UPDATE 1 July 2020: Bluprint classes have been acquired by TN Marketing, which is an online platform for video classes. The announcement indicates that students will retain access to their classes, and I believe that instructors will continue to be compensated for their work. Details are forthcoming. For now, the key news is that though the Bluprint platform will be closing this summer, classes will be moved to a new platform and students will retain access. You are, of course, still more than welcome (indeed, encouraged!) to join me in my self-hosted crochet class, using the discount code, below. This code will remain until the end of July, 2020.
An email to instructors today, 1 July, from TN Marketing said: “For existing subscribers to Bluprint, and past buyers of individual classes from Bluprint/Craftsy, those customers will continue to have access to their content on the Bluprint site, at www.mybluprint.com. As noted above, this Bluprint site is expected to be open and accessible for past customers through August 2020. After that, the new TN Marketing site will migrate that customer access to our platform. Any classes they purchased, and their subscriber benefits, will be available into the future, through their online accounts.”
Last week, Bluprint announced that its parent company, NBCUniversal, will be closing down the crafty/foodie online learning platform beginning in late July. It’s very difficult news for the nearly 140 people who will be losing their jobs, and for the many hundreds of instructors who created outstanding classes and were paid royalties for every class sold or minute streamed.
I have four crochet classes on the platform, and each one of them was a joy to create and film with folks who really knew their stuff and put students at the heart of every production. I’m proud of these classes, which I created with the company starting in 2014, when it was called Craftsy, before NBCUniversal acquired it.
I will not be given these classes when the platform folds, and that is fair. It’s business. I own my own teaching approach, projects and skill, but I never owned the production of these classes. I’m disappointed to lose these incredible resources for students, but I am still able to teach and connect and help, and that is exactly what I’m doing.
Several weeks ago, I started to teach a crochet class on my own platform, in response to our collective experience and stress of spending far more time at home in these pandemic times. In answer to my own stress, I found I wanted to work on a project that is comforting, engaging and meaningful, and teaching crochet is all three. Making crochet is many of those things to crocheters, too.
Crochet for Challenging Times is starting out bare bones as far as class content goes, but over time it will grow into a compendium of all of my crochet knowledge. Every week or two I’m filming new lessons to add to the class. My home-based production isn’t as slick as when I filmed my Craftsy/Bluprint classes in a dedicated studio with professional hair and makeup, production, videographers and editors, but crochet needn’t be schmancy. I bring the same heart and approach to teaching when I film on my dining room table in fits and spurts around my son’s remote schooling as I do when I’m in a big studio.
Students who enroll in my class are invited to join a private class forum, where I answer questions and they can get to know each other and show off their creations. And in coming weeks I will begin to hold occasional live office hours by video chat, so I can offer help in a way I never could for my Craftsy or Bluprint students.
Yup, this is on the honour system; I have no good way to check that students using the code are also students of mine on Bluprint, and that’s okay. If folks who haven’t taken my classes before sign up with the discount, I’ll be just as happy to teach them and get to know them, so please do feel free to share this offer with friends and family, or on your own blog or social media.
Tech platforms come and go, but craft is forever. I hope to continue making things with you long into the future.
Double crochet can be super confusing to learn, because it’s such a tall stitch. Its height requires a significant turning chain, and that turning chain is what creates the confusion that leads to wobbly edges.
The good news is, you’re so not alone if you’re confused or frustrated by this! As I said, it’s the single most common question I’m asked.
The slideshow below is a new and different way of presenting my photo tutorial, and I hope it helps you! Toggle the “autoplay” switch in the top-right to either advance the slides by clicking, or to have them advance automatically.
Also, you obviously don’t need my beginner crochet class. 😁 That’s just the way the app listed it when I put it in, and I realized too late that I couldn’t move it to the end. But the class is super comprehensive – it covers everything you need to know to get started crocheting, and it also covers loads of things that will help you if you already know the basic stitches. There’s three-and-a-half hours of instruction in there. If that sounds good, check it out.
How To Make Neat Edges in Double Crochet by kpwerker on Jumprope.
I picked up a cake of Sheepjes Whirl yarn a couple of weeks ago, and it whispered to me that it wants to be crocheted into a pi shawl.
Now that I’ve been working on it for a while, and have ripped back to the third row a couple of times, I’m accepting that it’s not a true pi shawl, because the proportions of my stitch pattern aren’t working out exactly. Which is fine by me.
It’s a simple v-stitch pattern and I’m loving every minute of making it, even with the ripping back. ❤️
I filmed this tutorial well over a year ago but forgot to put it here on my site! 🙄
Beginning a crochet project in the round with an adjustable ring means there won’t be a hole in the very centre of your project. (Sometimes you want that hole, but sometimes you really don’t.)
It’s a very useful technique to master, and it’s super simple. If you crochet amigurumi or other kinds of toys in the round, if you make non-lacy hats, or anything else where you want to eliminate the hole in the centre, the adjustable ring will be your best friend.
