#crochetbeginnermistakes — Public Fediverse posts

Things Beginner Crocheters Are Too Embarrassed to Ask

When you first learn to crochet, nobody warns you that you’ll also need to learn an entirely new language.

At some point, you’ll wander into a crochet group and read something like:

“I had to frog my WIP because I lost yarn chicken after finding a knot in my cake.”

And you’ll sit there wondering if these people are crocheting or summoning woodland creatures.

So let’s decode some of the weirdest crochet terms that beginners are often too embarrassed to ask about.

Frog (or Frogging)

What beginners think:
Something involving cute amigurumi amphibians.

What it actually means:
Ripping out your stitches because something went wrong.

Why is it called frogging?

Because you “rip it, rip it, rip it.”

Get it?

Like a frog says “ribbit.”

This joke has been making crocheters laugh since approximately the invention of yarn.

WIP

What beginners think:
A fancy crochet stitch.

What it actually means:
Work In Progress.

Translation:

The blanket sitting in your basket.
The sweater on your couch.
The shawl you’ve been “almost done with” since 2022.

Most crocheters have several.

Some have dozens.

We don’t judge.

UFO

What beginners think:
Aliens.

What it actually means:
UnFinished Object.

A WIP becomes a UFO when enough time passes that you’re no longer actively working on it.

That baby blanket?

The baby just graduated high school.

It’s a UFO now.

Yarn Chicken

What beginners think:
A children’s game involving poultry.

What it actually means:
Trying to finish a project before running out of yarn.

The final few stitches become an Olympic-level sport.

Will you make it?

Will you be three inches short?

Nobody knows.

Stash

What beginners think:
A secret hiding place.

What it actually means:
Your yarn collection.

Officially, it’s a collection.

Unofficially, it’s enough yarn to survive several economic collapses.

Cake

What beginners think:
Dessert.

What it actually means:
A ball of yarn wound into a flat cylinder shape.

Sadly, it contains no frosting.

Skein

What beginners think:
A typo.

What it actually means:
The standard bundle of yarn sold in stores.

Most crocheters use the word daily and still aren’t entirely sure how to pronounce it. (It’s skayn.)

Frog Pond

What beginners think:
A peaceful nature scene.

What it actually means:
The pile of yarn created after you’ve frogged half a project.

Sometimes it’s bigger than the project itself.

Blocking

What beginners think:
Something you do on social media.

What it actually means:
Shaping your finished project so it behaves itself.

Magic.

Actual magic.

Stitch Marker

What beginners think:
A specialized crochet tool.

What experienced crocheters know:
It’s whatever random object is closest.

Bobby pins.
Paper clips.
Safety pins.
Bread bag clips.

We’ve all done it.

HOTH

What beginners think:
Something from Star Wars.

What it actually means:
Hot Off The Hook.

A freshly finished project.

Usually photographed before the ends are woven in.

SABLE

This is where things get dangerous.

Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.

In other words:

You own more yarn than you could realistically crochet in your lifetime.

Many crocheters pretend this isn’t them.

Many are wrong.

The truth is, every crocheter starts out confused.

One day you’re asking what “WIP” means.

A few months later you’re casually saying things like:

After finding a factory knot in the last yard of my cake, I lost yarn chicken, rage-frogged my WIP into a frog pond, raided my SABLE for a matching skein, joined a mystery CAL, missed the stitch marker placement twice, and still managed to get the FO blocked before cast-on envy convinced me to start another project.

And somehow that sentence makes perfect sense.