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come on in and rate your crochet experience level


I rate my crochet level at:  

320 members have voted

  1. 1. I rate my crochet level at:

    • beginner
      8
    • advanced beginner
      77
    • intermediate
      188
    • expert
      47


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:cheerDo you know the definition of Expert?

 

:lol X is an unknown quantity and a Spirt is a drip under pressure.:lol

 

Do you want to be an expert???

 

:hookI think I am an expert simply by the definition.:hook

 

At my next birthday, I will be 66 years old and I learned to crochet when I was about 7 years old so I can say I have almost had 60 years of crochet, except that I did not crochet for all of those 60 years.

 

When you start out, it is a great advanture, especially when you are 7 years old and it is your darling Grandmother who is teaching you. You crochet any thing that sits still, even the cats tail if you have a big enough hook.

 

I can distinctly remember the day I read my first pattern. I was 16 years old and home from work sick but not sick enough that I didnt want to have something to keep me busy.

Mum gave me a pattern and no 40 thread for a simple doily and away I went. Cant remember if mum had any hair left by the end of the day but I know I had a small doily and I have it to this day.

 

I probably didnt do anything else for a while but it is something you never forget how to do, like riding a bike.

 

I am sure I did crochet over the next few years but other things got in the way like boys or should I say, one boy.

I was engaged at 18, married at 20 and a mum at 21 and that was when the hooks and yarn came out again and I made things for my first daughter. (Known him for 50 years now. Married for 46 of them)

 

A few years later, I bought a wool shop and started knitting & crocheting for customer and the rest is history.

It is practice that makes an expert, you do not become one overnight.

Many times I took on jobs which I had no idea how to do but with trial and error, soon learned what I needed to know. No internet in those days.

 

I am sure you all have times when you try something that doesnt work and you get frustrated, then as soon as you ask for help, you work it out for yourself anyway.

Dont mess about with patterns which you do not understand. Put them aside and come back to them later when you have learned a few more things.

I pass over a lot of patterns now because I think life is too short to be messing about with fiddly patterns.

If I can work it out without the pattern, all the better.

 

The very best advice I can give to beginners is to just give things a go and if it does not work one way, try another, then if it still gives you grief, find another pattern.

 

The next best advice is to really look at your work and learn to recognise your stitches, then you know immediately if you have made an error, instead of 2 hours later when you have finished and you have to unravel half of your work.

Believe me, I have done this plenty of times over the years but it doesnt happen now.

 

Also, learn what you can fix without pulling it all back. Sometimes it just takes an extra stitch added or a simple decrease. Doesnt work every time but it can work.

 

:thinkI had my cards read once and the lady said that I do not have an off button.

:thinkDo you think she is right.

:clapMy theory is, why use one word when you can use the whole dictionary.:clap

 

Have fun.

Colleen:hug

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The very best advice I can give to beginners is to just give things a go and if it does not work one way, try another, then if it still gives you grief, find another pattern.

 

The next best advice is to really look at your work and learn to recognise your stitches, then you know immediately if you have made an error, instead of 2 hours later when you have finished and you have to unravel half of your work.

Believe me, I have done this plenty of times over the years but it doesnt happen now.

 

Also, learn what you can fix without pulling it all back. Sometimes it just takes an extra stitch added or a simple decrease. Doesnt work every time but it can work.

 

 

what great advice. thankyou for sharing your life experiences with crochet

 

 

i would rate myself as intermediate....but at the start of the intermediate

i have been crocheting for 6 years

i can make ami's, blankets etc ..i have tried thread and felting

but i havent made a adult wearable, hairpin lace and heaps of other tecniques, but i also learn so much each week

the ville has been a world of knowledge, with every one sharing their experiences good and bad

its great to see crocheters come together and help each other and see that there is still nice people in the world :hook

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I voted "advanced beginner" but I don't know if that's right or not. LOL I still haven't crocheted with thread, made a wearable, made anything round, or ventured beyond the basic stitches - but yet I've made lots of different things! I've been at it about 3 years now and still have a lot to learn, but I also feel like I've already learned and accomplished a lot! :D

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Oh my gosh, lots of wisdom in these posts! What an interesting read!

 

I marked intermediate - I've done some, still want to learn some, and am old enough to not even want to mess with some. The world will survive and so will I if I never make a lace tablecloth.

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I am intermediate too. I've never made a sweater and so don't know anything about shaping, but I can make things with complicated stitches. If a pattern for something like a scarf is marked "advanced" or "expert" I can usually pull it off, but not without a great deal of profanity.

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I marked intermediate. If you had a category for advanced intermediate, I would have chosen that. I think many of us who have crocheted a long time belong in that sort of category. Certainly we don't know everything, but what we do is usually of an excellent caiber at this point in our lives.

