Before I can get going on my blanket, I had to take some time to figure out what different stitches were. I followed a couple video tutorials on YouTube for how to do each of the four beginner stitches: single crochet, double half crochet, double crochet, and triple crochet. The first video showed me how to chain and do a single crochet (which looks like the best way to start a project in my opinion), and the second video went over the other three. I really liked this creator as she was fairly easy to follow!

The single crochet (top left in picture) is a simple yet highly effective stitch that has a much tighter look to it – that could also be from my struggle to leave the yarn loose enough. I seem to have a white-knuckle death grip on it occasionally. That’s one area I already know I need to improve on 😉

The double half crochet (top right in picture) frustrated me when I was trying to learn it using my book. I just didn’t understand what the picture meant and I gave up a few times. After watching the video a handful of times, I got the hang of it no problem! I don’t know what it’s typically used for, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy to know how to do it.

The double crochet (bottom left in picture) is apparently the most commonly used crochet stitch in projects. I guess since it has a looser stitch it is more adaptable for different patterns? I spent a lot of time working on this one so I could get it down (I won’t say ‘master’ it because, let’s be honest, I’m a very very very long way away from that). But I do understand the basics of it and was able to get it fairly consistently without dropping too many stitches and having to work back 🙂

The triple crochet (bottom right in the picture) was an odd one. I made a large chunk or rows to practice it but it doesn’t really look like the kind of stitch that you would do that with. In any case, it has larger ‘holes’ in the stitch to create a lot of space in it. Again, I don’t know when this would be used in a pattern but I’m interested in finding out since on its own, it just looks strange.

Here are a picture of my scribbled notes (I knew I’d sneak some kind of my scribbles onto this blog somewhere) showing how I understood the stitches. I’m hoping to not have to watch the video as a refresher every time I pick up my yarn and hook. To be totally honest, I don’t know if my edited cheat sheet is 100% accurate, but I get the idea at least! 🙂