Crochet 101: Essential Crochet Supplies for Beginners

Welcome back to Crochet 101!

In my last post, we talked about some of the benefits of learning how to crochet. 

Before we dive into the technical aspects of crocheting, let’s take a look at some of the supplies you’ll need to get started. 

5 Essential Crochet Supplies for Beginners

One of the great things about learning how to crochet is that you don’t need a lot to get started. 

For each crochet project you’ll need the following supplies:

• Crochet pattern
• Yarn
• Crochet hook
• Scissors
• Darning Needle

Let’s briefly go over each of these supplies.

1.Crochet Pattern

Every item crochet should come with a crochet pattern.

Crochet patterns contain detailed information and the steps for making a particular item

Always read over your crochet pattern before you being any crochet project.

Your crochet pattern should include the following information:

• Yarn recommendations
• Hook size
• Gauge (link to post)
• Explanation of special stitches, etc.
• Pattern

All of this information is necessary for your project to turn out correctly. 

We will go over how to read a crochet pattern in another post. 

2.Yarn

Did you know that there are different types of yarn?!

I know I didn’t.

Yarn is categorized by type and weight.

Natural Vs Synthetic Yarn

There are two major types of yarn: natural and synthetic. 

Natural yarn is made from animals or plants.

Common types of natural yarn you’ll find in most craft stores include wool and cotton. 

The second category of yarn is synthetic yarn.

Since it is heavily processed, it is also cheaper than natural yarn. 

The most common types of synthetic yarn are acrylic or wool blends. 

For beginners, I recommend you start with acrylic yarn. 

Yarn Weight

Yarn is also categorized by weight.

Yarn weight does not tell you how much a skein (ball) of yarn weights.

Yarn weight is used to tell you how thick the yarn is. 

There are seven different weight categories for yarn:

• 0-1-Super Fine
• 2- Fine
• 3- Light
• 4- Medium (worsted weight)
• 5-Bulky
• 6-Super Bulky
• 7- Jumbo

Your crochet pattern will tell you which type and weight yarn you’ll need. 

As well as how many balls of yarn you’ll need to complete the project.

I recommend new crocheters start with either worsted (4) or bulky (5) weight yarn. 

Reading Yarn Labels

So you’ve read your pattern and you know what kind of yarn you need.

How do you know you’ve bought the right yarn?

Check the yarn label. 

The yarn label will give you the following information:

• type of yarn
• yarn weight
• recommended crochet hook size
• Crochet gauge with recommended hook size
• yards of yarn in a skein (ball)
• weight in oz/grams
• Care instructions
• Dye Lot #- important when you are using multiple skeins of the same color. 

Let’s move on to our next item on our list, crochet hooks.

3.Crochet Hooks

Like yarn, crochet hooks come in different sizes and can be made from different materials. 

To make matters even more confusing depending on where you live the crochet hook size standards are different. 

 For this tutorial, we will use US crochet hook sizes. 

In the US, crochet hooks are sized using letters and numbers. 

Hook sizes range from 1 to 15 in number and can range from B to Y in letters.

Luckily, the numbers and letters correspond with each other. (i.e. B/1 =2.5mm, J/10 = 6mm, etc.)

The most common hook size used for worsted weight yarn is 5.5mm, which would be a US size I/9 hook. 

Even though the yarn label has a recommended hook size, you should always start with the suggested hook size in the crochet pattern. 

Most crochet hooks are made out of aluminum, but you can also buy hooks in plastic and wood. 

For most beginners, a standard H/8 or I/9 aluminum hook will work. 

As you become more confident in your crochet skills, you can branch out and try hooks made out of different materials. 

The last two supplies you’ll need are a good pair of scissors and darning needles.

I don’t think we need to cover scissors. 

Any decent pair of scissors will do. 

4.Darning Needles

Darning needles are large needles that have large eyes for yarn to go through. 

You will need these to weave in (hide) your loose yarn tails into your finished work. 

Now, that we’ve gone over all of the basic supplies. 

It’s time to go ahead and gather all of your materials. 

Stay tuned for the next post in the series.

I’ll be going over basic crochet vocabulary and how to crochet basic crochet stitches. 

Until Next Time,

EJ