Common questions for crochet beginners include ‘what’s the easiest thing to crochet?’ ‘Which is the best crochet stitch?’ ‘How do you crochet a shawl?’ and hopefully I can shed some light on the answers for you by showing you the best shawls and stitches for crochet beginners. 

1. Is a shawl the easiest crochet project for beginners? 

I would argue that a shawl is an easy beginner project. A shawl might seem fancy or out of your reach but let’s break it down: 

• It’s a straightforward shape, whether it be a rectangle, triangle, half circle or full circle. 
• There’s no seaming up (usually). 
• It eats up stash yarn no problem and gives purpose to a pretty yarn cake or a hand dyed skein. 
• You can make a shawl in any weight of yarn and still get something wearable. 
• You can make an entire shawl by using only one type of stitch, making it great practice for beginners. 

2. How do I crochet a shawl? 

There are many ways to make a shawl. You could start from one corner and work your way to the other with increase and decreases, start small and end big by increasing only or chain a long chain and make a rectangle shawl. 

For beginners, aim for a shawl that uses one of these stitches: 

• Double crochet (UK treble)
• Half double crochet (UK half treble)
• Triple stitch (UK Double treble)

These stitches are recommended because of how quick they grow. They’re also taller than the single crochet stitch (UK double) so you will be less likely to get tired of the shawl after a couple of weeks. 

3. Remember your increases and decreases. 

Depending on the shawl, you may need to know how to increase or decrease. For example, the Daphne shawl starts at the yoke (the small semi circle) and grows out widthways. 

To increase, simply make the stitch (in this case it is the double crochet stitch) twice into one chain instead of once. 

If you’d like something a little easier, the Aurora Nox shawl uses only one type of stitch after you’ve set up the yoke. It also has no edging, meaning you can just focus on the stitch pattern. 

Again, it looks more complicated than it actually is! You can read more about the shawl and the featured stitch pattern here. 

Decreases 

To decrease, you can either skip a stitch, or join stitches together. Unless otherwise specified, the decrease will usually be called “dc2tog” or “hdc2tog”. 

Example for double crochet stitch: 

1. Yarn over and insert hook into the chain. Yarn over and pull through. 2 loops on hook. 

2. Yarn over and pull through 2, leaving 2 loops on the hook. 

3. Yarn over and insert hook into the next chain. Yarn over and pull through. 3 loops on hook. 

4. Yarn over and pull through 2, leaving 2 loops on hook.

5. Yarn over and pull through 2, leaving 1 loop on hook. 

You will see that the 2 stitches have been joined together to make one stitch. 

The Titania shawl 

The Titania shawl is similar in concept but combines double crochet stitches to make v stitches. You start in the centre of the shawl and work your way out. 

A one skein beginner crochet shawl pattern: 

The Disturbia shawl is perfect for crochet beginners for a number of reasons: 

1. It requires only 1 skein of yarn. 

2. You can practice your crochet increases. 

3. It only uses 1 stitch throughout. 

4. You can practice joining pieces together, whether it be seaming or a slip stitch join. 

The Disturbia shawl was designed for knitters in particular who want to try their hand at crochet and for crochet beginners who want to practice creating a triangle shawl shape. 

Beginner resources:

Crochet stitch guide for beginners.

Crochet for beginners: US and UK hook sizes.

Where to put your hook in crochet.

Does your yarn split when you crochet? Can you easily pull the row out when you’ve made a mistake? Is fluff getting in your eyes? You could have chosen a bad yarn for crochet… or not. Read on to find out which yarns you should watch out for. 

Here I’ll show you my top 5 yarns that you should watch out for if you’re a beginner and ways to stop your yarn from separating when you work with it. 

1. Mohair or Suri Alpaca 

While mohair and lace work perfectly for knitting, it can be a nightmare for crochet. I think this is because of the amount of handling you do with the fabric. You always have the fabric in your hand while you work the hook. It’s also difficult to see the stitches beneath all of the fuzz. 

2. Very fine yarn e.g. cobweb or lace. 

As well as the stress of chaining such a fine yarn, you can miss stitches easily. You will also find that your tension is uneven with lace yarn as you accidentally loosen your grip to focus on getting into the chains. Leave it til later and stick with it for things that ask for motifs and lace stitches rather than a solid block. 

3. Eyelash yarn

I get it. It’s fun. It’s on special offer in Aldi. This is great for making teddies in particular but if you can’t see the stitches, you’re doomed. Best avoided for beginners. You’ll knot yourself into so much regret. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

4. Single ply or roving types. 

The problem with this is that, if you have really tight tension, you could pull it apart or split it. It’s a pain. If you have accidentally knotted it at the wrong point or messed up a crochet stitch, it can be awful to try and get out of. Best avoided. 

