Having problems reading crochet patterns?

I have been crocheting for well over 35 years and teaching crochet for over 15 years. While instructing, I have observed some of the problems that beginners encounter. I have also had students that state that they know how to crochet but have problems reading patterns.

I quickly learned that I needed to dig a bit deeper and find out how many of the basic crochet rules they knew by heart. In most cases the rules that they knew were incorrect or non-existent.

First and foremost you need to know how to make all of the basic stitches. You also need to know the names of these stitches and the abbreviations.

The stitches that you will need to know from memory are: the chain, single crochet, double crochet, treble crochet, and half double crochet. If you know all of these stitches, the others will come easily and you will be better prepared to start reading patterns.