HappyBerry Articles

Unsure of what to buy yourself or the crocheter in your life this season? Perhaps they've expressed a desire to learn to crochet or are a well traveled crocheter and you have no idea what to buy them or maybe you just need some inspiration to treat yourself this winter. Well, in this article we look at all the options to hopefully inspire, and save you, this season!

The Crocheter Who Has It All
So what do you buy the crocheter in your life who seems to have it all? Well, most crocheters can still learn and play with a few crafty things they may not have heard of or have experience with so you can get quite inventive when it comes to gift ideas for the more advanced crocheter.

Tunisian Crochet
Ok, so it may be quite likely that an advanced crocheter will have experimented with some Tunisian crochet at some point, but there are still a few crafting supplies that they may not have such as the Tunisian crochet hooks themselves or a stitch library book full of different Tunisian crochet stitches they could try, which is a great way to inspire them for new projects. It's almost impossible that every crocheter knows all the crochet stitches that exist in the world so you could pick up a good Tunisian crochet stitch book online or even a normal crochet stitch book!

There is also my selection of Tunisian crochet patterns they could try such as my Knit Stitch Tunisian crochet socks or my Basketweave Tunisian Crochet Socks. I know, shameless plug!

If you’re thinking of buying them Tunisian crochet hooks, but you're not sure if they already have them, have a sneaky look in their hook collection for very long hooks as Tunisian crochet hooks tend to be long and straight like knitting needles, but with a hook at the end or have screw on extendable parts at the end to make normal size hooks longer.

Tunisian Crochet in the Round

Perhaps your crocheter is familiar with Tunisian crochet, but has always wondered how to Tunisian crochet in the round. This is a question you can sneak into a conversation. Well, there is such a tool as a double ended crochet hook, which allows you do exactly this.

Being able to Tunisian crochet in the round means you can Tunisian crochet socks and gloves much more easily. Learn more about this technique and unusual tool in my video here:

Knooking

There is an unusual crafting technique called Knooking that uses a different type of hook as well, called a Knook. It is like a cross between a crochet hook and a large sewing needle and this technique allows you to create a knitted fabric, but with a hook.

If they’re an avid knitter then this crafting technique may not be for them, but if you have a crocheter in your life who would love to be able to create a knitted fabric, but struggles with needles then Knooking could be a lot of fun!

Shepherd’s Knitting or Bosnian Crochet

This form of crochet traditionally uses a flat style of crochet hook. Although the technique can be achieved with a normal hook, purchasing a traditional flat Shepherd’s hook could make a very beautiful gift idea. You can learn more about this unusual hook and style of crochet in my video here:

Cords, Knots and Bracelets

My love of yarn in my early childhood started with making simple friendship bracelets, but this whole area of making cords and knots is a whole crafting experience in itself and dates back to many different cultures and histories. Learning how to craft cords and knots is not only fun, but also extremely useful for crocheters to learn because they can be used within so many crochet projects, especially for bag handles.

There are many books and tutorials available on these subjects, which could make lovely gift ideas and you can jump right into learning this simple crochet cord here:

This subject also filters into Macramé, which has become hugely popular again in recent years. Macramé is the crafting of thick yarns into various knot patterns, which can be made into wall hangings, plant pot holders (the classic eighties image) and even full blown chairs! Dare you tempt your crafter down this rabbit hole?

Graphghans and C2C

C2C stands for Corner to Corner crochet and is made up of little squares of colour. Think of pixel art or even cross stitch designs. Your crocheter in your life may be quite familiar with this technique, but perhaps they would love to learn to design their own pixel art to turn into their own beautiful graphgan blankets.

To help them on their designer journey you could gift them a cute little notebook with graph paper inside because that is all they would need to get started. You could even print up your own personalised notebook just for them! A very low cost idea that any crocheter would love.

Kanzashi Flowers

As the name suggests, this is a Japanese art form where you craft beautiful flowers with small pieces of fabric, traditionally Habutae silk. You can accessorise with buttons and beads and get really creative so this is a wonderful craft to get into if your crocheter in your life has an abundance of beads and buttons and scraps bits of fabric lying around.

I even designed a crochet version! Have a watch here..

Punch Needling

This is also another craft that has become popular in recent years and could give your crocheter a break from their hooking. This technique uses a special tool along with yarn to create a fabric of tightly-packed loops, which can be turned into rugs or stunning wall art pieces.

