Crochet confusion part 2: worsted yarn

It feels odd referring to the stuff I have called "wool" all my life, as "yarn". The Americans are right though, it is yarn. Wool is defined as a fibre obtained from the coats of animals. Yarn is the term to describe a continuous length of interlocked fibres. So the pedant in me insists that I now call it yarn. 

When I started crocheting, I had a plentiful supply of yarn left over from my knitting days, but it wasn't the yarn they were recommending on patterns. Most patterns called for a "worsted weight yarn". Say what? I had no idea. Turns out that worsted weight is approximately equivalent to our aran weight. That is, unless the pattern is asking for light worsted or heavy worsted...they are totally different! (double knitting and chunky to us in the UK).

Why can't these things be the same the world over? Why can't we all use the same terms to describe our yarns? Why can't we all decide to just call the crochet hooks their actual size ie a 5mm hook (as is UK convention), rather than a "H" hook (US!)? Why is our single crochet a US double crochet?!

Sorry, back to yarn. 

So, I spent the first few months using aran weight yarn, not convinced it was the right stuff, but my items worked up ok so I was happy.

I was browsing the Wool Warehouse site, looking for some cotton yarns to make lighter hats, more suited to spring and ordered lots of balls of gorgeousness like this one...

Can you imagine my excitement when I spotted this on the label!

Finally I could feel confident that I was using the correct yarn. I hadn't used cotton before so thought I'd do a couple of little projects to try out the pretty new additions to my stash. 

I used the solid colours (Drops Paris) to make a cover for my phone using a pattern from Moogly. I lost some stitches along the way so it is far from perfect but it was good for getting used to using an inelastic fibre. I might even make a matching one for my laptop. 

 I loved working with the Lily Sugar n Cream Ombres to make this little hat. Gorgeous colours, perfect for spring days.

The cotton works up beautifully, giving a really polished finish to items. It is more expensive than acrylic yarns and less forgiving when it comes to sizing, but I think I will be buying a lot more cotton, worsted yarn in the future. 

Crochet confusion

When I started crocheting, I soon realised that Americans were into crochet in a much bigger way than Brits. Or maybe it's just because there are more of them so all the instructional videos were from the USA. This caused me and my crocheting buddies some confusion. Turns out US and UK crochet terms don't actually mean the same thing. But both countries use the same terms, oh maaaaan. For anyone else who is confused, here is a handy conversion table...

Most patterns I have come across on the web, use US terms. UK pattern books are the only place I have seen UK terms used. Even UK designers on the web tend to use US terms.

For anyone who is starting out, This useful graphic turned up on my Facebook feed this morning, courtesy of Oombawka design crochet...

Many people have asked me to teach them to crochet, but the truth is I just used YouTube videos when I was initially learning to crochet, mainly this series. I still regularly use the videos to check I am doing the correct thing or if I come across a new stitch. I would love to run crochet lessons but I'm still considering the logistics. Ask me to teach some Chemistry, fine. Crochet? Where do I start?! 

So, until then, just get yourself a 5mm hook (aluminium), a ball of aran weight yarn in a light shade and settle down with the YouTube videos. 

WARNING: CROCHET IS ADDICTIVE.