you probably think I am stupid.

Just to respond to Siope - 'granny squares' can be useful for a blanket / throw and I have seen a beautiful jacket make with them. BUT they are not the be-all and end-all of crochet, and you do need the geometry of them in your head, which not everyone can take to! Personally, I find simple rows of double crochet (US or UK) easiest.

I think we all have 'break down' moments when everything seems all wrong, so I'm glad OP is having a break.
I was good at a lot of crafts (except knitting) but have had to give up a few, including embroidery, as my arthritis worsens.

People who 'get' stuff are often the worst teachers. I have felt humiliated and despairing at times because I am very clumsy & unco-ordinated. Even at Aqua-aerobics, I have to be apart from others and do the exercises as best I can. because all sorts of sequences are beyond me, and I have never been able to dance (except simple folk dances). I have learned not to think it 'stupid' but to do the best I can.

I hope that, after a break, OP can find out whether crochet will be a lovely new craft for her to discover, or something she simply has to put aside.

Just to respond to Siope - 'granny squares' can be useful for a blanket / throw and I have seen a beautiful jacket make with them

Yes, I know. But the OP is a long way from that, and I’ve never understood why so many people/tutorials suggest starting crochet with a granny square. As others have said, there are better and more straightforward ways of starting out.

If someone does want to learn something beginning with a ring, magic or not, I often suggest beanie type hats.

Magic Moon is right! A wee bit practice before attempting the squares.

You are definitely not stupid. Just look at what you've achieved. Like yourself I hate being defeated by anything. I know you've looked at Youtube, but go on there and put Happy Berry crochet in the search box. She's fantastic and everything she does is explained and demonstrated perfectly. you can stop and start the video time and again if you make a mistake. Give it a go. You've got nothing to lose.

Siope my friends at craft group would be appalled at you saying granny squares have no used apart from a coaster. My friends have made blankets ,bags,cardis ,jumpers , sleeveless tops ,scarfs ,even toys from granny squares .
Have a look at sites such as Gathered at the variety of granny squares you can make . Plus others sites and craft suppliers all have free patterns for making things using granny squares.

Oh, for pity’s sake. I said a single granny square isn’t much use… It was a way of saying ‘don’t fret over one possible way of learning, try another’.

Granny squares can wait! A scarf would be easier than a granny square.

A chain is all you need to learn on Day 1.

1. As others have said, forget magic circle just do chains and join into circles.

2. As you finish your rounds look at them. They have to look symmetrical. So your sides should look the same and also corners. One corner with 3 trebles, 3 chains and 3 trebles is correct, if you do one with 2, 3, 2 it will look wrong. Just pull that bit back and redo.

3. Bella Coco video taught my niece during lockdown when books didn’t.

4. Don’t give up. Once it clicks with you, you will be away!

It's not just you. A lot of people seem to have trouble with crochet, even those who are very talented in other areas. A friend of mine is a trained tailor. She's done cross-stitch, free-hand embroidery, the whole lot. But crochet? Forget it! For myself, I don't have any trouble with it. But I learned from diagrams in a book which didn't show the hands, so everyone tells me I hold the hook & wool all wrong! I still get better results than most of my friends, though. I think you either click with crochet or you don't, so if I were you I wouldn't worry. In any case, if you're having trouble with your hands, crochet is just as bad as anything else for making the joints ache! Good luck if you want to keep trying anyway!

This is quite an old thread I know but I meant to comment at the time and didn't. I learnt to crochet when I was about 8 and my mother taught me using really thin thread and tiny hooks - it was practically lace-making. I still have many of her.patterns from the 40s for dressing table sets (cheval sets), dainty gloves and so on. Of course, later I moved on to crocheting larger things with wool.

The point I was going to make, though, was that on the YouTube videos the way they hold the hook and the work looks very unnatural to me. I hold the hook much closer to the work and with the hook pointing downwards. They show it with the hand further back up the stem of the hook as with the hook pointing sideways. This may just be because it is better for filming, but it looks funny to me.

This is quite an old thread I know but I meant to comment at the time and didn't.
Ditto, JackyB

poppysmum I knitted for years from being a teenager, didn't bother for years then took it up again when I had DGC.

Occasionally I tried to crochet but it always defeated me, trying to start with a row to make a straight piece but ending up with it getting wider and wider. An old lady who made Granny blankets tried to show me but I still didn't grasp it.

Then, during lockdown, I decided to try again and mastered a Granny square with the help of a simple book and YouTube videos (Bella Coco was one, MadebyAnita another and a Swedish woman but I can't remember her name).
The book was called First Steps in Crochet, I think (from my local craft shop).

I don't think I hold the hook and yarn 'correctly' either but whatever feels right is right for you.

Don't bother with a magic ring, fiddly and not safe imo. I make a chain of 3 or 4, join and crochet into the middle of the chain.

Granny squares can then be joined into blankets if you like with join as you go (I recommend Hooked by Robin for that).

My DGD won't wear knitted items now but do like their Granny square blankets.

The patterns and possibilities out there are endless!

Our crochet group meets in a fairly public place, and when mature women, like us, stop to chat, the most common opening line is 'I've knitted for years, but I cannot crochet. I have tried'

Most of us learned post-retirement. We all hold the wool and hook differently (especially hard for experienced knitters), and it took all of us ages to grasp the magic ring, though it is useful.

Anyone who wants to start, we direct to Bella Coco (left and right handed starter videos on YouTube). Bella Coco does an excellent beginner granny square video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GALGQdP_POw

I prefer to learn anything with someone who's a little bit further along the road that I am. Someone who can remember the struggle!! Good luck