You can watch me get to grips with this technique in this beginner video here:

The Newbie

If you or your loved one is just starting out in the world of crochet, all the tools and materials available can look a little daunting, but all you really need is some yarn and a hook.

Yarn
The best yarn to buy for a beginner is a cotton or acrylic yarn as it's not too expensive so you can afford to make some mistakes, but also the smoothness of the yarn will help them see their stitches more easily than say a wool or fancy fashion yarn. Look for a low pilling acrylic yarn and a yarn size of about 3, 4 or 5. Most yarns have a little symbol on the side of their yarn ball with a number, but if not look for something that says a Double Knit (DK) or Aran weight in the UK or a Light Worsted or Worsted weight in the US, which works out to be a number 3 or 4. Chunky yarns, size 5 are also fun for beginners and can really help a beginner see the stitches. I wouldn't suggest anything larger or smaller as it can be more difficult to hold the yarn for a beginner.

Most yarn labels show the following information. The washing instructions, just like with clothing will be shown. This yarn for example is an acrylic yarn so can be washed at 40 degrees in the washing machine. If you see a hand symbol it will mean it's a hand wash only yarn, but most acrylics will be machine washable.

You can also clearly see the yarn symbol with the number inside as mentioned above. In this case it's a number 3, which is a DK weight yarn in the UK or a Light Worsted weight yarn in the US, both of which is written underneath and next to the yarn symbol.

You will also see a hook and needle size suggestion for crochet and knitting. Sometimes you only get shown a knitting needle size suggestion, but this will be roughly the same for a crochet hook size so you don't need to worry if you don't see a crochet hook. This tends to happen more in the UK where crochet is less popular. These hook sizes are just suggestions though for the yarn. You can use any hook size you like for different effects. There are no rules. Larger hooks will create a looser drape and smaller hooks will create a tighter stitch. The suggested hook and needle size shown here is for a 3 - 4 or 3 - 6 mm so there are slightly different suggestions depending on if you're knitting or crocheting, but just take it as a guide. You can choose anything around these sizes for either craft. For me I would choose a 3.5 or 4mm crochet hook for this weight yarn, but I've been known to use a 2mm hook or a 5mm hook with this weight yarn depending on what I am crocheting.

A gauge is also shown here, but not all yarns show these. Here it says that if you make a 10cm x 10cm swatch (small square sample) of a basic knitted stockinette stitch then you should have 30 rows x 22 stitches, but this guide is really just an guestimation. If you are following a clothing pattern then usually a gauge guide will be given in the pattern itself, which is much more advisable to follow so you can kind of ignore this part of the label. What is helpful though is the suggestions on how many yarn balls you would need for a certain project based on an average male/female/child size. So if I wanted to make a hat for myself I would need roughly 50g of yarn. This ball is 50g so I would only need 1 ball. Crochet though uses more yarn than knitting so this is important to remember. I would always buy an extra ball if I was crocheting a hat instead of knitting a hat. Our HappyBerry project calculator may be useful for you to find out how much yarn you need for a certain project.

The yarn label should also show you the fibre content, the colour, which can be a number in case you need to buy more of the exact same colour as well as how much yarn is in the ball in yards and metres, grams and ounces.

Hooks
Your hook choice will depend on your yarn choice, but a good selection of hook sizes would be from 2mm to 6mm. Most crochet hooks come in these sizes as a kit, but a good all rounder hook size would be a 3.5 or 4mm crochet hook. A 5 or 5.5mm for a chunkier yarn. When I first started out I bought a selection of sizes so I covered all bases.

As for a brand of hook I can't recommend Clover hooks enough (not sponsored!). I've used them from day 1 and have never experienced any problems with them in over a decade of use. The Soft Touch Hooks or the Clover Amour hooks are my go-to hooks. On rare occasions I also use bamboo hooks for larger projects.

If you'd like to learn how to craft your own hook from a stick then take a look at my video here on how to do that! It's easier than you think and you can end up with a beautifully self crafted chunky hook for larger projects.

Other Materials
I also recommend picking up a yarn needle or tapestry needle for sewing in your ends. This is a needle that will have a larger eye for attaching yarn to. And of course a nice pair of scissors, perhaps embroidery scissors, which tend to be smaller and sharper than most craft scissors.

So I hope you found this short article useful whether you are looking for alternative and unusual gift ideas for the crafter in your life or simply fancy something new to try.