I want to make it clear that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with using fine yarns and threads for crochet. In fact, I highly recommend it—just not if you’re in a hurry to get a particular project finished. One of the greatest disadvantages of using fine yarn and thread: the projects grow slowly. It’s completely normal, and expected, for a thread crochet project to take a substantial amount of time. For quicker projects, in the future, try starting with patterns that specify thicker yarns—at least worsted weight yarn, maybe even bulky or super bulky weight yarn, depending on the project. You don’t have to do this for every project, but you will probably want to do this for the projects you’re in a hurry to finish. You probably don’t want to abandon finer weight yarns altogether; you just have to be willing to allocate more time for finishing the projects you make with them. There’s one exception: If I’m working with a gigantic hook, in the size P or Q range, I’m pretty slow and clunky at that as well. Your mileage may vary, especially if you practice enough to get fast with hook sizes in either extreme. At any rate, you’re likeliest to be fastest with the hooks you use most often, and your speed generally will be optimized if you’re pairing your yarn with the correct hook size for the task at hand. If you’re using a fragile or flimsy crochet hook, it’s possible that switching hooks could help to speed things up for you. Generally speaking, easy solid crochet stitches tend to be more time-consuming than easy lacy stitches. For example, projects worked in v stitch are generally quicker than comparable projects worked in double crochet stitch. Lacy interrupted v-stitch, pictured at left, is a particularly quick stitch. Heavily textured stitches, such as puffs and popcorns, also tend to be time-consuming. You can balance that out a bit by incorporating open, lacy areas into the design, such as you see in this puff lace stitch with half double crochet vs—but still, those are rarely going to be speedy stitches to use. Large areas of slip stitch are time-consuming to do, thanks to the slip stitch’s short—almost negligible—height. So are stitch patterns that incorporate large areas of slip stitch, such as this classic menswear stitch. While you probably don’t want to avoid these wonderful stitches altogether, it’s best to avoid them when you’re in a hurry and you want to finish your project quickly. The takeaway here: the going can be just as slow on a too-easy project as it is on a too-challenging one. I’d Like to open the floor for comments so that y’all can share more tips and advice on the topic of how to finish projects faster. We welcome your ideas and insights if you are inclined to share them. Thanks in advance to everyone who joins the conversation! I am sure it will be a helpful and informative discussion, and I look forward to participating too. See Also: Is It Possible to Crochet a Baby Blanket in 24 Hours? Ironically, one of the quickest projects I designed, a pot scrubber, breaks guideline #1 posted above it’s made (in part) using crochet thread. Still, it only took me about 15 minutes to make my sample scrubber. That’s quicker than I could have gone to the store to buy a similar item if I had wanted to. Some of my flowers and beaded bracelets are super quick crochet projects, as well. Thanks for dropping by! I am so glad you stopped by today. It’s fantastic that you’re using the free resources our website has to offer; I hope you’ll browse awhile, and make yourself at home here. Thank you for your interest, and happy crocheting.
