These are my first ever proper granny squares ever!!!
As most of my fellow forum members know, I am absolutely not into knitting or crocheting as its something I have tried many times and never got on with. However I love wool for peg loom weaving. Well yesterday was the day I wanted to have another go at the craft of crochet and try to finally conquer it. I did it!!! My first squares and I'm so chuffed. I think I might now be hooked (excuse the pun). Not sure what I’m going to turn these into. For the moment I’m having a lot of fun just making squares in lovely bright colours. I do have a question for the experts below ....
How do you know what hook size to use when your ball of wool has previously been used and has no label? I have a lovely stash of wool in gorgeous bright colours that I would like to use up, but none of them have labels. One of the set of balls of wool that I used for these squares had a label that said "size 4" so that is what I have been using for these.
They are fabulous Sally-Ann. Lovely colours. Well done on conquering crochet. 😊 I use DK and a 4mm hook too. x
Thank you everyone for the lovely comments and wonderful advice, its very much appreciated and I shall put it all to good use. 😀xxx
These are good!
Well done!
Yes, sometimes it can be difficult to grade yarns.
Size4 I think is fine for DK but I prefer size 5’ but that’s purely a personal choice.
Well done sally - Ann those are nice squares . Granny squares are my limit too because I don’t understand crochet terminology so can’t follow patterns
My advice as your mother-in-law is if you are using double knit wool then I always go with a 4mm hook, all my projects are made with double knit wool (DK). I love your granny squares and it gladdens my heart that you have started to crochet , come on over Saturday and I can talk to you about crochet bring your wool and hook and your squares and we can do a session together.I had a close up look at your squares and it looks like double knit. With squares you can make a waist coat, a shawl, a blanket, a bag that you can line. Any amount of different things. X
They do look very neat for your first ones and I love the colours you have put together.
Hook sizes are quite annoying to say the least. I intend to do a blog on crochet hooks and I’m pulling out all my hooks. There are three different systems, I think I’m right in saying that in the UK the number system is used. In the US the letter system is used and both countries and others use the mm actual size which I think is what most crocheters prefer because it’s the least confusing. So I just grabbed a hook that I knew to be labeled with all three and it is … K - 10.5 / 6.50mm. You can see why the first two methods are annoying. Almost all hooks list at least two methods one being the mm but I do have a Prym hook that is a very popular hook and it is just labeled as size G.
If you are making something with a loose weave like a granny square or blanket your hook should easily be able to snag the yarn. Find the first hook that can catch the yarn and then go about 2-3 sizes bigger. If you are following a pattern sometimes at the beginning it will give instructions for a test square. It will say how many stitches in a row and how many rows and what stitch and the size that should end up. If yours comes out too big go down a hook size if it comes out too small go up a hook size. If all that fails just try a hook and see what the results are if it looks too loose and lacy your hook is too big if it’s very neat but seems stiff your hook is too small. Using a slightly different hook than the wrapper says won’t matter unless you are crocheting something that has to be a certain size and when that’s the case the pattern should give the test square instructions
Hope this helps sorry for being a bit long winded.