 

I have been crocheting for 30 years, but I did not choose expert because I do not do thread crochet. I don't like to work with thread. I am considering though, doing a project or 2 with thread in which I can use multiple strands at once.

 

Over the years I have developed the ability to make a piece of crocheted fabric that's smooth and even ~ something I never thought would happen when I was younger! I have great gauge and you can rarely see my joins. I love doing stripes and I do a good job with them, yet I hear many women detest doing them.

 

I also do crochet in the round, like granny squares, and crochet in the round, like small animals. My very first work was in learning to do granny squares. I've done mesh and beaded crochet.

 

As for learning, we are always still learning. Last summer I realized I had never done a mitered square. I like the look of the mitered square, so I found a couple patterns, read them over, and did one. By the time I was on the second row, It was like I'd always known how to do it. I think that's because I'm experienced now. If I had done it when I was younger, I would have been all anxious about it.

 

A few weeks ago, I made my first pair of socks. I had always dreaded the thought because of the "turned heel" but now there are toe-up socks with a heel that goes in last. I used a skein for each sock so I could do both at the same time and used the Grafton Fiber guidelines. It was so easy. I had fun. Since these are guidelines, you make them to fit your own feet. Don't worry about how they fit someone else. Add or subtract what you need. I will absolutely make more socks now, but I wouldn't even try making them when I was younger.

 

I discovered I have a knack for making what I want without a pattern. I mostly collect patterns for guidelines. When I have a new idea, I check my patterns for anything similar to see about sizing, length of starting ch, that sort of thing.

 

I try to help newbies here at Crochetville since I often know what has befuddled them. So many of the little things we learned about long ago are a struggle to them. I'm pretty good at reading patterns, so I try to help when I can.

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I voted intermediate....but it was mostly because I did an "eenie, meenie, miney, moe" thing between that and advanced beginner.

 

I can't say it's just length of time I've been crocheting that makes me qualified for either category....if that was the only qualification, then anything over a decade ought to count as something expert, right? :lol

 

I'm comfy with the intermediate level....I can pick up a pattern and decipher it without TOO much gnashing of my teeth, and more often than not, what I'm working on looks like the picture it's supposed to. Obviously, I'm stil learning, and maybe by the time I've doubled my years in experience, I'll be willing to call myself an expert. Or maybe not. Right now, it's a craft that I really enjoy doing and I'm skilled enough to offer help and get beginners on the right track. And I'm cool with that.

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I went with advanced beginner- I can tackle most anything and accomplish in beginner ratings, I still come across some patterns and directions that send me into a frustrated state of confusion for a spell, but perserverence and stubborness on my part will ususally pay off. There are sooo many new stitches and techniques I want to learn...We need to extend the hours in a day!! LOL

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I chose advanced beginner. I've done some intermediate patterns with no trouble, but I'm definitely still in the learning phases. Although I agree with the poster who said that school's never out for the pros. Also, I agree with Aggie May with what she said about becoming familiar with how your work should look. In the past six months or so I have become much better at recognizing stitches and such in my work. I'm especially pleased about this because I can now crochet in the round with joins and have a perfectly straight join seam. :cheer

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I rated myself as a advanced beginner, maybe "almost" intermediate.

I've not been able to complete a wearable, I've tried to make myself a cardigan but..... I don't know where I messed it up.

I've really gotten into doilies lately.

Trish

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I think there should be a advanced intermediate category. I did vote expert, because in my heart I felt I was above intermediate. This doesn't mean I know everything by far, because I am still learning new and wonderfull things about crocheting. Once you stop learning, you are dead. :crocheting

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Having crocheted for about 25 years, I would say I'm an intermediate... still some things I haven't tried, but definitely experienced with the basics. And I usually figure things out by myself as well. I've also "tweaked" a few patterns too... changed the stitch pattern a little, or maybe the look of a collar or sleeve somewhere. I haven't tried designing an entire piece yet... but I might someday.

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After 30+ years of crocheting, I went with intermediate. Now I think I should be at the beginning of expert because I've designed some afghans and stuffed toys. There is always something new to learn, so I don't think anyone ever can be an expert.

Nothing is impossible until proven so, and then only for now (read this, but don't remember who said it).

Ellie 13

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Wow! I love seeing all the talent in this thread. I love being around people who love what I love. I had to say expert, eventhough, I was VERY uncomfortable with saying that. A person can always learn more stitches, but you do get to a certain level where you enjoy more the designing of the pattern than to just crochet. The harder the design the more I love it. I have crocheted with just about all sizes of thread and yarn with about every stitch including irish crochet. (which is AWESOME!) I've been crocheting for 21 years, but I don't think that the amount of time you've been crocheting matters. It's how hard you push yourself to go further. I was out of the country for awhile, where I couldn't get crochet patterns in english. So, I started to teach myself to design crochet clothing. Now, I think in crochet just about all the time. I love the creative freedom that it gives me. I'll be the first to say, though, that we can always learn more. Michealangelo said on his deathbed, "I've only just begun to learn how to paint." That's how I feel. (Not that I'm puting myself on the same level of talent as him, by any means.) LOL.

