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Author: Susan_Richards, Contributing Editor
| Beginner's Crochet
This article will cover the basics of crochet, including how to build your piece from a single knot, how to read a pattern, and different stitches you may encounter. Overview All of crochet comes down to a few basic skills. Once you have learned how to chain, single crochet, half-double crochet, double crochet, do a slip knot, and add and drop stitches, you'll be able to do a lot with yarn! |
| The Initial Knot
I almost always forget how to do this step off the top of my head--thankfully, it's a very simple trial-and-error process if you can't remember which way the yarn goes. For our purposes today, I'm using a G hook (4.5 mm) and worsted-weight yarn, which is the most bountiful yarn on the market. There are lots of different sizes of hooks and many different varieties of yarn today, so have fun! Firstly, when you hold your yarn to do crochet, you're creating both a way to feed yourself yarn and a somewhat taut work area where you can "grab" your yarn with the hook. The yarn feeds from the side of your subordinate hand (I am right-handed, so it's coming from my left and all demonstrations are right-handed) over the pinky of your hand, under the ring and middle fingers, and over the index finger. With the same hand that your yarn is being fed through, you hold the piece that you're working on between your thumb and your ring and middle fingers. Your index finger stays straight--think of it as the spindle that feeds your yarn. You work with the yarn that comes down from your index finger. |
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| In order to knot your yarn to begin a piece, wrap the yarn around your hook away from you, bringing the end of the yarn around and over the loop you made. Yarn over and pull your hook through your loop. (Yarn over means to take your hook and kind of duck it under the "working" yarn, so that the yarn is lying over your hook, ready to be pulled through a loop.) The end result is the knot, which you can pull tight--but not too tight. |
| Making a Chain
The next step in successful crochet is making a chain. Your hook is already through the initial loop attached to your knot; yarn over and pull the yarn through that loop. That's the first link of your chain. Repeat the process until your chain is the desired length. Make sure not to crochet your chain too tightly! The abbreviation in patterns for making a chain stitch is ch. This stitch is not only used to begin your piece, but also at the end of rows to make your piece nice and even--otherwise, you'll be dropping and adding stitches all over the place! |
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