Self-learning Crochet From Scratch: Day 1

I've always thought knitted things look smoother and softer than crochet, so I was never interested in crochet before, until I started to think I could use some amigurumi to spice up my knitted products for my little one!

Ever since I had that desire, I saw more and more really nice crochet patterns and products on Pinterest! And the baby booties just look soooooo cute that I really want to make them! That's why instead of an amigurumi book, I started myself with the Stitch'n Bitch Crochet Happy Hooker book (I ordered it from amazon together with the Stitch 'n Bitch The Knitter's Handbook). I read the Knitter's Handbook first, and found it really good, so I was really excited about starting the Happy Hooker book!

My Self-learn Crochet Starter's Kit

I've always had the 4mm hook, it was used to correcting mistakes when I was knitting, so I didn't bother to check whether it's a good hook or not, as long as it can pick up a missed stitch, I'm happy! But when I went into a very cozy "handwork" shop (in German, they call it Handarbeits shop, which means "hand work") near my little one's nursery, I used my very limited German to tell the lady that I wanted to learn how to crochet and asked her to recommend the type of yarn that would be easy to start with. So she recommended the Schoeller Alpha, which is a bulky yarn (about 60m/50g), and recommended a 6mm hook to me. So I bought them, picked up my little one from the nursery, then we went home. I was dying to try out my new kit, but little one always has the first priority, so I couldn't start until little one takes his nap after we had lunch!

The yarn is soft and the Prym hook is so much better for my hand with its soft handle, but I realised that the yarn is so thick that after just 3 rows of double stitches on the test piece, I have used half of the skein already!! Since the yarn is so nice, I think it's such a waste to use it on a test piece, I should be using something cheap instead! So that evening, I went to the supermarket nearby and bought myself two skein of those smc Bravo yarn, which is only about 1 Euro each! But since they are lighter, I had to go back to the ugly 4mm hook.

I had to admit that the book is not the only source of learning, I watched a youtube tutorial video too because it's so much easier than just reading the words alongside the diagrams (although the diagrams in the book are very good). So this is the video I've watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqca00LdmAc

I've made some rows, but somehow I always got extra stitches after a few rows... I am exhausted... let's call it a day and start again tomorrow!