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Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects, a free arts course on Tomo

Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects

Like Duolingo, but for Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The First Small Wins and Growing from Small Motifs to Big Projects. It starts from scratch.

11 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Barnaby the Bear, the guide who teaches the Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects course
Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects
with Barnaby the Bear
11
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects

  • A slip knot should slide easily back and forth along the crochet hook's shaft
  • Clamping the knot too tight chokes the hook and makes pulling the first loop through nearly impossible
  • Leaving it completely loose causes inconsistent, sloppy initial stitches
  • The dominant hand controls hook angle and catches the yarn
  • The non-dominant hand maintains steady yarn feed across an raised finger
  • Pinching just below the active loop keeps the chain from twisting while the hook pulls
  • Yarn needs to glide smoothly across fingers to maintain consistent loop size
  • Gripping yarn in a clenched fist starves the hook, leading to tight, rigid stitches that tire the hands
  • Even tension comes from gentle friction, not forceful gripping
  • A tight foundation chain cannot stretch to accommodate the height and width of subsequent rows
  • When the foundation chain is tighter than the stitches worked into it, the bottom edge cinches and curls
  • Keeping foundation chain loops relaxed and loose ensures a flat, elastic starting edge
  • A stitch begins by inserting the crochet hook into the target space
  • Yarn over catches the working yarn to pull up a new loop
  • The final pull-through locks the new loop onto the fabric and resets to one loop on the hook
  • The very first and very last stitches of a crochet row are easy to overlook
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Starting Your First Crochet Loop

What happens if you pull your slip knot down as tightly as possible against the hook?

Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.

Course map

Where Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects takes you

Start with a simple loop and a pocket-sized coaster before taking on blankets and wearables. Master hook control, tension, and modular motifs through quick, tangible wins.

  1. 1

    The First Small Wins

    • The First Loop and Chain
    • Making Flat Fabric: The Single Crochet Coaster
  2. 2

    Growing from Small Motifs to Big Projects

    • Working in the Round: The Modular Granny Square
    • Scaling Up to Blankets and Wearables

2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Start free

Start Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects today.

Download Tomo, search Crochet: Small Stitches to Big Projects, and play your first lesson in under a minute.