Let's take a minute and recognize that this is the most important stitch you will ever use. You might not think that because you only typically use this stitch at the very beginning of your projects, but think of this as the foundation for your entire work. Your house will fall down with a faulty foundation, and so will... No, your crochet won't fall apart but you may have variances in your tension, gauge, and spacing of your stitches if the foundation is not done well. A good chain stitch needs to be evenly spaced, have equal tension that is not too loose or too tight, and make sure that you are counting, because in a pattern, if you miss one chain it could mean ripping out the entire project after the second row (and sometimes rows are 300+chains long!). It's a good idea to place a stitch marker (or a small piece of a different color yarn) every 10-20 stitches to help you keep count.
What about the other stitches?:
Other crochet stitches will be necessary if you have hopes and dreams of creating something more than a necklace or bracelet, but like I said, without a chain stitch, you will not be able to work the other stitches. Also, you will notice a similarity in the way all crochet stitches are made. As a matter of fact, there are only a few instructions you will need to know how to do to crochet. This is where I break it down to just three things: You will need to know how to insert your hook into a stitch, place the yarn over the hook, and draw the yarn through some loops that are already on your hook. WOW! That actually makes it sound pretty manageable! So, are you ready to learn some basics?
I have made up a cheat sheet for a few basic stitches, as well as the most common abbreviations. I would encourage you to print it out and carry it around with your current crochet projects so that if you get stumped and are not near enough to YouTube or a computer, you will still have the help you need.
***And remember, crocheting is a very forgiving art, so if you find that your masterpiece is not looking too good, here's a little quote to get you through: "When in doubt, rip it out."
***Whatever you do, don't get discouraged, don't give up, and stay focused on the three little things I mentioned above: insert hook in a stitch (or space or chain), yarn over (once or twice or whatever the stitch calls for), and pull the yarn through a few loops. That's all there is to it!
YouTube and the Basics:
I would LOVE to say that I had amazing video tutorials for you to watch, but unfortunately, I don't have a video camera, or I just might have had that done by now. However, there is a woman who is affectionately known as the Crochet Geek on YouTube, and she has some AMAZING videos, and even does tutorials for LEFTIES! Are you as excited about that as I am? It is very difficult to teach a lefty to read patterns, work stitches, and make things "right" - lol - but she does a great job at it.
I'm listing a series of YouTube videos that cover all the basic stitches here for you to use when you get stuck. I've also included the abbreviation for each stitch to you can start to associate the stitch name with its abbreviation. Please note: This is not a complete listing of the videos that YouTube has available for crocheting, I just like the Crochet Geek's style of video. She works slow, speaks clearly and explains what she is doing in great detail, and on a lot of her videos, she even has a button in the beginning to click for a LEFT-handed tutorial!
- Slip Knots
- Chain Stitch (ch)
- Single Crochet (sc)
- Half Double Crochet (hdc)
- Double Crochet (dc)
- Slip Stitch (slst or ss)
- Trebble Crochet (trc or tc)
