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Personally speaking I think crocheting is one of the best hobbies in the world. You get to be creative, while making beautiful things you can share or snuggle up with. And the possibilities are endless when it comes to choosing a crochet project. I continue to see new ideas on social media daily that inspire me! I LOVE the creativity! So what crochet tools make it even better?
In today’s post, I wanted to share a couple of crochet tools I use that make crochet projects more fun and enjoyable! I’ll list them out below and reasons why I love them. And maybe you’ll see something below that you haven’t heard of that you can try out!!
Crochet Tool List
1. Yarn Winder – Topping the crochet tools list is the yarn winder! This tool saves on the hair pulling you might encounter when you’re yarn is a tangled up mess and you’re trying to untangle it. I’ve found myself throw yarn away because the knot was too far gone to even spend the time trying to save it. When using the yarn winder with a brand new skein of yarn, it winds up very quickly while avoiding a tangled mess to make your project enjoyable. It takes a couple of minutes to wind the skein of yarn but it’s oh-so-worth-it in the end. My yarn winder even came with extras: stitch markers, measuring tape, and other cool tools to use with knitting and crocheting. My winder winds up to 4 oz of yarn so I usually have a couple of cakes per skein.
2. Stitch Markers – I love, love, love stitch markers!! And I use them in several different ways:
- One is to hold my yarn loop when I have to stop working on a project. It prevents my project from unraveling which is great! In the past, I’ve found myself starting to unravel a project because I’m accidentally pulling on the yarn. Unraveling be gone!!!
- Second, I use this for marking stitches for when I need to count out stitches for a project. It helps to get rid of some of the recounting. I always found I was recounting to make sure I was crocheting in the right stitches.
- Third, these work great when you’re putting 2 pieces of a project together (like granny squares). It holds them together while also making sure they are lined up. Again it saves on some guess work as well as rework!
- Fourth, I use these stitch markers if I’m doing a big foundation chain row (like a blanket). The markers help mark off increments of stitches to keep count more easily. If I place stitch marker every 10 or 20 stitches, it makes it so much easier to keep count.
- And the last thing I use stitch markers for is taking pictures of step by step instructions for my patterns. I can easily use different color markers for different steps in the pattern; like where to skip or complete a stitch. And it makes it easy to call out in the picture and gives a great visual.
Stitch markers, by far, are one of my most versatile tools I have!
3. Steamer – I originally asked for a steamer for Christmas a couple years back to use for my clothes. But I have found I use it MUCH more with crochet pieces! I use it to block projects and keep the pieces even. And it works quickly without having to worry about damaging the yarn fiber like can sometimes happen with an iron. The steamer made the blocking process so much easier when I was finished with the granny squares. I laid them out and was quickly able to block them.
4. Blocking mats and pins – These items go well with the steamer. They are used to keep projects in place and lined up while steaming so that your project turns out beautifully. The mats have grid lines which help when having to line up the projects. And the blocking pins work great to keep the project in place. Plus with the blocker pins you don’t need individual pins so it saves a little time and keeps your project uniform.
5. Crochet stitch handbook – I was taught the basic crochet stitches but I wanted to branch out as I’ve seen so much beautiful stitch work on social media. This book provides several different crochet stitch techniques to give you endless options on projects. The beginning of the book provides tips, tricks, and beginning techniques to give you a base. And then the rest of the book provides both a visual step by step picture of the stitch as well and the written out tutorial. It also gives a crochet chart at the bottom so that you are able to reference when doing the step by step and checking your work. This book has 200 stitches.
I loved just looking through each stitch, taking in the design and texture of it and visualizing what type of project it would go well with. I have several pages marked for upcoming projects, so I’m super excited to try them out and grow my own crochet abilities!!
One of the stitch techniques I tried out was the sedge stitch which I used in my Springtime Crochet Bag (link to pattern here). It was so easy to follow from the book and worked perfectly for the bag design!
Now it’s Your turn…
I want to hear what crochet tools you use to make it more fun and enjoyable. Leave a comment below; I’d love to hear from you.
Have an amazing day!!
Heather
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