Learning to Crochet

So I have had several half ass attempts at the crochet business previously, but last night I got my hook, got my cotton and sat myself in front of the computer and decided to give it a good concentrated effort.

This is how much I got done after 3 hours simply crocheting with no other outside annoyance. Mind you I had to unravel rows like 20+ times, well maybe that is an exaggeration but it was a lot!

So I thought I would list some things that while I have seen wonderful tutorials, it was terribly hard to find these little things that I thought made a difference.
I will list more as I discover them as I am in the learning process also.

• The tutorials say to use light coloured wool. DO IT, I thought I was being smart because I can knit somewhat and used the dark colours because that is what I liked. IT was soooo hard to find where to put my hook. After using this light colour I can see why they say to use light when learning.
• One of the tricky bits is having your rows even, even when you think you have got every stitch your work goes all wonky. When learning, after every row, count your stitches and see if they are the same. I had to unravel plenty of times but at least now I am starting to get it right (touch wood). This might seem like a pain in the butt but it is better to take the extra time to learn this now than attempt a project only to find you have to unravel 1/2 of it (cough like me cough) hehe
• Decide what patterns you will mostly be using, as to where to learn your crochet. Apparently American and English terms are different from what I have seen, a single crochet in one place is a treble or something in another.. silly huh?
• pick a small project to do, even if you are just learning, there is nothing better than a motivator to get it right. I had picked a scarf previously, thinking it would be lots of great practice, but because I did not see results in a long time (you are slow when you start) I gave up, whereas this time around I chose a cotton dishcloth and am almost finished and so excited to get started on the next project!
• There are thousands of tutorials out there, have a look around and pick someone who shows you from go to wo, and stick with the same person. I tried a few different people but ended up sticking with this one, she also has projects in easy to read format, a skill level indicator and is very clear. However do look around there are plenty out there and what suits me might not suit you.

So this is it.. so far. I think the learning will have to be put on hold for a few days as I have a cold, I don't think my head could handle the concentration it takes at the moment hehe
Please let me know if you find this helpful and if there are things you think I should add.
Happy learning! :)