Crochet - The Bottom Line

[jleinhauser]

Go to:

 

Craft Yarn Council

 

On their website, click on Standards.

 

There are the defninitions of Skill Levels (and much more) used by publications and yarn manufacturers.

 

Jean Leinhauser

[fuzzy ferret]

Well when I was a beginner (not that loooooong ago) If it consisted of anything other than DC, SC, or HDC I was terrified! I thought, "Oh no! another stitch to remember how to do".

 

I was also terrified of Crocheting in the round there for a while too. Because I ALWAYS seemed to lose my place even when I marked it with a safety pin, Go figure!

 

So for me, my $0.02 would be the basic beginner should know the simples, DC, SC and HDC. Oh, and of course the Slip Stitch.

 

Krystal

[sheryljak]

I agree that a beginner pattern should just use the most basic of stitches. One of the things my daughter had problems with was the abbreviations in patterns. She was contstantly avoiding all patterns w/ dc because she thought it meant dec.

The ultimate beginner pattern would spell out the stitch and put in () the abbreviation:

*double crochet (dc) *decrease (dec) etc., so the new crocheter could ease into "crochet shorthand".

Does this make sense?

[darski]

Go to:

 

Craft Yarn Council

 

On their website, click on Standards.

 

There are the defninitions of Skill Levels (and much more) used by publications and yarn manufacturers.

 

Jean Leinhauser

 

I do understand why these are posted but I wanted to hear from the "real" people who deal with patterns. I think you can get much information from anecdotal evidence that you can't get from an institutionalized chart.

[eebrs]

There's a broad range of "beginner." My SIL knows how to ch, sc, dc, and I recently taught her hdc. She would struggle with most beginner patterns, even the well written ones. For a long time I considered myself a beginner even though I knew more than just the basics.

 

Despite the standards, I don't think there is a real working definition of beginner, intermediate, etc. Skills vary a lot across the levels. Some of us may do well with a complicated stitch, but struggle with something others consider easy.

 

I like what others said about explaining a stitch or telling which stitches are used in the pattern. That way the crocheter can determine for his/herself if it is their level.