I’ve been crocheting since August 2009 and to date I haven’t had a single lesson from a real person.  I’m not trying to impress when I tell you this, to me that means that there are quite possibely a whole list of things I’m doing wrong – but I wouldn’t even know it! Hahaha. Ignorance is bliss hey.

I’m happy with how my crochet skills have progressed and I think my crochet is neat and pleasant on the eye. A lot of what I know, I learned because I fell in love with a pattern and was forced to learn to do whatever the pattern asked me to do.

My skills in finding help and instrcutions through Google, is my saving grace (and my teacher). So many people share their knowledge that nothing really stands in my way when I want to try something new. I’m so grateful to the internet for being my teacher.

Having said that, I would like to attend a crochet class of some kind. Maybe not the basics of crochet as I think I’ve mastered that, but I am interested in learning how to shape wearables. A lot of the crochet patterns that I fall in love with turns out to be quite boxy which puts me off from actually making them as they will make me look too… well, boxy.

I’ll give you an example.

The Vogue Crochet Special Collectors Issue 2012 preview was launched a couple of days ago. (The magazine itself will only be availbe in store, and in electronic form, on 8 May.) I almost wet myself when I saw the pictures. Honestly. I was saying yes, yes, yes to almost everything I saw.

BUT, on closer inspection I had to ask myself how many of these beautiful things would I really wear, so that narrowed it down a bit. I was left with these as possible contenders for adding yarn to hook.

They’re stunning aren’t they? At first glance that is.

The first one is very interesting. However the neckline is very wide and off the shoulder, but I guess you could change that when you sew the front to the back at the shoulder seams.

The second one is Doris Chan design which is so pretty. However, it goes over the hips and my dear hips don’t need any more attention drawn to them, so I would have to adjust the pattern. The top is wonderfully shaped and nipped in at the waist so it won’t be a simple case of just making it shorter, you would have to know how to shorten it whilst retaining the nipped in waist.

The third and fourth are my favourites and the ones I initally thought I would definitely make. But they’re boxy and square which does not suit my body shape. I’m a pear shape, so I need definition in the waist, otherwise I end up looking like a milk carton.

The only one I could see myself making is the last one. But would I want to buy the whole magazine, only for one pattern?

If I could however figure out how to add, or change, waist shaping of a crochet pattern it would be a no brainer – that magazine would be mine!

I would love to learn how to do shaping face-to-face, but in the absence of a class I went to my virtual teacher: Google.  Guess what I found.  This excellent article on the crochetMe website that explains exactely how to adjust a pattern to include waist shaping. It’s actually precisely what I wanted!!!! (By the way, they also have an article on adding bust shaping to crochet here).

I started off this blog post with the idea that I will be left with this one crochet skill that I won’t be able to learn without face to face action, and yet again, the internet came to the rescue.

I guess my crochet learing process looks something like this:

Fall in love with pattern + Google search = another skill learned = Happy Hooker

Roll on 8 May, cause Vogue Crochet Special Collectors Issue 2012, you’re mine!