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| A pear in progress |
Possibly almost 8 months ago now, I got myself an online Craftsy crochet class to try out. It's been sitting on the inter-web waiting for me until now.
I have looked at online classes in the past, I even signed up to sew school online. I started this so diligently, and then life and things went a little pear-shaped. Sew School is still on my 'to do' list and I will get there.
For now though, here is my frank, unbiased and unpaid and unaffiliated review of 'Improve your crochet; essential techniques' by Edie Eckman
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| Craftsy - Logo from website |
The Good
It's there forever! It didn't matter that I got it way back when, there's no expiry date on a Craftsy Course. So you can watch it as many times as you want. You can watch the same bits over again and save some bits for later.
It's filmed very clearly and separated into easy to follow segments.
The materials sheets; They supply conversions, patterns and instructions that Edie uses in the tutorials.
The Not So Good
I looked at the classes available, and as a novice crocheter, I though this was the best course to help me go further. It turns out, it wasn't really the course for me.
I got a little lost in navigating the actual site. It took me a little while to get used to the navigation for the videos which seemed to change if I went from desktop to a mobile device. There is a short video showing you (very quickly) how to navigate through, however it wasn't easy to locate.
The terms!! I'm already so confused with crochet terms and most of the patterns I work from are UK and this one is all done in US terms (they do supply a conversion chart in the class notes.)
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| I did make a few small samples during the course However I completely misplaced them! So no pictures |
Things That Would Have Helped Me
I personally would have benefited from a class that taught me how to create one single thing using crochet from start to finish, illustrating the techniques along the way. Even if it was just a good old granny square! That way I could have understood much more about how the techniques could be used when making other projects.
Something else I would've found helpful, would have been little subtitles converting terms into UK patterns, for example, If Edie was saying "work a double crochet" A subtitle would come up on the screen 'UK Triple Crochet'.
All Up
If I were more competent with crochet, I think this would have been much more useful to me at the first run through. That being said, I know it will be useful in the future, and after going through the whole thing, I now know what's covered.
It's gotten me interested in getting the crochet hook out again, and once I'm a bit more steady with it all, I'll certainly be taking another peak at Improve your crochet; essential techniques.
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| Still not entirely sure how I managed this fella! |
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If you are thinking of doing a Craftsy Class, I would recommend it. However before choosing one, my tips would be;
- Take advantage of all the information Craftsy provides, for each course. They cover frequently asked questions, what materials you will need, as well as ratings and reviews.
- See if you can borrow books from the library or read items online written by the person who is taking the course you are looking at, you can find out more under 'The instructor' on the course info page.
- Under 'Help' find the little video that shows you how to navigate through a lesson.
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