How to Start Crochet — A Beginner's Guide with Our Easiest Patterns

Crochet has quietly become one of the most popular home hobbies in the UK — and honestly, it deserves it. It's meditative, it's cheap to start, and unlike a lot of crafts, you get something actually useful at the end: a plushie, a keychain, a wreath for the door.

If you've been meaning to try it but don't know where to begin, this is the guide we wish we'd had. Below is everything you need to get started, our recommended order for your first few projects, and links to the beginner-friendly patterns we've written.

What you actually need to start (under £20)

Ignore the "starter kits" with 50 items. You need less than you think:

1. A 4mm crochet hook. One hook. That's it. An ergonomic handle is nicer on the wrist if you already know you'll stick with it, but a £2 aluminium one works perfectly for a first project.
2. A ball of yarn. For amigurumi (crocheted stuffed shapes), a soft chenille or DK cotton in a colour you like. Around £3–£5.
3. A pair of small scissors.
4. A yarn / tapestry needle (£1) for sewing pieces together and weaving in ends.
5. Toy stuffing if you're making a plushie. A small bag is under £4 and lasts through many projects.

Optional but genuinely useful: stitch markers (a paperclip works), and safety eyes if you're making amigurumi with faces (or embroider the eyes on with black yarn if the plushie is for a baby).

Total spend to get started: comfortably under £20.

Learn three stitches — that's it

Almost every beginner amigurumi pattern uses the same handful of stitches:

• Chain (ch) — the foundation.
• Single crochet (sc) — the workhorse of amigurumi.
• Increase (inc) and decrease (dec) — how you shape the piece.
• Magic ring — how most amigurumi projects start. It looks scarier than it is; there are dozens of two-minute YouTube tutorials.

If you can watch one 10-minute video for each of the above, you have every skill you need to make your first plushie.

Best first project — the Taco Keychain

Small, fast, forgiving, and finished in an evening.

Crochet Amigurumi Taco Keychain Pattern — £2.40. Written for beginners, with clear step-by-step instructions and photos. It uses just a handful of stitches, has no tricky assembly, and produces something you'll actually use (or clip to a bag as a gift).

Why it's the ideal starter:

• One evening, start to finish.
• Uses tiny amounts of leftover yarn, so mistakes cost you nothing.
• Teaches you the magic ring, single crochet, increases, and finishing — the four skills that unlock everything else.

Your first "wow, I actually made that" project — Gingerbread Man

Once the taco has proved you can do it, size up.

Christmas Gingerbread Man Amigurumi Pattern — £3.60. A cosy, one-evening make with a bit more shaping than the taco. This is where most people click with amigurumi — the moment a lump of yarn suddenly looks like a face.

Move up to a decorative piece — the Wreath

When you're ready for something you'll display, not just clip to your keys.

Crochet Amigurumi Christmas Wreath Pattern — £3.60. Includes baubles and bows, so you'll learn how smaller pieces are attached to a base — the same skill that unlocks almost every decorative project after this.

Prefer something you can hang all year round?

Floral Spring Wreath Pattern — £3.20. Same techniques, different vibe — delicate flowers and leaves instead of baubles.

Ready to build a collection — the 10 Bird Bundle

Once you're a few projects in, this is the best-value pattern in our shop.

10 Bird Patterns Bundle — £5. Ten different bird and duckling patterns for the price of a sandwich. Small enough to finish in a couple of evenings each, varied enough to keep you learning, and beautiful together as a shelf collection.

A sensible order to work through them

If you were starting from zero today, this is the order we'd recommend:

1. Taco Keychain — learn the four core skills.
2. Gingerbread Man — practice shaping and adding a face.
3. Christmas Wreath or Spring Wreath — learn to attach small pieces to a base.
4. 10 Bird Bundle — build variety and start a collection you can display.

By the end of that sequence, you'll comfortably be able to follow almost any beginner-to-intermediate amigurumi pattern online.

Beginner tips that save hours of frustration

• Count your stitches at the end of every round. 90% of "why does mine look wrong?" is a miscount early on.
• Use a stitch marker in the first stitch of each round. You'll thank yourself.
• Stuff firmly but not to bursting. The shape holds better and the stitches don't stretch open.
• Weave in ends properly. A five-minute finish makes the difference between "looks handmade" and "looks professional."
• Don't unravel in frustration — take a photo, put it down, come back tomorrow. Almost every mistake looks fixable after a cup of tea.

Ready to start?

Grab a hook, a ball of yarn, and one of the patterns above — that's genuinely all it takes.

Browse our patterns →

Or, if you'd rather someone else did the crocheting for now, our Handmade Birthday Gift Guide and Christmas Gift Guide show the finished pieces we make in the shop.