My First Year of Crochet

One of my most frequent (and most loved) New Year's resolutions is to try one new thing each month, and one of the things that I tried for the first time in 2025 was crocheting. I was fresh out of a relationship and had a lot of free time so was debating between picking up crocheting or knitting, but given that one of my close friends loves knitting, I thought I'd pave my own path with crochet instead.

I first ordered a crochet kit for beginners, which came with everything, including the yarn and crochet hooks, which would save a lot of time and get me started straight away, without the stress of having to research exactly which size hooks and types of yarn would be optimal. The crochet kit would allow me to make three flowerpots and three hanging baskets and even came with stuffing, glue, stitch markers, plastic eyes, scissors, and sewing needles, so I was in good stead. The main reason I chose this kit in particular was because it had written instructions but also video tutorials online, which meant I could see what the different stitches looked like and follow as I went along.

Whilst my first potted plant wasn't the best, they quickly improved in quality and were taking less time to make, so I decided to start gifting them to friends and family on their birthdays or as Christmas presents. The kit actually had enough materials to make more plant pots than advertised, which was dreamy, and my loved ones seemed to love them too! I found myself really enjoying crochet to the point that it was eating into the time in which I'd usually read and crocheting quickly became one of the things I found most relaxing to do in my free time (albeit with a steep learning curve, as with any new activity).

Soon after making the potted plants, I decided to try to make a book sleeve as I love reading physical books and really wanted a book sleeve to keep my books from getting damaged in my bags. The book sleeve was comprised of granny squares, which I'd never made but had heard a lot about, so I thought it would be a good skill to learn. I followed a video tutorial on Youtube to make the book sleeve, as I find it the optimal way to learn, and I found the tutorial to be very clear and easy to follow, which is linked here.

I had a few learning opportunities with my first book sleeve, as I used a 2.5mm crochet hook, rather than a 5mm hook, meaning the pattern was much tighter than anticipated and the sleeve was half the size that it was meant to be. I allowed myself some creative freedom and rather than unravelling the whole thing, I simply crocheted another six granny squares to make the book sleeve the size it should've been. Unfortunately, I also ran out of yarn during this process, so the colours varied at some point. Regardless, I love my book sleeve and have had various compliments on it, including from strangers on the tube!

I have since made many more book sleeves as gifts for friends and family, and over time have perfected the sizing of them. I absolutely love seeing loved ones using the book sleeves I've made them. Another thing that I have gotten better at as I've crocheted is figuring out how much yarn something will require (and thus, not starting a project with a colour which I won't have enough of to last me to the end of the project).

Whilst making the book sleeves, I realised that granny squares make great coasters, so I crocheted two sets of coasters as Christmas presents. Again, the first set was much smaller than I'd have liked, but the second set was the perfect size and I was very proud of them. I then went on a little rampage crocheting Christmas presents, including two bookmarks, which I also followed a Youtube tutorial for, but I found them to be slightly flimsy to be honest.

I crocheted a hat for my boyfriend's nephew, but again I only realised that the yarn was too small in size halfway through, so it took me several hours (including a lot of unravelling and re-crocheting), as opposed to the 30 minutes advertised on the Youtube tutorial. That said, the tutorial was easy to follow and the hat feels quite robust, so I'm excited to see how it fits (as at the time of writing this post, I am yet to gift it). Due to the yarn being smaller than anticipated, the hat was smaller too, and whilst I just extended the number of rows to increase the length, I couldn't increase the width so rather than the hat folding over, it's more a beanie (luckily, I have various other gifts for him so it's not the end of the world if it doesn't fit perfectly).

The last things that I crocheted this year were mini stocking ornaments for the Christmas tree! I was actually inspired by my work's secret santa, as the theme was baubles, and whilst searching around, I found some cute stocking decorations and decided to crochet some myself. Initially, I planned to crochet just one for my tree, but I loved them so much that I ended up crocheting an additional three and putting them in some Christmas cards. The first stocking that I made ended up with a white hem that was too small, the second's hem was too big, but by the third stocking, I'd perfected it. Frustratingly with crochet, it takes a minute to understand the quirks of a project and I strongly feel that a clear, well-explained tutorial makes the biggest difference. My preference is to have both the pattern and a video tutorial, in order to crochet in front of the telly when it's an easy section, and to be able to focus and follow along on the hard sections.

I have surprised myself by just how much I've enjoyed crocheting this year, and it has really inspired me to be even more creative, with making my own Christmas and birthday cards, cooking and baking more than usual and trying out new things such as embroidery, flower pressing, and candle making! I have many crochet projects in the pipeline for next year, including more amigurumi, decorative pumpkins, blankets, and potentially doilies and bunting for the house. I'd also like to get more comfortable with reading patterns and perhaps blocking too in 2026, so stay tuned to see how I progress with that!