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Thought long and hard on how to respond to this one. I decided to class myself as an expert also. There isn't much in crochet I haven't done over the years. I love it all and have always liked to challenge myself with the projects I have done. Yes there are some aspects I don't do as much as others, but I do know how to do almost every technique there is and I am confident I could learn any I haven't. I hope my crochet skills will continue to grow over the coming years but there isn't anything out there I am unsure of being able to do.

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I chose advanced beginner, because although I have been crocheting for many years I am just branching out into the many directions that there is for corcheting. When I chose a pattern I always chose one for an intermediate crocheter for I like to be chanllege. I am one of those people who intend to finish a project but most of the time I don't for usually the project is bigger than what I wanted to do.

Hugs

Cheeria

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How do you really rank an expert? That is what I voted myself as. I have been crocheting for almost 40 yrs, have been designing my own patterns for family and friends gifts since I was a teenager. I easily go from the different threads to yarn and novelty yarn. I especially love doing beaded doll dresses. Some may not think that makes me an expert, and some might. I think it is really hard to say.

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I'd call myself an expert, since I can work by freehand and create patterns.

As for the tecniques I haven't tried, I've seen them and I know I won't have any trouble doing them.

 

Of course you keep learning all the time, nobody knows everything.

I've "invented" stitches that someone else had already done (in a simpler way :think ), that's also learning.

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Thought long and hard on how to respond to this one. I decided to class myself as an expert also. There isn't much in crochet I haven't done over the years. I love it all and have always liked to challenge myself with the projects I have done. Yes there are some aspects I don't do as much as others, but I do know how to do almost every technique there is and I am confident I could learn any I haven't. I hope my crochet skills will continue to grow over the coming years but there isn't anything out there I am unsure of being able to do.

 

Man, I'll tell you, if you have rated yourself anything but an expert, I was gonna heartily disagree with you...but it is hard to rate oneself as an expert without some serious reflection.

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:cheerDo you know the definition of Expert?

 

:lol X is an unknown quantity and a Spirt is a drip under pressure.:lol

 

Do you want to be an expert???

 

:hookI think I am an expert simply by the definition.:hook

 

At my next birthday, I will be 66 years old and I learned to crochet when I was about 7 years old so I can say I have almost had 60 years of crochet, except that I did not crochet for all of those 60 years.

 

When you start out, it is a great advanture, especially when you are 7 years old and it is your darling Grandmother who is teaching you. You crochet any thing that sits still, even the cats tail if you have a big enough hook.

 

I can distinctly remember the day I read my first pattern. I was 16 years old and home from work sick but not sick enough that I didnt want to have something to keep me busy.

Mum gave me a pattern and no 40 thread for a simple doily and away I went. Cant remember if mum had any hair left by the end of the day but I know I had a small doily and I have it to this day.

 

I probably didnt do anything else for a while but it is something you never forget how to do, like riding a bike.

 

I am sure I did crochet over the next few years but other things got in the way like boys or should I say, one boy.

I was engaged at 18, married at 20 and a mum at 21 and that was when the hooks and yarn came out again and I made things for my first daughter. (Known him for 50 years now. Married for 46 of them)

 

A few years later, I bought a wool shop and started knitting & crocheting for customer and the rest is history.

It is practice that makes an expert, you do not become one overnight.

Many times I took on jobs which I had no idea how to do but with trial and error, soon learned what I needed to know. No internet in those days.

 

I am sure you all have times when you try something that doesnt work and you get frustrated, then as soon as you ask for help, you work it out for yourself anyway.

Dont mess about with patterns which you do not understand. Put them aside and come back to them later when you have learned a few more things.

I pass over a lot of patterns now because I think life is too short to be messing about with fiddly patterns.

If I can work it out without the pattern, all the better.

 

The very best advice I can give to beginners is to just give things a go and if it does not work one way, try another, then if it still gives you grief, find another pattern.

 

The next best advice is to really look at your work and learn to recognise your stitches, then you know immediately if you have made an error, instead of 2 hours later when you have finished and you have to unravel half of your work.

Believe me, I have done this plenty of times over the years but it doesnt happen now.

 

Also, learn what you can fix without pulling it all back. Sometimes it just takes an extra stitch added or a simple decrease. Doesnt work every time but it can work.

:thinkI had my cards read once and the lady said that I do not have an off button.

:thinkDo you think she is right.

:clapMy theory is, why use one word when you can use the whole dictionary.:clap

 

Have fun.

Colleen:hug

 

Truly the best advice...you're amazing Colleen...

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