Crochet by Miharin

Earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to teach a group of young children how to crochet. It means a lot to me since it’s such an honor to be able to promote crochet to the younger generation. Also, I believe that it is beneficial for children to try out different crafts at young age, in order to build on their interests and develop fine motor skills, as well as to improve attention.

It was pure excitement at first. However, when I started doing some plannings for the sessions, I realised designing the activities and projects for each lesson is not the most difficult part. The real challenge is to explain the crochet process to the kids. For young children who have never crocheted before, it could be too complicated or confusing. The fine motor skills required for the actual application would be another challenge as well.

It was then I realised I needed some extra guides and cues for the children to process all the information better. Eventually, I found one video on YouTube with a young girl teaching how to do chain stitches. The tutorial is clear and the technique taught is more children-friendly than the ones we usually see online. After a few sessions, my students are more familiar with crochet and they even came up with a new way of holding yarn and yarning over. I find their way of crocheting quite useful and it could be a game changer for young crocheters. I’ll make a video about it along with other tips I’ve learnt throughout this experience for your reference.

One day, a student came to me and showed me a collar that she made (shown in the photo above). I was very impressed as we were still practicing the single crochet stitch with some simple projects. A collar is clearly a huge improvement on skills. After admiring her work and giving praises, I passed the collar back to her and it was then she said it is a gift made for me! You can safely guess that it brought tears to my eyes haha. I was touched not only because she spent her time and effort to crochet something for me. It’s also how she has developed a deeper interest into the craft and is generous enough to share her joy and love with me. I’m super proud of her and glad that there’s one more passionate crocheter in our world now.

The collar was not attached to any buttons or straps, so I told my student that I’ll add some final touches to make it detachable. Since I couldn’t find any yarn in the exact color from my stash, I chose a darker color and added a row of single crochet with matched tension. I tried to avoid doing too much in order to keep the authenticity of the original design, and it turned out perfectly! This collar will forever be a precious keepsake since it contains so much memories! It’s definitely one of the most heartwarming gifts I’ve ever received : )

P.S. My craft room makeover is officially done! A few minor touches are still needed but it is ready for filming! I’ve already filmed some new content in it and I’ll upload them after editing. Stay tuned for a new pattern release!