PERLIN ONG reviewed two crocheting video tutorials and made a top in the process!
Is crocheting a grandma activity? According to femalemag, crochet is making a comeback, especially among youths, and is no longer an activity enjoyed solely by the older generation.
Ms Jassandra Nay, 26, the owner of BunnyAndYarn, says that her crocheting materials are often purchased by budget-conscious youths, most of whom learn from watching video tutorials.
With no prior experience whatsoever, I decided to learn how to crochet from online tutorials after noticing this trend on social media. I turned to a professional and two hobbyists for tips.
1. Easy Crochet Crop Top | forthefrills
According to Ms Hung Eunice, 18, a student of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s (NP) Pharmaceutical Science course, she was a novice to crocheting when she started following the tutorial. Ms Hung feels that the tutorial is “beginner-friendly” and that it “[is] very detailed when explaining the steps”.
Apart from providing a step-by-step explanation, the nine minute-long tutorial also showed the yarn and crochet hook used, taking one step further in guiding crocheters. This information is extremely crucial in crocheting as according to thesprucecrafts, the choice of the yarn and crochet hook size can affect the outcome of the piece being made. The tutorial would also be set in slow motion when explaining the different stitches.
Ms Nay comments that the tutorial is suitable for beginners as it is a piece which is made by working “row by row in the same repeating patterns”.
However, despite the detailed tutorial, Ms Hung says she still has some difficulties following the video. She believes that the tutorial would “be more helpful” if a “segment for ‘common mistakes made’ was included”.
Ms Hung also points out that there is insufficient information in the tutorial regarding the measurements, which is important considering that she is making a top. “All the tutorial stated was to choose a desired length and start crocheting from there,” she says.
2. Crochet Puff Top Tutorial | Chenda DIY
This tutorial was introduced by Ms Ling Ke Ying Nicole, 18, a student of NP’s Film, Sound & Video course. According to Ms Ling, she started learning crocheting in primary school from her mother, who was also her inspiration.
With her prior experience, Ms Ling feels that the tutorial is “pretty simple” considering how “a lot of the patterns are repeated” despite its intricate appearance.
However, she finds it difficult to “find the right measurements” for the top which can result in the outcome not turning out the way it is shown in the video.
The 22-minute long tutorial also includes subtitles to help its audiences understand the process better. The subtitles, however, use abbreviations on the names of the stitches, which can be difficult for beginners to understand, especially when more than one stitch is used in the tutorial.
Ms Nay states that she considers the tutorial to be suitable for individuals at the intermediate level as “the pattern does vary between the top part and the bottom half of the top”, which can be difficult to follow.
How to choose a good tutorial video?
According to Ms Nay, a good tutorial video should possess information like the materials used and the sizing of the final piece for gauging purposes. She believes that the most crucial part of a tutorial is to have a proper demonstration of the stitches and the skills used to complete the stitch, and that the demonstration should also be done slowly “even if it is the most basic stitch”.
Despite there being a variety of tutorials available for beginners, there would still be challenges faced. Ms Nay says that online tutorials are unable to provide comprehensive lessons on crochet and that individuals would have to identify their own mistakes. Ms Hung agrees, saying that she believes real-life lessons, which she opted out of due to “monetary reasons”, would be better as her mistakes would be pointed out immediately and there would be no need to repeat “the same steps over and over again”.
Overall, the tutorials are relatively easy to follow. However, the ease may not apply to everyone. As Ms Nay says: “What works for one, may not work for another.”
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