Crochet Basics in MTL workshop zine

WORKSHOP

CROCHET BASICS IN MTL

By Grey Cooper

Basic History Like most fabric crafts, crochet is very old. It's also called haken, haekling, and virkning.

Because it's so old, crochet history is very hard to trace. Finding where originated it is both contentious and hard. A lot of people trace it back to Europe in the 1800s.

People also often misidentify other forms of fabric making crafts as crochet.

There's a Dutch magazine describing shepeards making things with a hook and rough yarn in 1823.

A lot of lacework was developed out of Ireland during the famine to help support families, and Irish crochet lacework became very popular in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

A lot of stories about the origin of crochet are colonialist or badly researched, and finding an accurate tracing of it to it's very old roots is difficult. Keep researching and engaging with the history in a way that works for you.

Activism Crochet and fiber arts are often white washed, so buying patterns and yarn from QTBIPOC is important.

There's also a broad community of activists in fiber arts that discuss how they're represented or underrepresented that's easy to engage with online.

Personal recommentations on insta: #diverseknitty is a good place to start to see disucssions, but it is also potentially draining. #amplifyblackartists is more general but also good.

By crocheting you're connecting yourself to a community of artists and creators! And there are many ways to engage and interact with that, but as you'll be buying and using patterns and yarn to create your work, it's important that you know who you're supporting, and why.

There's always monetary concerns! But be aware of who you're supporting when you can.

Montreal Groups Yellow Door has a knitting and crochet group! They meet often and have different projects, and are very beginner friendly. https://www.facebook.com/YDAc tivities McGill's Knitting Club https://www.facebook.com/mcgi llknittingclub/ There are also art pages to share your work on. Queer McGill has an QM Art Share Page for quarantine: https://www.facebook.com/grou ps/287518979116455/

Reading Patterns Unfortunatley abrevviations are different depending on the country! But there are two basic was to write patterns, not lots, essentially one American and one European.

Most charts will tell you what each abbreviation means before they then list them. But for simplicity's sake below is a list of some basic ones: US Terminology Basics: ch: chain stitch cont: continue dc: double crochet dec: decrease inc: increase rep: repeat rnd: round US vc. UK distinctions: slip stitch (sl st) = slip stitch (ss) single crochet (sc) = double crochet (dc) half double crochet (hdc) = half treble (htr) double crochet(dc) = treble (tr) treble (tr) = double treble (dtr) double treble (dtr) = triple treble (trtr) More info: https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/c rochet-abbreviations

Reading Patterns There are also crochet charts, instead of written patterns:

A basic granny square:

Hat instructions: Workshop will go more in depth but here is a rough outline for you to reference: Make a magic circle Double crochet into the circle until you have a circle.

Chain two stitches.

Double crochet two stitches into each stitch around the circle. Connect the circle back and chain another two. You're making the top of the hat, so what you're doing is increasing the top circle by doubling the amount of stitches each round.

Repeat the 2 double crochet into each stitch every round until the circle is a bit smaller than the top of your head. Yarn stretches a little.

From here on only do one double crochet into each stitch in each round. The hat will stop getting wider - what you're now doing is making the sides.

Keep adding rows until it's as long as you want, then finish a row and tie it off

Hat instructions:

Double crochet

Other Easy Beginner Projects: Scarf Granny squares (blankets are just a lot of granny squares, so it's easy! but needs patience) Dishcloth Coasters

Recommended Instagram Artists and Hashtags #bipocmakers @motherofpurll1 @nyancoaa @thedreamcrochet @bipocinfiber @puntoyapartecrochet @shylecrochets

Other Fiber Arts that are Easily Accessible Finger knitting (easy if you can't buy more than yarn) Embroidery (doesn't have to be fancy, also low $$ investment) Knitting is similar to crochet acessibiltiy wise but lets u make slightly different things!

Cheap Sources of Yarn

Thrifting scarves/cheap sweaters (5$ for several balls of yarn) Dollarama (small amounts however) If making coasters or bags you can also use "plarn" from plastic bags