Tutorials

One thing you find with the Internet, is that if is discovers that you have an interest in something, whether that be model railways, porn or crocheting, whenever you are looking for stuff online, it will show you lots to do with your particular interest.
     So when I started looking for crochet flower tutorials, I got LOTS of them for me to choose from.
     I soon found that you have to use a tutorial that suits you.
     I also found that what people mean by a certain term can vary from person to person, let alone from country to country.
     For example in the UK, what we call a treble crochet, in the US is called a double crochet. So I would have to watch carefully and make intricate notes about individual stitches (yarn over, push through, yarn over, pull back, yarn over pull through two loops on the hook etc) to be sure I was using the exact same stitch as the tutor.
     I also know that although I need exact and precise instructions to follow, I am quickly going to get fed up if the same thing is continually repeated.
     So the best video's for me are where one or two petals are explained in detail, then the tutor says something like, 'Repeat that three more times and I'll meet you at the end.'
     Great! I can do that!.
     Some videos are designed for you to crochet along with the tutor, which sounds like a great idea. But I don't want to sit in front of my pc crocheting, I want to sit in front of the TV. So I need to be able to make detailed notes of instructions in a form I can understand, not just while watching the video, but while sitting on the sofa in a month or so from now.
     Something else you need on a video is a voice that you can get along with. No matter how good the instructions are, if they are given in a high pitched, squeaky voice that is more suitable for bat's hearing and makes your ears bleed, that is no good for me.
     Neither is a slow, ponderous monotone that will give you a row of 50 stitches, all exactly the same and delivered in the same words and voice. This is crocheting for insomniacs - it certainly puts me to sleep.
     I may be a beginner, and an elderly one at that, but just skip to the chase and say: 'Do the rest of the row in the same way and I'll meet you at the end.' These are videos after all! You can pause them, backtrack and go over the same piece as many times as you need to - and believe me, I did!


     OOOOOoooooh! Freeform Crochet! Now that makes my heart leap with joy!
     I had never heard of it, never seen any of it, but suddenly there it was, amongst these tutorial videos there appeared these beautiful, intricate concoctions of colour and pattern.
     This was crocheting off piste!
     This was Creative with a capital 'C'.
     This was definitely something I want to learn!