]

Abbynormal I know how you feel! But I think everyone doubts their own abilities. I know I do. I always worry people will not like things I make for them. Like you my mum taught me to crochet (when I was about 8). Now my mum was a great knitter (she made wonderful things and NEVER used a pattern because she couldnt read one!) and she could crochet a bit. When she taught me how to crochet she showed me completely in the wrong way. She held the wool to the wrong side of the hook and held the hook with the hook side down and then wrapped the wool round the hook just like knitting. Its a wonder I was able to crochet at all. It wasnt until one day in school my friend told me what I was doing was wrong and showed me the correct way. I ran home and showed my mum but no matter how many times she tried she just couldnt catch on! there were no Youtube videos in those days! When I first crocheted I think I was much more inventive than I am now and that was because I lived in the UK and patterns were not readily available! Just believe in yourself and most of all ENJOY your craft!

[AbbyNormal]

I do feel better now. I know everybody can't be as great as the next person.

This is my talent and I will just continue to let it grow.

[Tampa Doll]

This is a feeling all of us have. I know when I make my tote for the month to send out, I worry that it is not good enough to show.

I have some early things that I keep around to show how far I have come. Believe me I am no expert and there are some things, I can just not get the hang of, and some patterns like you make me cross eyed. Remember you are a member of a great group, who will lift you up and help you when you need it.

Can you imagine how hard it would be if we did not have U tube and other things that show us how to do things?

[~threadbear~]

I know just what you mean. I'd wanted to learn to crochet for so long and just couldn't get to grips with it. My mum can knit and do some basic crochet, but she's self taught and so has no idea of crochet stitches etc really, although she has taught me to knit.

 

So I had to teach myself. I was useless though. Then in June I made a determined effort, I used youtube and step by step instructions in books and once I'd worked out there were UK and US terms (I was using both and making a real mess of things) it was like it all just fell into place.

 

I am nowhere near up to the standard of others on here. I've seen some of the most amazingly beautiful work displayed! But you know what ... I'm just enjoying my own journey.

 

I have tried new stitches, like popcorn flowers etc and if it doesn't look the way it should, I just frog and try again. Sometimes I try all the ways I can think of, not really understanding what they are saying, until it looks like the picture and I can think, Ohhhh, THAT's what they were meaning.

 

I'm only rambling on like this to say, you're not alone don't feel despondant, just really enjoy your skills! I've only been on this forum for a few days, but I can already see how kind and encouraging everyone is.

 

Have fun!

[AbbyNormal]

Sometimes I try all the ways I can think of, not really understanding what they are saying, until it looks like the picture and I can think, Ohhhh, THAT's what they were meaning.

 

That there is exactly why I am skittish of making any kind of pattern that does not display a picture.

Like the mystery CAL I did just a little while back, I was so scared I wouldn't like it since it was a mystery. I am glad I did that project though. It came out so well my friend just had to have a bag too so I made another one.

 

But anywhere else on the web if there is no picture for me to compare my work and make sure I am doing it right I won't even try it.

 

I think maybe that is why I like doing picture tutorials on my blog so that others out there can see and compare what I am talking about.

[~threadbear~]

I totally agree. If I had nothing to look at to see what it was meant to end up like, I dread to think the creations I'd of been churning out!

 

I did try a VERY basic Japanese symbols only pattern for a doily, which had no step by step pictures, but did have one for the end result, so I attempted that and it came out ok.

 

Maybe as we progress though and get more sure of what stitches are meant to look like, we'll get more confident. Your work must be pretty good already though, if your friend was keen to have the same bag ... so well done you!!

:cheer:clap

[AbbyNormal]

 

This is the bag from the mystery CAL. My mom is getting this one.

 

 

And this is the bag I made for my friend. I used a smaller hook since she didn't want the bag to be too large.

 

 

These 2 purses I came up with on my own,made a cloth lining (with pockets) and I switch back and forth between the 2 and use them every day.

[~threadbear~]

How you can doubt yourself when you produce work like that I don't know! Those bags are fabulous!!

If I could make something that good I'd be well pleased.

Honestly, you should be over the moon with them, they really are FAB!

 

Well done. I love the first two bags you made, but to design your own as well is great. :clap

[Monique39]

Yes, it happens to all of us!!

[Nox]

Heh, I love love love your black and white design! And it looks different from a lot of other bags I've seen- this one looks much more practical (size and shape) which is a treasure quality to me.

 

I have to say I feel like I'm never gonna get "good" at crochet. I am very critical of my own work, but I keep going anyway. I get a little jealous when I see those intricate designs that I'll never be able to do lol. I gave a short stab the other day at what I would call an intermediate pattern in one of my little books and I wanted to cry. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I think a lot of people who crochet feel frustration like this. It's understandable though because this isn't as simple as.... Er... Some really simple task.... It's a very complex process! I hope that this thread and the responses have helped.