I haven't continued with my Craftsy Crochet Lab class this week, but only because I have someone teaching me in person and she, unfortunately, is going back home this week. I have to take advantage of her mad crochet skills while I still can! I still love and recommend the Craftsy class and am planning on taking more as my skills progress.
So far I've made three scarves using single stitch crochet. Because it's the only one I currently know. I'm getting used to how to hold the yarn and the hook (there's no one right way, trust me), as well as figuring out which style of hook I like. Because I hold far too much tension in my hands, I prefer hooks that have a thicker handle. There are a variety out there, but I chose from the slim selection at my local crafts store. My current favorite is by The Crochet Dude. I love this hook's thick, padded handle. At some point, I'd still like to try the Addi ones that have a wide, curved handle. I can work with the standard skinny hooks, but I simply prefer not to. I know that you can get rubbery grips to slip over them and I've heard there are adapters (I guess you would call them) for people who have arthritis and need a much larger, rounder handle, so I'll have to check all of that out, as well. 
I chose to try a few different yarns, as well, to see how I feel about them. When I first started, the only one I could use was the Caron One Pound I originally bought. The acrylic is a bit scratchy and I have no desire to wear it (super sensitive skin), but it holds its shape really well and doesn't split, making it a perfect yarn to learn with. I made a few samples and then a long scarf the acrylic and decided that it's going to be the yarn I turn to whenever I learn anything knew in crochet. So when I go back to my Craftsy class and do the first project, which I believe is going to be a crocheted electronics case, I'll use the acrylic to learn on. My experience making the scarves was that after enough practice on the acrylic, I felt more comfortable using the Bamboo Ewe I'd bought, then trying out a random lone skein of Noro Cash Iroha that I found in one of my moving boxes from my mom's wealth of yarn that got left behind when she moved to Italy. The Cash Iroha is the silkiest I've come across in the many boxes of yarn I have in my garage, but it isn't the easiest to work with. But the Bamboo Ewe is only soft in comparison to the acrylic and some skeins of wool I found. Another type I'm favoring for its feel alone is alpaca, but the particular skeins I have are very thin.
Here are the three scarves I completed this past week:
On the left, in pale blue, is the Caron One Pound, which is 100% acrylic. Great for learning on, but not very soft.
In the middle, in a silvery grey, is the Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe, which is bamboo and wool. Softer than the acrylic by far, a little more stretchy and plied so it's not the easiest to work with when starting out. It is not, however, hard to work with in general. I will definitely be getting more of this.
The dark multicolored one on the right is the Noro Cash Iroha, which is cashmere blend, wool, cashmere and nylon. It's luxuriously soft. I want to make a blanket out of this stuff, but it would be a pretty dang expensive blanket.
I'm also making a scarf for one of my friend's kids out of the alpaca I found and will post photos once it's done.
Right now you can take a free mini-class on Craftsy called Know Your Wool. This seems like a pretty advanced class, but you never know what you'll glean and it's FREE.
Here are the three scarves I completed this past week:
On the left, in pale blue, is the Caron One Pound, which is 100% acrylic. Great for learning on, but not very soft.In the middle, in a silvery grey, is the Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe, which is bamboo and wool. Softer than the acrylic by far, a little more stretchy and plied so it's not the easiest to work with when starting out. It is not, however, hard to work with in general. I will definitely be getting more of this.
The dark multicolored one on the right is the Noro Cash Iroha, which is cashmere blend, wool, cashmere and nylon. It's luxuriously soft. I want to make a blanket out of this stuff, but it would be a pretty dang expensive blanket.
I'm also making a scarf for one of my friend's kids out of the alpaca I found and will post photos once it's done.
I'm proud of myself for having already created a few things with the small amount of knowledge I have (huge thanks to Maria for teaching me and my mom for buying me the Craftsy Crochet Lab class), but I'm not actually finished with them.
Aside from a variety of stitches and patterns, I need to learn how to block my projects once they're done and I need to learn more about the various yarns that are out there - don't even get me started on patterns, embellishments and using more than one skein on a project!
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