Welcome to TheCraftyCoder – where a software engineer with a passion for craftin’ (read that in a cowboy voice) shares her crafting journey with the masses.
As I write this I’m roughly 4 months into picking crochet up. I’d done a few one-off amigurumi projects in the past but never took the time to learn how to properly crochet. I saw a single blanket on social media that made me want to pick it back up – it was a blanket using Bernat Blanket in the color Oro (I’m not sure they even make it anymore.) It looked like a tortie/calico cat, and being the shepherd of many cats, I absolutely needed it. So, I sat and single crocheted an entire throw blanket, with 2 color changes! I used a lighter color variation of Oro, so it looks like a dilute tortie (of which I have two.) I will share it sometime!
My first blanket had an interesting shape, as I accidently missed the ending stitches for rows ~5-10. Looked something like \…/
So, to redeem myself, I set my sights on another blanket, this time a moss stitch blanket using red, white, and green LB Wool Ease T&C. I saw it on social media, and as we were running close to the holidays, it felt perfectly seasonally appropriate. I decided to watch a youtube video describing how to make a moss stich blanket (as I felt somewhat comfortable with sc by the time I finished the tortie blanket) and got to work. This time, the blanket came out relatively straight, minus a lack of tension control. I weaved my ends in as I went (or rather, moss stitched over them) and started on a border. By Christmas, I had a full throw blanket made by hand!
I quickly learned dogs, cats, and humans using a woolly yarn blanket was maybe not the hottest combo. So, I started to explore some other options, as well as make scarfs (I love the moss stitch!) My husband gifted me a Snoopy Woobles set for Christmas so I got to work on that. This is when I realized an important piece of information – Amigurumi is not as hard once you understand basic crochet! So this info, accompanied with my desire to have a blanket that doesn’t look like a sheet of fuzz, culminated this drive to try different yarn types and sizes, and to push myself to learn more stitches and techniques.
Now about 4 months in, I’ve got a handful of projects that look beginner, but you can tell what exactly they are, so I count that as a win! I’m learning my preferences for hooks, yarn weights, and experimenting with the limits of my current level of knowledge.
With this – I’ve found a gap of information that I am yearning for – in depth reviews of individual yarns! Of course there are many lovely youtube creators sharing their thoughts and expertise on yarn in the video format, but sometimes I just want to devote a couple of minutes to reading a thorough review to know whether or not it’s worth picking up a specific yarn. So, my mission here is to provide that information, with the caveat that this is basically a beginner’s opinion. Though, sometimes, that can be preferred, especially if the reader is a beginner too!
I’d love this blog to be as much of a creative outlet as it is a resource for other crocheters, especially if they’re at the beginning of their journey. I’m well aware that folks a decade+ into the craft aren’t going to need a review of a specific sock yarn discussing how it feels, how easy it is to work up, what the in-yarn color changes look in different applications, etc. I think providing resources as much as possible greatly help share these lovely hobbies with more people, who maybe don’t have folks to teach them irl.
Thank you for reading, it’s very nice to meet you! I hope you find my posts helpful, and maybe someday I’ll figure out a way to share projects made by readers! (wouldn’t that be epic? lol)
bye();
The Crafty Coder 
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