I arrived home at 7:30am yesterday on a red-eye flight after my college roommate’s wedding in Honolulu. (Hawaii, I have fallen in love with you. FYI.)

And though I tried hard to tell you that my shiny new Craftsy beginner crochet class went live at 9:30am, I ended up nodding off in front of my computer and had to finally admit to myself that I should stop trying and instead sleep for four hours. Which I did, and then I woke up with the kind of killer headache only jet lag after a red-eye can concoct in a mad conspiracy to try to make you not love Hawaii anymore but it didn’t work because Hawaii is very loveable.

So here I am the next day – my birthday, so this post especially shiny today – to tell you all about it.

Craftsy Crochet Basics & Beyond title card

As you may know, I went to Denver in April to film this class. I got to design the class myself, which means I got to say what I wanted to say (which is not always a given in a crafts-video situation) and include things other people might not consider to be usual topics for a beginner crochet class, like how to read patterns and symbol diagrams.

granny square symbol diagram
In the class, we cover not only how to read a pattern in words, but also how to read symbol diagrams.

The fabulous amazing thing about online teaching is that I can cover so much in under four hours. In a three-hour crochet workshop, I can send students home knowing how to make the basic stitches, sure. But in this class, which allows you to do lessons whenever you want and spend as much time as you want on any particular skill, I had the goal of preparing students to finish it having gained enough confidence to go out and try their hand at following a pattern to make whatever they want. I’ll be forever in Craftsy’s debt for giving me that opportunity!

giant granny square blanket
There are two versions of a granny-square blanket pattern included with the class. This is the one I worked up, as it existed the night before we started shooting the class. So many ends to weave in! (Also, nail polish. Obviously.)

The kicker, though, the kicker is that Craftsy also has a simple, robust platform for class participation, so it’s not just that I got to deliver my ideal version of a beginner crochet class, I also get to interact with students and students get to interact with me. Students’ questions are public, so other students can learn from their questions and my and other students’ answers, and everyone can share photos of their work, whether to show a problematic row or a success.

crochet class filming
Here’s how the set look while we were staging things for filming. We had a lot of crochet and yarn to wrangle!

I know you may already know how to crochet, so this class may not be for you (but maybe this class is for you). But maybe it’s for some (or, like, several dozen) people you know. If it is (of course it is!), please send them to this post! And if you don’t already crochet, well, please use these links for yourself! You deserve it. And you’ll learn something. And we can chat.

giant granny square blanket
This is the other version of the blanket, which our amazing tech editor stitched up.

If you have any questions about the class or about Craftsy, don’t be shy!

Here are a few more pics from filming:

crochet set at Craftsy
Here’s the view my producer, Laura, had. That’s Tony you see; he was our camera operator the first day of shooting.
Ivana and her Vespa
Craftsy has an editor in the room during filming, doing live cuts. It’s pretty awesome. By the end of the three days of shooting, our editor Ivana (how adorable is she with her Vespa?!) had a rough cut already done.

​​Click here to learn how to crochet with Crochet: Basic & Beyond!

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Sue Tyler

I got all excited, and clicked the link and it go to a ‘page not found’ :/ I am a sad not able to crochet bear. But at the same time i know it will get fixed so i can later on be a learn to crochet happy bear. Please not i do not always refer to myself as a bear, sometimes i;m a kitten – yeah that makes no sense but it is 6am and winter in nz

Andrew

I think you should declare the payment you got and the contract term to publish this article to promote the class. It’s only fair in the name of transparency!

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