I have never been excited about a new class like I’m excited about this one! Zigzag Crochet: A Beginner’s Guide to Ripples & Waves is all about my absolute favourite kind of project to crochet. (Uh, obviously, zigzags, ripples, waves, chevrons – whatever you call them.) Come learn how to bend stripes into cool shapes, from spiky chevrons to gentle waves. With texture or lace, and always with colour!
I designed the class around a baby-blanket pattern made in machine-washable yarn (as every baby blanket should be), and I walk you through the project from beginning to end.
There’s loads more in class, too! Learn how to use a zigzag pattern to make a project of any size, from a scarf to a king-size blanket. Explore how yarn weight and gauge affect the size of your projects, play with loads of colour, and learn how to handle all the pesky ends you have to deal with when you work in stripes. Discover how to make a wide variety of patterns, including the feather and fan pattern I’m using to make this epic scarf, and learn how to introduce variations into patterns so you can alter the way they look.
The single most common question I’m asked by students is why the edges of their crochet look awful.
For some reason, many crocheters make their first project in double crochet. I get it, it’s a very common stitch and it’s easy to make.
But the first and last stitches in a row of double crochet can be super duper confusing, which is why it’s so common for edges to look uneven and terrible.
I specifically designed this double crochet tutorial for beginner crocheters, but it’ll be helpful even if you’ve been stitching for years.
Image 1: Here’s what it looks like as you approach the end of a row of double crochet. I’ve circled the tops of the stitches from the previous row that remain to be worked. The most common confusion is where to place the last couple of stitches; it’s very, very common for beginners not to work a stitch in the top of the turning chain from the previous row. So in the circle are the final double crochet (rightmost in the circle) and, to the left of it at the end, the top of the turning chain.
Image 2: The arrow is keeping track of the turning chain, and I’m inserting my hook into the next double crochet.
Image 3: I’ve pulled up a loop in the double crochet. The arrow is still indicating the top of the turning chain.
Image 4: I’ve finished the stitch and the arrow is on pointing to the top of the turning chain. See how easy it would be to skip it? After all, it sort of looks like the edge could straighten out after a little tugging. Alas, though, it won’t.
Image 5: Ok, no more arrow. Here I’m about to insert my hook in the top of the turning chain. By “top of the turning chain,” I mean the topmost of the three chains. Notice how I’m using the fingers of my other hand to open that sucker up. It can be tight and/or awkward to shove your hook in there, but persistence will pay off.
Image 6: I’ve pulled up a loop in the top of the turning chain. It’s pretty apparent now that we need to work a stitch here to make the edge straight, eh?
Image 7: Here’s the completed final stitch of the row. There’s nothing to the left of it to stick my hook in, so I’m confident it really is the end of the row.
Image 8: Now we say to “turn your work.” This means to flip it around so your hook is poised to start the next row (in these photos I’m working right-handed, so at the beginning of a row my hook is on the right. If you’re a lefty and you crochet left-handed [hey, not all lefties do!], your hook is on the left at the beginning of a row).
Image 9: Make 3 chains. This is the “turning chain” which serves the function of raising the hook to the height of the stitches you’ll be making. Since double crochet is a fairly tall stitch, most patterns say to “count the turning chain as the first stitch of the row.” This is because that turning chain takes up about as much space as a double crochet. Since we’re counting it as the first stitch, we work the first actual double crochet into the second stitch of the row, not the first. (If we work it into the first stitch, the edge will bulge out and look wonky.) The arrow is keeping track of that first stitch that we’re going to skip before making the first double crochet.
Image 10: This might be a confusing photo. If it is, ignore it. I’m inserting my hook in the second stitch, and the arrow is pointing to the skipped first stitch.
Image 11: Ok, this is better. Here I’ve pulled up a loop for the double crochet, and the arrow is pointing to the first stitch which I didn’t insert my hook into. At the very right, you can pick out the chains of the turning chain; see how they’re pretty much rising from that first stitch? That’s why we skip it before working the first double crochet.
Image 12: I’ve completed the double crochet and the arrow is still indicating the first stitch from the previous row. So even though I’ve only worked one double crochet, you can see it looks like we actually have two stitches made. This is why we count the turning chain as a full-on stitch.
It’s entirely possible that my familiarity with crochet has prevented me from really getting to the heart of any confusion you might have. Please leave a comment with any questions I haven’t answered—or that, eep, I’ve introduced—and I or someone in the community will chime in to help you out.
And promise me something, eh? In a few months when a friend begs you to teach them how to crochet, start with single crochet, wouldya? The last stitch of the row can still be tough to place, but at least you won’t have to contend with the turning-chain-counts-as-a-stitch thing.
Hi! I'm a writer and editor, and also like a camp counselor for grownups. I help people have way more fun making stuff. Learn more about how right here.
Hi! I'm a writer and editor, and also like a camp counselor for grownups. I help people have way more fun making stuff. Learn more about how 