I am currently beginning to obsess about Filet Crochet. My mil has a piece that she framed which has the family last name on it. My sil just recently bought one made by a crocheter from her home town. I have wanted for years to at least get a handle on crochet to make one of my own. I keep thinking that although I can chain 'til the cows come home, the reason I don't knit Continental is because crocheting feels so awkward. I've begun searching online for freebie letter patterns and such but at least I went to Hobby Lobby and got a steel hook, a Filet crochet book and a ball of thread. The book has some how to's and a few projects along with coaster patterns that you put an initial. I figure I can practice doing one letter and branch out from there.
Anyone have any tips/advice? When I finally got the hang of knitting after years of trying to teach myself and found the new books these last few years having good pics and of course this site, I know there is more good info out there for me on this. I've visited NexStitch site which is great too!
Thanks everybody!:thumbsup:

I love filet crochet! The patterns are pretty easy to follow, for one thing! It's all chains and double crochets, and you work in rows, so you can really see how your pattern will look. The most difficult parts, IMO are (1) counting the chains for the foundation chain - it's easy to get lost when you're doing a hundred chain stitches, and (2) keeping your place in the pattern. I find that not letting anyone interrupt you on that initial chain, and marking your rows as you finish them will help you with those two problems.

Filet crochet is fun! That is how I got into doing "lacy" crochet. I
found a book on filet and tried it and loved crocheting with the light
thread so worked my way slowly into doing lacy projects. Also, the
great thing about filet is with some graph paper and a little patience
you can easily make your own designs!
Libbie :)

The most difficult parts, IMO are (1) counting the chains for the foundation chain - it's easy to get lost when you're doing a hundred chain stitches, Just like with knitting, you can mark every 10, 25, 50 chains so you don't have to recount.:teehee:

I always over chain. I'd much rather have too many chains than not enough. It's really easy to pick out a few extra chains....much easier, IMHO, than frogging the whole thing and starting over! :lol: