Beginner Friendly Crochet Gift Ideas: Three Patterns to Start With

A handmade gift is one of the few things nobody can go out and buy. Someone sat with it for a few evenings, and that is the part people remember long after they have stopped noticing the thing itself.

You also get to choose the color, which a bought present almost never lets you do. Think about the person before you pick the pattern. Buy the yarn in a color you know they like, and the gift looks like it was made for them.

The three patterns below are the ones I give away most. They are all beginner friendly, they are all small enough that you will finish them, and each one has something you can add to make it personal. All three are in my shop, along with the rest of my patterns.

A spa set, when you want to hand over a whole present

Four matching pieces in one pattern: face scrubbies, a mesh drawstring bag, a headband and a scrub glove. They are made to go together, so they read as a set instead of four separate things that happen to be the same color.

The mesh bag belongs with the scrubbies. They go inside it when it is time to wash them, which is how small rounds like that avoid disappearing into the machine.

If you want to make more of it, fill in around the crochet with things you buy. A face cleanser, a bar of soap, a face mask, a hand cream, a candle. The handmade pieces are what make the gift personal.

For a beginner it is four small pieces, and each one is finished on its own, so you can stop after any of them and still have something to give. Start with the scrubbies. They are the quickest of the four. They also go in the washing machine and get used again instead of thrown away, which is worth keeping in mind when you choose the yarn. Cotton is what you want for something washed this often. It takes a machine wash, it softens rather than falls apart, and it holds its shape once it dries.

Pattern: crochet spa kit.

The crystal pouch, the one I give most often

A small drawstring pouch with two wooden beads on the cord. It is worked in the round, it goes fast, and it takes so little yarn that the leftovers in your basket are enough. That makes it a good first project as well as a good gift.

It is my favorite thing here to give away, and the reason is what goes inside it. Pick out a crystal for the person, write what it stands for on a small card by hand, and put both in the pouch. The pouch is the gift, and the crystal is the part that is about them.

Match the yarn to the stone or to the person, whichever gives you the stronger idea. A blue stone in a blue pouch looks considered. So does a pouch in the color someone wears every day, whatever is inside it.

It works for other small things too. A pair of earrings, a ring, anything that would otherwise be handed over in the box it came in.

Pattern: crystal pouch.

A bag charm pouch, for the person who is hard to buy for

A round pouch, around 70 mm (2.75 inches) across, that hangs off a bag strap or a belt loop on a cord. It closes with a long loop threaded through a short one, so nothing falls out when the bag goes upside down. Earbuds, lip balm, a snus tin. It holds whatever small thing that person is forever digging around for.

Three versions come in the one pattern: a granny square one, a fluffy striped one, and one with a sloth face. Pick the version by the person rather than by the one you like best. The sloth goes to someone who likes things cute, the fluffy striped one to someone with a bit of flash about them, and the granny square to someone whose taste is plainer.

It is an evening of work and it uses up leftovers, so it is the one to make when you need a gift sooner than you planned. Work it on the tight side, though. The fabric relaxes with handling, and a pouch that starts out roomy stops holding onto what is in it.

Pattern: bag charm pouch.

A few things worth doing before you hand it over

Weave the ends in properly. Your own projects forgive a lazy end. A gift goes to someone who has no idea how it is held together and will pull on whatever sticks out.

Write the washing instructions on a card. People are careful with handmade things because they are afraid of ruining them, and a line saying how to wash it is what gets it used instead of saved. Keep the ball band while you work, since the wash symbols you need are already on it.

Start earlier than you think. All three projects are small, and small is exactly what gets left until the evening before.

Where to start

If you have never crocheted a gift before, make the crystal pouch. It is finished in an evening, there is nothing to measure, and the crystal and the note do as much work as the crocheting does. Make the bag charm pouch when you want the gift to be funny as well as useful. Save the spa set for the person you want to give a whole box to.

All three patterns are in my shop, and so is everything else I have written, if there is more than one person on your list this year.