Every craft needs a toolkit and crochet is no different. Apart from hooks and yarn, which will be covered on the next pages, some of the most useful things you’ll need are:
It goes without saying that you’ll need to cut things when crocheting, yarn, threads, felt or material, and you’ll need a decent pair of scissors for the task. Keep the kids away from them and they’ll stay sharp (unlike mine, which are encrusted with glue and blunt as a spoon).
When you have completed your beautiful piece of crochet, you’ll have yarn ends to get rid of. You can do this by simply sewing them into your work to hide them. Tapestry needles have a blunt end, so they don’t catch on your stitches, and a large eye to thread the yarn through.
When crocheting, you’ll often want to identify an important stitch in your work. It might be the first stitch of a round, or a particularly tricky stitch to see. There are many designs available, but you can always use a piece of different coloured yarn and hook this through your stitch instead.
This is useful for keeping track of how many rows or rounds you have completed. You can buy a traditional barrel-shaped counter, download an app or keep a tally with pen and paper.
This is a sharp-ended needle and therefore perfect for attaching pretty things like ribbons and buttons to your work. It has a smaller eye as it will be used with cotton or embroidery threads.
If you want to attach pretty things to your crochet, then you’ll need some cotton thread. White and black are a staple in my kit, but you may want a few more colours for variety.
You may also like to embroider onto your crochet and if so, you’ll want some embroidery threads in your stash, too.
When making a plush item you’ll need to fill it with something fluffy. Commercially produced toy stuffing is readily available and will add substance to your toys and cushions whilst conforming to all the proper safety guidelines.
Not to be confused with safety goggles, safety eyes are the little plastic eyes used in toy making. You can, of course, embroider features onto your wonderful creation, but you may prefer to use safety eyes instead. Safety eyes are so called because they are pushed into your crochet and secured at the back with a tight-fitting washer, making them nigh on impossible to remove.
Sometimes your finished crochet piece can be a little floppy. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but sometimes it really does. If you’ve made a crochet snowflake to hang on your tree, then you’ll want it to be crisp and pointy and spray starch can be used to block your work.
When crocheting, you’ll need to pin things to keep them in place. You’ll also need to pin out your crochet if you are blocking your work. The non-rust varieties are essential here so they don’t leave nasty marks.
No crafter can ever have enough of these. Don’t forget to raid your ‘pile-of-stuff-to-be-thrown-out’ and cut buttons from shirts and fabric from dresses. Crafty knick-knacks are in plentiful supply from high street haberdashers and online, so arm yourself with a treasure trove of pretties.
Often it’s easier to glue things to your crochet, rather than stitch them. The best for the job is a PVA-based glue, such as Tacky Glue, or something similar that will dry clear.
This useful little tool does exactly as the name suggests and is available in all manner of sizes to enable you to make some teeny tiny pompoms or the great big fluffy sort.
Now you just need to find somewhere to store your kit, away from sticky fingers and the cat, but I’ll leave that up to you.