Post a single crochet swatch?

[Brae_Day]

Okay.... Here's the scoop, fellow Craftsters...

I CAN'T CROCHET!!!  I have learned the basics and can whip the hook around pretty quickly, but I don't know if it looks the way it should.  All the tutorials online only show one row and don't show what the finished product should look like, which drives me bonkers.

Can someone please crochet me up a single crochet swatch?  Preferably a bit loose so I can see how the stitches should look.  I think that would help me out right now more than anything.

I wish I knew someone that could crochet, I really need to watch it SLOWLY and be able to ask questions.  The videos online don't help 'cause they're too short.

Okay, I'm rambling.  Anyone who can crochet me up a swatch will... ummm.... be my best friend?   

Thank you all!!!!!   

edited to add question mark on title line 

[TheSupy]

Interesting, I can crochet pretty well, though the things I crochet are pretty mediocre. But I was wondering, how do you guys hold the yarn you crochet? Because the way I hold the yarn tires my hand really fast! My mom loops the yarn a couple times around her pointer finger and holds her that way, but she being a righty and me a lefty, I just started holding it between my pointer and middle (the yarn between a peace sign) and then holding the crochet with the ring finger and thumb. how do you all hold yours?

[Lothruin]

I hold mine the same way I knit.  (I knit continental style)  I loop it once around my pinky, under my next two fingers, then bring it behind my index finger and back to the work.  That way, I use my pinky to control the feed but my index finger tells the yarn where to go.  I find it works quite well and is a very relaxed position for my hand.  Wish I could show you a pic.  I think I hold it a strange way.

[frogsrock]

http://www.geocities.com/barbie42day/scdiapershirt.html
the stitchs are pretty clear on that
or this might be better
http://www.yarntomato.com/63squares/images/01_sc.jpg

neather of those are mine, i just googled

[Brae_Day]

Okay!!  I think I'm getting the hang of this.  Frogsrock, thanks for the pics.  I'm not a very good Googler.   

One last question... is there a "wrong side" to crocheting or do both sides look the same?  (because mine don't) 

Thanks again guys!!

[Brae_Day]

Nope... still not getting it... EGAD!!!! What am I doing wrong???  I'm crocheting up something presentable, but it sure as h-e- double hockey stick doesn't look like what it's supposed to...

[Lothruin]

Ok, it could be that when you put the hook through the loops from the previous row you aren't going through BOTH loops, but only one.  That'll give you a little ridge.  I'm guessing that would be a pretty easy mistake, and therefore a pretty common one.  I learned to crochet when I was 6, so I don't remember whether I made that mistake my first couple times out or not, but it's pretty likely.

If both sides don't look the same, then my first question is are you turning and crocheting back across the previous row or are you breaking yarn and starting from the same edge again?  The front and back of a sc stitch look differently.  If you crochet back and forth across your work, you'll get something that looks like what frogsrock posted, because you see one row of front-facing stitches and one row of back-facing stitches, and it will look basically the same on both sides.  If, however, you break yarn at the end of each row and start over again at the beginning, crocheting the same direction every row, then on one side of your work you will only see the front of the stitches and on the other only the back, so the two sides will look different.

[Brae_Day]

That was it!!!  In the diagrams, it looks like you knit in BETWEEN the braid type thing, not underneath.  If that makes sense to you expert crocheters... 

But now I FINALLY have a croched swatch.  What a grand feeling.  Thanks so much you two, and thank you Lothruin for your patience and for never giving up on me. 

Sheesh, sounds like a Grammy acceptance speech.  Anyway, I really do appreciate it. 

Whew, that took a load off.   

[kevl]

I hold mine the same way I knit.  (I knit continental style)  I loop it once around my pinky, under my next two fingers, then bring it behind my index finger and back to the work.  That way, I use my pinky to control the feed but my index finger tells the yarn where to go.  I find it works quite well and is a very relaxed position for my hand.  Wish I could show you a pic.  I think I hold it a strange way.

Nah, that's not strange.  I hold the yarn in a similar manner (sometimes I wrap my pinky twice if I wanted more tension).  Then the crocheting is held with my middle finger and thumb.  And I do it all left-handed.

Brae_Day:  Now that you have the single-crochet down, half-double and double-crochet is just as easy.  Remember that it's simply an extra yarn-over or two, depending on the stitch.

bw: the singlecrochet diaper shirt is really cute.  That may be my next project...