Stitching success: how Tom Daley’s crafting obsession can kickstart your crocheting journey

Last week, Team GB’s golden boy, Tom Daley, announced his retirement from diving, following the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympics, and after five previous Olympic features. Whilst the sadness of his retirement felt “very surreal” for both Daley and his supporters, these feelings were overshadowed rather quickly, with Daley picking up his first ‘post-Olympics gig’ by posing in knitted swimming trunks for a very important advert. Featuring the slogan ‘Don’t Drink and Dive’, his knitted garment is part of a campaign by liqueur brand Malibu and the Royal Lifesaving Society UK to spread awareness of the danger of alcohol-related water casualties. However, what makes Daley’s knitted garment so special?

As fans of Daley will know, throughout the Paris 2024 Olympics, he was spotted on regular occasions sitting in the crowds of various diving events, crocheting and knitting his own personalised Olympic merchandise. Daley’s end product was revealed to be a red, white, and blue turtleneck jumper, featuring patchwork French and British flags, with the words ‘Paris 24’ on the front, and ‘Daley’ on the back. He was even spotted at the closing ceremony gifting a crochet medal pouch to TikTok superstar and American rugby player Ilona Maher, making crochet circles to represent the French Tricolore as a memento from the event.

I found the process to be incredibly fun and therapeutic, requiring the perfect blend of concentration and relaxation

Notably, Daley took up crocheting and knitting as a stress-relief activity amid the adrenaline seeking nature of his career. Learning in the pandemic, Daley enjoyed the “mindfulness” and patience needed to practise crocheting and knitting, often finding time to stitch between training sessions and competition dives.

Around a year ago, whilst spending years of childhood being hopeless at knitting, I took up the hobby of crochet, and I completely agree with the mindfulness aspect Daley refers to. As a complete beginner, I bought myself a basic crochet starter kit on Amazon for around £10. I taught myself how to do a basic granny square using various YouTube videos and written tutorials. After the initial frustration and confusion disappeared, I found the process to be incredibly fun and therapeutic, requiring the perfect blend of concentration and relaxation needed to settle into the process of learning. Now, I enjoy nothing more than searching around Hobbycraft to find the prettiest coloured wools or browsing Pinterest to get inspiration for a new project. Watching my favourite television series, whilst concentrating on crocheting, has slowly but surely become one of my favourite me-time activities.

My first piece of advice would be to not dive into the deep end like Tom Daley, and begin with the ultimate basics

With autumn slowly lurking around the corner, alongside the hype surrounding Daley’s new crafting career, I thought I’d use my rather basic wisdom to give you the first steps for joining the crocheting world. Before you start, you need to buy some basic materials and equipment. What makes crochet so easy to begin is the affordability of a starter kit. I recommend initially buying a set with various sizes of hooks, so you will be able to crochet with different plies (thickness) of wool. Then, I absolutely recommend getting a selection of your favourite colours of wool, I personally love pastels, to make the sometimes frustrating beginnings of crocheting more enjoyable. My go-to wools are the Women’s Institute acrylic yarns, which are both affordable and of a high quality, as well as coming in an array of colours. Overall, you can purchase a beginner crochet kit for around £10 to £15, depending on the number of wools you decide to use.

Now, when getting to the actual crocheting, my first piece of advice would be to not dive into the deep end like Tom Daley, and begin with the ultimate basics. Yes, a colourful, handmade crochet jumper is the dream, but getting there requires practice, and starting out with something too difficult will leave you in a muddle of wool and crochet hooks. I recommend learning how to do a single crochet square or a granny square as your starter challenge. This requires fairly basic stitches and introduces you to using different wool colours. In no time, once you have four or so squares, you’ll have the basics of a blanket, or a bag, and be able to try out more exciting stitches.

You are officially ready to begin your crocheting journey. With the start of term, and cooler weather just around the corner, why not impress your housemates with a beautiful homemade blanket, or a fun new bag? — it’s the perfect time to get started.