Join me as I talk myself through the various common crochet stitches and become more familiar with this craft.
Welp… I made a major discovery a few weeks prior. I don’t know how to crochet. It’s a little more nuanced than that. What I thought was a basic crochet stitch was actually a slip stitch. This has caused my crochet projects to be much tighter than they should have been. Which also lead me to question some crochet instructions.
There is a specific space where the crochet needle is hooked through. That space becomes very small and hard to work with if only using a slip stitch. Instructions always had me going through the space but I never could without feeling like I am forcing the needle through. A lot of things became clearer when I realized my mistake.
And so, I wanted to make a space to talk myself through the different common crochet stitches. This was to help myself get more familiar with the stitches and to leave that knowledge in a centralized space. Hopefully this will be helpful for anyone else learning to crochet.
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Chain Stitch (CH)
The chain stitch is the basis for a lot of flat projects such as scarves and blankets. At the start of the yarn there should be a classic slip knot that will start on the needle. The yarn is then wrapped around the needle; the loose yarn should wrap over on itself to create a full loop. The needle should be used to pull the existing loop on the needle.
This should cause the loose yarn to the loop of yarn on the thread. I continue the process until the chain is the length / width of the project.
Basic Crochet Stitches
Single Crochet Stitch (SC)
The single crochet stitch is the one that I have been using the most. Mainly because it feels like the most basic of stitches. To start, I moved the needle under the stitch. Then I looped the working yarn over the needle and pulled it back through. This leaves two loops on my hook.
To make it one loop, I wrapped the yarn around the needle once again. Pulling this thread through the two existing loops results in a single loop on the hook. And then the process starts all over again.
Half Double Crochet Stitch (HDC)
The half double crochet stitch is just a slight variation on the single. Before doing the single cross stitch process, I wrapped the yarn around the needle. This creates three loops in the middle step on the hook. But at the end, the last (fourth) loop around the needle is pulled through the other three to end up with only one loop left on the needle.
Double Crochet Stitch (DC)
The double crochet stitch becomes a slight variation on the half double crochet stitch. I really should have realized that from the name… Following the half double crochet stitch process, it is the same step until you have three loops on the needle. The fourth loop goes onto the needle but instead of pulling through all three loops, it only goes through the first two.
With the two loops left on the needle, I added one more loop. This is new third loop that will become the new main loop. For the final step of the process, I pulled the newest loop through the other two loops to get my final loop.
Other Good to Know Stitches
Increase Stitch (INC)
In a lot of projects, increasing the stitches to grow the size feels like a common thing to do. The most basic for increasing type stitch is creating a new one through the same base stitch on the project. I am going to assume I am using a single crochet loop for this example. Having the base of two stitches come through the same area creates a splayed kind of effect.
Decrease Stitch (DEC)
Just as increasing is common, decreasing is also an often-used stitch. This stitch does change based on which stitch you are using on your project. I am going to use a single crochet stitch for this example. It starts out like a standard single crochet loop, pulling the yarn through the piece, but then we place the needle through the next spot as well.
Now, with three loops on the needle, I wrapped the yarn around one more time and pulled this fourth loop through the previous three. This leaves me with one stitch but takes up two spots on the work.
Slip Stitch (SL)
I’m not actually sure how common a slip stitch is but I felt the need to talk about it. Why? Because for a long time, I thought that a slip stitch was a single crochet stitch. I cannot tell you how many times I sat looking at directions in complete confusion. It felt like crocheting was this impossible task. The day I learned an actual single crochet stitch opened a lot of ideas to me.
Anyway, a slip stitch is often to tighten a project. Starting just like a single stitch, we get two loops on the needle. Instead of adding a third loop, the existing loop gets pulled through the original one. It’s a stitch that keep the project very tightly wound.
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