5. Dark coloured yarns 

Can you think why I am saying black and dark yarns are best avoided if you are a beginner? I don’t think I need to explain why. 

What yarns should I use then? 

It’s all well and good me showing you what you shouldn’t use but here’s a list of yarns that you should use. 

Acrylic DK 

Now this depends purely on your preference of what you like to use and hold. Most beginners are fine using a DK acrylic yarn such as Stylecraft Special DK. It comes in every colour of the rainbow and is the top choice for blankets, scarves and other practical beginner sized projects. 

If your acrylic cushion cover ends up on a 40 degree wash by mistake, you don’t have to experience the trauma of shrinkage or felting. It’s a good starter yarn. 

Cotton DK 

This is great if you are learning to make toys or spring/summer projects. Cotton can be quite hard on your hands as it isn’t as bouncy as acrylic and wool, so adjust your crochet hook accordingly. Because it’s not fluffy, it retains its shape well when stitched up. You can therefore see clearly where you’re supposed to be putting your hook. 

How can I stop yarn from splitting? 

Yarn is blamed for splitting all of the time. You can prevent it splitting by the way that you hold it. If you have the yarn in your hand you can untwist it unknowingly. It can also depend on which end of the ball you are using. It’s true that some yarns are just splittier than others and this is because of how it is spun. We can’t help that if that’s the case but I’ll show you how to stop it from splitting here. 

It may not always be the fault of the yarn 

I once had a crochet tester pull out of the test because I’d chosen a “cheap, splitty yarn” for the design. It’s quite a common misconception to think it is always the yarn that is at fault. Even the most luxurious feeling hand dyed yarns can separate and split. 

Think about how yarns are spun. We have several strands (ply) of fibre that are twisted together over and over again to make a thicker, stronger yarn. They are twisted in one direction. If the yarn has been spun and twisted in a clockwise direction and you grab the end of it and start untwisting it as you work, what do you expect to happen? 

Look at this yarn here. One end is from the inside of the ball and the other is from the outside of the ball. The one that came from the inside of the ball (right) is significantly looser than the one that came from outside of the ball. If I was to then start working with it as it is, it will be likely to separate and I’ll split it with my hook. The yarn on the right is already on its way to being separated and therefore difficult to work with. 

Both strands of this yarn are in the S twist direction (The opposite is the Z twist). I will still be working with this yarn but I have to be careful that I don’t untwist the S twist. If you are lucky enough to work with a Z twist yarn, you will most likely add twist when you crochet. 

You can’t do anything about the direction of the twist unless you are also a spinner. I do not expect you to walk into a yarn shop and ask “where are the Z twist yarns? I only like those” I just want you to be aware that the direction of the ply will affect each project. Look out for it and be conscious of how you are working the yarn. 

How can I avoid untwisting? 

Because you are handling the yarn a lot as you work, you need to pay attention to your hand movements. All of us work the yarn in slightly different ways but some of us are guilty of accidentally twisting it in an anticlockwise direction.

Knitters will say it is because of how you are throwing or wrapping the yarn but in crochet we have an extra problem: no unified crochet hold. Some people barely touch the working yarn when they crochet while others have it held between forefinger and thumb. Other factors include the hand we use and how active our hand movements are. The more you touch it, the more it will twist or untwist. 

This is what I mean by ‘untwisting’. The yarn will separate and untwist. What you have to do to avoid this is to pay attention to how you work with the yarn. which end of the hank or ball did you grab the yarn from? What kind of yarn is it? Loose or tight? 

When winding your own yarn out of a hank, pay attention to which end seems to be looser. Wind it in a way that the tighter end is the end you work with. 

When opening a new ball of yarn, inspect the end that comes out of the centre and the end that is on the outside of the ball. Choose the tighter one. 

You can also move your fingertips in a way that adds twist to the yarn as you work. 

This is what we are aiming for. We need to hold the yarn in a way that compliments the direction in which it is twisting. Working against it won’t help. 

I’ve tried this but it still doesn’t work 

If you seem to split yarn no matter what you do, try looking out for yarns that specifically say “high twist” in their descriptions. This way, they will at least be harder for you to untwist. 

There will always be yarns that we don’t like and won’t work for us. I’m not saying that there are no “cheap, splitty” yarns out there but we can at least try to identify if we are the problem first. 

I hope this helps! 

Hanna 

 See also: 

How to join granny squares

How to block granny squares

Crochet stitch guide for beginners