Crafts

YouTube Crochet Inspirations: Channels to Follow

April 9, 2025Nikki Zeo

Recently I have been watching more and more crochet market vlogs and crochet studio vlogs. But let’s backtrack to the beginning of this year in January. I was asked, along with other small business owners, to apply to sell our items in their cafe shop. I had sold my items there before so I gladly said yes. Several day went by and I had started to make some inventory because I didn’t have anything. I don’t normally sell my items in my Etsy shop so I didn’t have anything made. So I frantically started crocheting bubble tea keychains. I also started going on line for more ideas. I’m not sure how I came across it but I happened upon someone who made something with chunkier yarns. In the past I stayed away from these because they were very expensive. They cost twice or three times as much as Red Heart Super Saver. Many times I would buy Red Heart on sale and it was a great deal.

So I finally caved and ordered several skeins of Premier Parfait Chunky. They were so soft and amazing to crochet with but I went through them very fast. I also tried out Bernat Blanket. Oh and to finish my story about the cafe shop, I was turned down so I had this extra inventory I had to sell. I also bought so much extra yarn. I wanted to make my money back so I decided to make more dolls to recoup my losses. I was planning on doing a market this year, sometime in the Fall or Winter but I already spent so much on yarn that I didn’t have enough to get packaging, a tent, display items and other things I needed to make my booth look nice. Meanwhile I started watching market videos on YouTube. I had seen one crocheter (madewithapril) make crocheted flowers and I thought I would try to attempt it. Crochet flowers were actually the ones I wanted to initially make for the cafe. I bought the wire and everything. So now I’m left with a whole bunch of wire that I have to use. Crocheting flowers is pretty easy but taxing on my hands. I only created a few. I might make more in the future but my 41 year old hands need a rest.

So I continued to grow my inventory and started watching market videos/vlogs. From Instagram, I found madewithapril. Her video style is so down-to-earth that I continued watching her other videos as well. Then I went on to watch many other videos from amazing YouTubers who don’t get quite as many subs and views as they should. Here I want to list the YouTubers I really enjoyed watching. They’re videos are so informative and friendly. They’re cozy vibes really makes them a wonder to watch and listen to.

I want to start with Made With April. She’s already got quite a following and her videos are amazing. I posted all the channels below. Just click on the image to go to their YouTube page.

The Perfect Tool

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024Nikki Zeo

I’m always in search of the perfect crochet hook set. I started with Boye and Susan Bates. Those are the cheapest ones you can buy. They are great when you are young but now that I’m older, my hands get more tired. With my pregnancies I got carpal tunnel and the thinner hooks make it hard to crochet. As a gift from my husband, I searched on Etsy for wooden ones, not for ergonomic hooks but just as a nice set. They were from Russia and really nice. The downside to wooden hooks, however, are that they tend to break. I’m not gentle on my hooks and sometimes my stitches are tighter than usual. My favorite size (F) broke and I had to glue it back together. I don’t use my wooden hooks anymore because I don’t want to break every single one. I just keep it in my crochet bag because they are beautiful hooks and my husband got them for me.

So then I got clay ones from Etsy. You know, the ones that are molded onto Boye or Susan Bates hooks. They are very nice and pretty but they fall apart after so many uses. The adhesive that attaches the different clay pieces come apart. I got a really nice Harry Potter one and the hat on the top came off. They are also fragile so pieces can break off if you aren’t careful. I’m pretty rough with my hooks and with kids, they aren’t the best investment.

I then went on Amazon to get Prym hooks. I didn’t read the description and so I didn’t realize they were plastic. All I saw was “ergonomic.” They also had great reviews and were recommended by other crocheters. Plastic isn’t going to go well with me. I had a plastic darning needle once and broke it. I need all the metal tools. Plastic and wood aren’t going to work.

The next ones I tried were not bad. They were from Boye. They are metal ones and have silicone wrapped around the handle. These were nice and were way better for my hands. They also do not fall apart.

I also tried various ergonomic hooks that were not branded. A few were from Temu. They were alright but when it comes to hooks, brands are important. Recently I went in search of a new set. For Valentine’s Day I searched online for “best crochet hooks.” I found the brand Tulip which I recognized as a brand that sells sewing tools. I always read reviews when it comes to buying anything and they were raving. People were saying that they are the best hooks they’ve used and that they are so smooth. I’m always for smooth hooks because who wants to crochet with a hook that keeps getting stuck. I saw them on Amazon and they arrived pretty quickly.

The set I got is Etimo by Tulip. They are so pretty and they are as smooth as people say. I already made a hat with the size 7 and it was just a dream to crochet with. Comfortable and smooth, just like crocheting is suppose to be. The set also comes with a small ruler, 2 needles and a roll-up case. If you are looking to upgrade your crochet game then these are it. They are available on Amazon. Happy crocheting!

Changing Color While Crocheting

March 18, 2016January 19, 2017Nikki Zeo

Changing colors in the middle of your crochet work can be tricky at times. Here is a way to cleanly change colors.

♥ Crocheted Pillow ♥

February 8, 2016January 19, 2017Nikki Zeo

I recently discovered a new way of crocheting, corner to corner crocheting. When you look up projects online people call them graphghans. When you look up a pattern it is usually plotted out on “graphing paper.” I created mine on excel and followed a pattern from repeatcrafterme: Heart Eyes Emoji. It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it. You can create any pixelated image you desire. I liked the Heart Eyes one because I use it a lot and it’s a great gift for Valentine’s Day. I made it for my fiance and turned it into a pillow instead of a graphghan because I wanted it to be done by Valentine’s Day.

The only thing I didn’t like about making this were the loose ends. Since there were more than one color there were a bunch of them. I suggest you weave the ends through your work instead of make knots. The knots always find a way to the front of your work and it’s just going to be a bigger pain to make them stay where they are suppose to be.

Making the back part of the pillow was so much easier because I only had to use one color. Just keep in mind that the back and front aren’t going to be the same exact size because different colors have different sizes. The gold yarn I used is a different brand and it felt like a smaller weight than the other colors. The black and red yarns were thicker. I stretched the front part of the pillow just a little so that I could sew them together. I actually crocheted the edges together instead of sewing but you could do that too if you don’t want to crochet them together.

Before you stuff it, sew most of it together. Try to stuff the pillow while the opening is still large enough to do so. Stuff it evenly then sew the gap closed. I enjoyed this project for the most part. I just didn’t like sewing and knotting all the loose ends together. I’m planning on making more of these emoji pillows. They are fun to make. Let me know if you make one and feel free to post a picture on my Facebook page. Also, take a look at repeacrafterme’s emoticon graphghan. It’s amazing: Emoji Graphghan. She has great instructions on her website too.

When I get a new camera I will make more videos and show you guys how to make this graphghan. Right now I’m just trying to get back into the swing of things. I have a few projects in mind that I want to start as well. Gotta get ready for Spring ^_^