Crocheting Tools: Non Essentials

Do I really need to buy more stuff?

When I started crocheting I scoffed at stitch markers and stitch counters. 

The first couple of projects I made I figured I can count. In fact, counting stitches is what made crocheting a fun break from sciencing (turn off the brain, just count). Nice and relaxing. Turns out, counting is not as easy as you'd think. I'd get distracted or ignore a stitch. Or would unravel a few and lose track. At first I also wasn't able to recognize stitch anatomy to know what to count when I did lose track, and working in a round there's no start or finish to a row. Long story made a little shorter, I learned my lesson. I'll call these "non essential" but for me, they most certainly are.

Stitch Marker

Do you need to buy special equipment? No, you can use safety pins or bits of yarn. I find that I am not coordinated enough to use sharp metal (don't ask...) so I prefer the dull plastic ones. 

When I work in the round for a large project (that means there is no obvious division between rounds so you need to mark where one starts) I prefer to use a piece of yarn because it's less disruptive. But for shapes where I need to track places to increase or decrease within a row or round, I find stitch markers extremely useful.

The plastic ones that look like mini safety pins came with my set of generic crochet hooks. I like them because they clip shut which is useful at the start of a project when I'm working very close to the stitch being marked, and if the stitch marker isn't clipped shut it falls out. When I get farther away and the area isn't manhandled so much, the loops in the photo are faster because they don't need to be closed and opened each time. If I'm walking away from a project for a while I often put a stitch marker in the working loop so it doesn't unravel.

Stitch Counters

I got hooked on simple counters to keep track of my rounds. The one in the photo above also came with my first set of generic hooks. Sure, pen and paper works, and I still do this when I'm working on multiple projects (which is always). So I can live without a stitch counter, but I use it so often I might buy another one or two.

Needles

Needles are essential for sewing parts of your project together (when needed) and working in the yarn ends to finish your project (always). Sewing is not my forté, and I didn't always leave enough of a tail to thread into a needle. So I got a set of wool needles (the red needle with the nylon loop in the image above). Using this kind of needle you can insert it into the work as you would a darning/tapestry needle, then easily thread your short yarn end into the large nylon loop and pull it through. This way you can hide even the shortest tail. Technically you can do this with any large eye needle, but it's much harder to thread frayed short yarn ends into a metal inflexible eye when it's flat against your work. As I got better at planning and everything else, I've relied less and less on the wool needles, but I'm glad I have them when I need them.

Needle Threaders 

I struggled with getting my yarn into needles, and wondered why so few people post about this problem. So I bought a threader meant for yarn. Not only did it make short work of threading, but it also resulted in a lot fewer shredded yarn ends.

Then I discovered the trick everyone uses and put away my threader. Here is the trick: Fold the tip of your yarn in half, and holding the folded end pinched between your index finger and thumb shove the eye-side of your needle from below into the fold to shape it. Then, without letting go with your fingers of the folded, shaped fold, thread it into the eye. Seems counter-intuitive because you're doubling up the yarn to thread it, but it works every time and the ends don't get frayed. Here is one random video that shows this method: External link: short video on threading yarn and there's tons more such tutorials online.

Summary: These tools may not seem essential, but they are useful and inexpensive. If you are just starting, get a feel for how often you'll crochet. One project every few months probably doesn't need extras. If, like me, you find the zen in crocheting, get these bits to make the experience more enjoyable. I'll have a similar recommendation when it comes to buying crochet hooks: Crocheting Tools: The Essentials