New Crocheter!

[HeatherElaine10]

Hello all, I am very new to crocheting and have only made small pieces so far like coasters, an ear warmer and mug coozies. I am getting ready to make a blanket for my mom and was wondering if the size of the hook and size of the yarn matter too much with a simple pattern? I got super bulky yarn and I think the pattern I liked said to use a 6mm hook with bulky yarn. ALSO, do you count your turning chains as stitches? I've read some people do and others don't. Any tips on which is better and why? Thanks so much!!

[Granny Square]

Hi, welcome to the 'ville!

Turning chains are meant to bring the yarn up to the height of the next row.  Conventional patterns use turning chains.  Usually a pattern will say 'chain x, turn' at the end of a row.  If you are doing something unusual, like shaping or freeform, you might skip the turning chain, but normally is not a desirable thing to skip appearance-wise.

The convention (US terms) is:

SC: 1 chain, does not count as a stitch.  Make the first stitch into the second chain of the foundation, and into the top of the first stitch of following rows.  The foundation chain is 1 more chain than the number of sc in the first row (of straight sc, things could be different for a lace pattern for example)

DC: 3 chains, counts as a stitch.  Make the first stitch into the 4th chain of the foundation; in the next row, skip the first stitch of the row and make the first real DC into the second stitch - otherwise, because the turning chain counts as a stitch, you'll be adding a stitch to your count, and you don't want that.  the foundation chain is 2 more chains than the number of dc in the first row (of straight dc).

Bulky yarn 'goes fast', but is usually put up in smaller yardage balls, so takes a lot of skeins to make a blanket.  It sounds like you have a pattern, do make sure you buy the amount the pattern calls for; the same dye lot may not be available later.  If you use a bigger/smaller hook, it will make a difference because you'll end up with a bigger or smaller blanket.  Although blankets don't have to 'fit' like clothing, you might want to make a little swatch to see how big the blanket will turn out by doing a little math.  Look at the number of chains it says to make - example, chain 201 for a sc blanket.  Let's say you get 4 stitches per inch in your swatch; 1 stitch is .25", x 200 is 50 inches.  Fractions matter - let's say you get 4.5 stitches per inch, so .222" per stitch, x200 is 44.4 inches.  Making up gauge and pattern numbers here, just so you get the idea.

There are a lot of resources to help new crocheters on the web, here are a couple that might help you to get started with your stitches, and reading patterns

http://www.crochetcabana.com/html/tutorials.html   menu page for tutorials, lots of info

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards.html  main page - see the topic menu on the right side

Have fun!