Sunday, June 28, 2009

What kind of yarn?

As I have already noted, I present the brand new crochet student with an already-started piece of crocheted fabric, so that they can bypass the foundation chain and the first few rows.

My understanding is that a beginner should start with a plain worsted type of yarn. Skinnier yarns are too hard to see. Fatter yarns can be difficult to work with, even for an experienced crocheter.

So, I am using up my stash of worsted partial-skeins for new crochet students.

But I am finding that there is some variation even within the plain worsted family.

Some yarns are slippery, some have a lot of friction, and some are just right!

I've been experimenting with giving beginners yarn that has some friction. This yarn doesn't pull through the previous row stitch easily. And it even takes some effort to make a chain stitch, or to do the "yarn-over through 2 loops" that is so common in crochet. The students have to be conscious of the stitch formation, and I think that it will make subsequent projects have the right tension, instead of being too tight.

The downside of using frictitious (ok, I invented that word) yarn is that it is really really easy to crochet too tightly in the class.

I'll keep monitoring the results with various kinds of worsted yarns.

What have been your experiences? Thanks in advance for your comments.


Judy Obee
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