IST 605: Crocheting

Do you want to take up crocheting but are overwhelmed by the question, "How do I start"? Then this is the guide for you! In this resource, you will discover many useful materials to help you begin crocheting. It includes sources about basic stitches, projects to start with, and places to find inspiration. If you are not yet sure if crocheting is the hobby for you, then this overview may inspire you to pick up that crochet hook! This guide also takes into account different learning styles by providing both textual and video resources. The resources will stimulate your creativity and your curiosity.

Furthermore, this guide probes a little deeper into this hobby by providing a bit of historical information about crocheting. It also touches on current events with a few crocheting-related news stories. This will help you learn more about the hobby you will come to love. There is also information about some of the benefits and creative uses of crocheting. Be sure to check that out, even if only to justify buying more yarn! Although this guide is geared toward beginners, it contains information that even experts will benefit from. Let's get started! 

Photo by Edz Norton on Unsplash

This section of the guide is intended to help conduct your own searches to discover entirely new information from library databases, discovery systems, or even The Web. It is also here to help you navigate through some of the resources in the guide that will require you to explore on your own! 

Internet articles, news stories, web pages, and crocheting related videos were found through the use of Google. The NYS Historic Newspapers site and the Internet Archive can be accessed by clicking on them here, or through a google search for them. Although the print resources were found as ebook versions in the Middletown Thrall Library catalogue and through the use of Hoopla (which Thrall patrons can access with a library card), you can use WorldCat to find them at a library near you. For each book resource, there is an embedded link to WorldCat. Click the link and then create an account/sign in to begin searching in WorldCat. Another option is to see if your library has access to Hoopla. If it does, you can use your library card to access the ebooks in this guide. The journal articles, databases, and the video from Barrie Machin can be found through the Primo Discovery System on the UAlbany University Libraries Page and/or using the Database Finder

Below are some search strategies that you can implement to help focus and narrow your results. Using Boolean operators can ensure that you find materials related to you search:

• AND/OR (Using the AND/OR Boolean Operators can help you narrow or limit your results, depending on which one you use. For example, if you search "Crocheting AND Knitting" you will find only resources that mention crocheting and knitting. However, if you search "Crocheting OR Knitting" you will find resources that mention either crocheting or knitting or that mention both. Make sure to put the AND/OR in all caps.)

• Quotations (Using quotation marks can help you search for resources that contain an entire phrase. For example, searching for "Crochet hooks" with quotations around the term will ensure that you will get results that have the words "crochet" and "hooks" next to each other, rather than results that may contain the word "crochet" and the word "hook" separately. However, make sure not to limit results too much using parentheses. For example, if you put quotations around the phrase "crocheting history," you will only get results that have the phrase "crocheting history," rather than resources that may contain the words "crocheting" and "history" separately. This may unfortunately eliminate helpful results that may contain a phrase like "history of crocheting." When used efficiently, however, the parenthesis operator can be extremely helpful!

• Truncation (Using truncation can ensure that you get results that include all forms of a word. It ensures that you will not miss useful resources due to minor differences in word spelling/phrasing. For example, searching for the word "crochet" will only generate results that have the word "crochet." Thus, there is the possibility that you may miss resources that use words like "crocheters," "crocheter," "crocheted," and "crocheting." You can perform truncation by using an asterisk in place of the ending of a word or the part of the word that is subject to different phrasing/spelling. For example, if you search "crochet*" you will get all forms of the word that contain the phrase "crochet" in the word. Thus, you will get results that have the word "crocheters," "crocheting," "crocheted," etc. 

• NOT (Using the "NOT" operator will help keep you from getting irrelevant results. For example, if you are searching for beginner projects on the internet, but want something other than a blanket, you can search "beginner crochet projects NOT blanket*" This will help keep you from getting beginner blanket projects. Note the use of truncation. This will ensure that you do not get results that use the plural of the word either, which would be "blankets." (In this example, the quotations were only used to separate the search terms from the rest of the sentence. Do not put quotations around this entire phrase, since, if you remember, the quotations will cause the search to only generate sources that contain the entire phrase in the quotations.))

Since most of the more practical sources for beginning to crochet or crocheting in general will no doubt come from the The Web (such as online videos and website articles), here are some terms that you can use to find helpful beginner resources. You can still use the search strategies above, however, to come up with your own searches and generate useful results. 

• How to crochet a/an (insert project name here, such as blanket, scarf, etc.) for beginners 
• Beginner crocheting projects
• Tips for beginning crocheters
• HINT! To find projects, search for "beginner crocheting projects" in Google. After the results have appeared, hit the "Images" tab. This way, you will be able to browse through the results by looking through the images associated with the web pages, rather than by looking at the titles of the webpages. When you see an image you like, click on the picture and then hit "Visit" to go to the site/video that will show you how to complete the project. Doing this can help you find a project you will like faster than the time it would take to visit each individual webpage to see what the projects look like.

If you would like to dig deeper into the more technical and historical aspects of crocheting, below are some search terms that you can use to generate results in a database discovery system, or even an internet search. Remember that you can use truncation on these! For example, using a truncation on the term "history" below to make it "histor*" will ensure that you generate results that contain other terms like "historical." Try these out!:

• Crocheting benefits
• Crocheting news
• Crocheting history