Crochet is a relaxing and rewarding hobby that anyone can master! In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics, from holding your hook to creating your first stitches. By the end, you’ll be ready to craft cute creatures like whales and turtles.
How to Crochet for Beginners
If you’ve always wanted to learn to crochet adorable amigurumi plushies but didn’t know where to start, this guide is for you! With easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, you’ll master the basics and be on your way to creating cute and cuddly characters.
What is Amigurumi?
Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting or knitting small, stuffed yarn creatures. The word “amigurumi” combines “ami,” meaning crocheted or knitted, and “nuigurumi,” meaning stuffed doll. These plushies can be animals, dolls, or even inanimate objects with adorable faces. The charm of amigurumi lies in its simplicity and the endless possibilities for creativity.
Are you ready? Here is what you need:
My favorite thing about crochet is really you just need 2 things to get started.
- A crochet hook
- Yarn
Of course there are more things that you will need as you progress in your plushie journey, including:
- stuffing
- stitch markers
- needles
- eyes
Yarn
When you are starting at absolute ground zero with your crochet learning, I suggest you find an easy yarn to work with. Jumping right into plush yarn or blanket yearn comes with challenges. However if you already know the basics of making chains and single crochet, jump feet first into the amazing world of soft yarn!
My go to yarn when teaching my students to crochet is beginner yarn I find on amazon. You can always go with the Woobles name brand Easy Peasy yarn or just do a quick search for beginner yarn. This yarn is super easy to work with because there is no splitting strands or shedding.
My favorite yarn when creating plushies are Premire Parfait Chunky, Bernat Blanket, Big Twist Posh, and Loops and Threads Sweet Snuggles lite. Most of the chinelle yarns shed like crazy and have an easier time at breaking when learning, so I suggest holding off on these until you master the chain.
Crochet Hook
Crochet hooks come in a range of sizes, shapes, and materials. The most important thing to remember is to match the size of the hook to the weight of the yarn. Use larger crochet hooks with thicker yarns and smaller crochet hooks with thinner yarns.
For beginners, I recommend starting with an ergonomic hook in a medium size about a 5mm.
I like to check the size of my yarn against the shaft of the hook to make sure I know I’m using the correct yarn.
Each yarn skien usually has a suggested size hook on the back. However, when working with plushies, you don’t want the stuffing to fall out so it is recommended to go down about 2 sizes from what is suggested.
How to Crochet Step-by-Step
Alright, are you ready? Let’s get started!
Please remember this is a skill and not a talent. It might be frustrating at first, but with practice you will be crocheting creatures in no time!
FYI: This guide uses U.S. terms for crochet stitches and demonstrates right-handed instructions, but lefties can reverse the directions to learn how to do left-handed crochet.
Step 1: How to Hold the Crochet Hook
The first step I teach my students is to learn how to hold the yarn and the crochet hook in a way that feels comfortable for you.
Here is my video on how to hold the yarn and hook.
The Knife Method
Place your hand over the hook, palm facing down. Hold the hook between your thumb and index finger. Wrap your other three fingers around the shaft of the crochet hook for greater control.
The Pencil Method
Hold the crochet hook like a pencil between your thumb and index finger. Use your middle finger underneath for more balance and control.
How to Hold the Yarn for Crochet
*Note* this is how I hold my yarn, it is not the only way! If this doesn’t feel comfortable, try different ways until you get the right tension.
I am right handed So if you’re left handed, you’ll need to make adjustments. First hold you hook with the slipknot in your right hand, and hold your working yarn with your left hand. IStart with your left hand, palm facing towards you.
Next wrap around your pinky loosely.
Going to go across the palm.
Then wrap a the tip of your index finger,
Next take your middle finger and thumb, and grab the knot of the slip knot.
I use my pinky finger to hold the tension of the yarn, so it will move towards and away from the piece as I need to loosen or tighten the yarn
Make a slipknot
There are a few different ways to make a slip knot. Here is my video showing you 3 different ways
An easy way is the pretezel method