Pattern

Chapter 3: The Single Crochet

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Overview

Unlike the chain stitch, the single crochet (sc) is likely going to be the stitch you use the most. It can be used to make nearly anything: scarves, blankets, but mostly my favorite, amigurumi. It’s relatively easy too, at least once you perfect the chain stitch.

While this stitch is easy, getting started and making that first stitch can be a bit difficult. But once you finish the first one, you’re good to go. So let’s learn the basics for how to do a single crochet in a row (meaning just going back and forth).

What you'll learn

01

The Single Crochet

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What you'll need

Cotton Yarn

Any color

Crochet Hook

Size G6 / 4.00mm

Abbreviations

ch

Chain Stitch

st

Stitch

yo

Yarn Over

sc

Single Crochet Stitch

The Lesson

Note:

These boxes are checkboxes

01

The Slip Knot

Okay, so to start, you’re going to be making your single crochet’s by working into the loops in a chain stitch.

What we're making

We want to start kinda small; we’re only make a little square that’s 8 stitches (or single crochets) in a row, so chain 9 stitches. You will always will need one more chain than the number of stitches you plan on putting in the row to make it go up evenly for single crochet stitches. This will make sense in a second I swear… just make a chain of 9 stitches.

Start

Chain 9

Step 1

Once you have 9 nice-looking chains, you’ll skip the first chain from the hook and put your hook into the top loop of the next chain over.

Step 2

Next you yarn over

Step 3

Pull that loop through the hole.

Try to scoop the yarn with the hook. This might be easier than just pulling it through.

Step 4

Then yarn over again

Try to scoop the yarn with the hook. This might be easier than just pulling it through.

Step 5

And pull that loop through the rest of the loops on the hook.

Repeat

Now to keep going! You just need to repeat steps 1 – 5 above into the next chain to the left.

At the end of the row, when you get through all the chain stitches (8), all you need to do is chain one and turn the whole thing around.

This is it turned around.

Row 2

This is pretty simple; you’ll be doing the same thing as you did before, but instead of putting your hook in the holes of the chains…

You’ll be putting them under these two, and into this hole here.

Make sure to skip that first chain you made though, the one you made at the end of your first row.

Make sure you go under both of these loops for now, but just so you know, this is part furthest from you is the back loop,

and the one closest to you is the front loop.

You can use these for other stitches and techniques later like invisible decreases, but for now, you should work into both these loops at the same time.

I think I’m working too tight or loose…

There’s a decent chance you’ll be single crocheting too tight or too loose when you first start out. You’ll know because you either won’t be able to get your hook into the stitch in the start (working too tight) or the piece will resemble more of a fishing net then what you were trying to make (too loose). I think it’s better to work too loose than too tight because if you’re working too loose you can at least still get the hook into the stitches, so try loosening your grip with your hand that’s grasping the yarn.

This is not really something I can necessarily teach you how to do better or worse, but it will come with time and practice.

Continue to Project 2...

This is one of the first patterns I ever made. I used to make tons of these for friends and family because they’re super simple to make and only take a few minutes.

Add a bobby pin in the back to make it a hairpin, or add a safety pin to pin it to a garment!

Continue to Project 2

Continue to Chapter 4...

Now that you know how to single crochet, let’s start learning how to make things bigger, thus, give them more shape. Increasing in crochet is important for making basically any shape other than a square, and it’s a pretty simple concept. The end goal is to make the ending count of stitches bigger than the amount of stitches in the last row.

Continue to Chapter 4

Lesson Topics

Comments

  1. Tonia

    It may be weird, but what is throwing me off is the layers of the strand. Everything is blending into each other (as it should), but my eyes are not processing the differences that I need to. This is really going take some time and practice.

    1. Louie Mensinger Post author

      Hmmm. Things blending together in the video or in person? Since this is your first stitch it will likely be the most difficult thing to do and take a decent amount of practice to get right, but things will be exponentially easier once you have a real grasp (unintended pun!) on the single crochet 🙂

  2. Kathryn

    I want to be sure I’m clear: when you start the third row (so the turn after you do a single crotchet into the chain) you will always go under BOTH threads vs the back thread like we did into the chain?

  3. San

    took a few tries but am slowly getting the hang of it… i also have same problem as tonia, my yarn can be hard to differentiate (the one in the video is fine). my eyes have to work to find the chains. maybe i need better quality yarn or my chains are too tight (had some trouble getting the hook through a few times). will keep practicing!

  8. Micha

    OK, just starting – I think I got it, but it’s really uneven and ugly at the moment. I will spend more time perfecting if before I move on to the next chapter!

  14. Chip

    I like these short and easy follow lessons. I am struggling to do this but these lessons are helping step by step. Slowly but surly. l

    1. Louie Mensinger Post author

      Hey there! This is likely because you are skipping a stitch in the beginning of the new row. Make sure to chain 1 before starting the next row and working into the last sc you made in the previous row! See the video on decreasing for more info on what you’re doing by accident (http://www.clubcrochet.com/dec)