The Beginner’s Guide to Crochet

Welcome to the beginner’s guide to crochet. This guide will walk you through the differences between UK and US crochet stitches, the basic crochet stitches and pattern reading tips that I’ve learned in my 14 years of crocheting. I taught myself how to crochet most things and even taught myself how to design patterns. With some work, you can learn to crochet easily and make all kinds of things.

Whether you’re a knitter wanting to learn crochet or someone wanting to learn a new skill like crochet, you’ve come to the right place! Crochet can be confusing as we have many stitches and to top it all off, you also have to pay attention to whether the pattern uses UK stitches or US stitches as it can dramatically change your finished item.

The difference between stitch terms

In the world of crochet you have to pay attention to whether a pattern is written in UK terms or US terms. These are different and can affect the outcome of your finished item. I’ve recently learned myself how the stitches between each got their names. For UK terms they get their name from how many loops are on the hook. So, a double crochet in UK terms has 2 loops on the hook before a pull through. In the US that same stitch is called a single crochet because we only pull through loops once. The US stitches got their name from how many pull through actions you perform.

I’ll be honest, I do not know much about UK as I haven’t worked with a pattern wrote in UK terms but my biggest tip for new crocheters is to skim through the pattern. If you see a single crochet anywhere in the pattern, the pattern is in US terms. Some pattern designers will state if the pattern is in US or UK terms in the notes section though so look for that as well.

Common US term stitches

Now we’re going to move on to what is one of the top two important things to know in crochet: the stitch names and how they’re done. These stitches are the foundation for more advanced and intricate stitch patterns.

Chain: The foundation for beginners and masters alike. This is how you can start many projects easily and this is how you build height for the first stitch of a round or row. You start with 1 loop on your hook, yarn over, and pull through that one loop. Children love to chain long strands for necklaces and the like. Often this stitch may be abbreviated as CH.

Single Crochet: This is the most basic of stitches in crochet and often the first stitch many learn after learning to chain. The single crochet stitch consists of having 1 loop on your hook, inserting it into your stitch or chain, yarn over, and then pulling through back to your starting point. You then have 2 loops on your hook. To finish the stitch, you yarn over one last time and pull through the 2 loops on your hook. This stitch may be abbreviated as SC.

Half Double Crochet: The half double crochet stitch is a mix between a double crochet (explained below) and a single crochet. To make this stitch you start by doing a yarn over to have 2 loops on your hook, you insert your hook into your stitch and yarn over. Pull through to the stitch and now you have 3 loops on your hook. The last thing you do is yarn over and pull through all 3 loops. This stitch may be abbreviated as HDC.

Double Crochet: This isn’t the tallest stitch out there, but its a very common tall stitch. To make this stitch you start by doing a yarn over to have 2 loops on your hook, insert your hook into your stitch and yarn, yarn over, and pull through to have 3 loops on your hook. To finish, yarn over and pull through 2 of your 3 loops, leaving 2 loops, and then yarn over and pull through your last 2 loops. This stitch may be abbreviated as DC.

Pattern reading

Now that you know the 3 most common stitches plus how to chain, you have to figure out patterns. I’ll be honest, I struggled at first with reading patterns. Most patterns were written in short hand and I didn’t know the abbreviations. There are many video versions of different patterns, but some are only in a written format. I found that once I was able to read patterns, I had the world at my finger tips. I could make anything! Below are my tips for learning to read patterns. You can find a more in-depth article here.

1. If you do best with videos, find a pattern that has a video and a written pattern. You can follow along with the video on your pattern.
2. If you’re not a video person, I recommend taking a pattern and writing it out so that it’s not in short hand. Fully write out the stitches and other directions to help you learn the shorthand.
3. Ask for help. Sometimes we don’t want to admit when we’re struggling. We’ve all been there, but seriously ask someone for help. This may be in a crochet group or maybe someone you know. Sometimes other explain it to us better.
4. Finally, try to learn abbreviations quickly. Many patterns, especially beginner patterns, have a glossary for abbreviations used.

 

I hope this beginner’s guide to crochet has been helpful. If you’re a seasoned crocheter like myself, share a tip that helped you as a beginner! Be sure to come back later for another guide to help the beginning crocheter! The next post will be tips on other common crochet slang and how to have an even tension!

Be sure to check out my Crochet Patterns page or my Ravelry for patterns for any skill level. If you’d like to know how I got started check it out Here

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