Crochet
Crochet for beginners
A complete beginner's guide to picking up a hook and making your first stitches.
What you need
A 5 mm crochet hook, a ball of medium-weight acrylic yarn, a pair of scissors, and a blunt tapestry needle for weaving in ends. Acrylic yarn in a light color is easiest to work with because you can see your stitches clearly and it forgives tension mistakes.
The slip knot
Make a loop about six inches from the tail, reach through and pull the working yarn to form a new loop. Slide that loop onto your hook and pull the tail to snug it up. The knot should slide freely along the hook — if it locks tight, start over.
Your first chain
With the slip knot on your hook, yarn over by wrapping the working yarn from back to front around the hook. Pull through the loop on the hook — that is one chain. Repeat until you have the number of chains your pattern calls for. Keep your tension even so every chain is roughly the same size.
Single crochet
Insert your hook into the second chain from the hook, yarn over and pull up a loop so you have two loops on the hook. Yarn over again and pull through both loops. That completes one single crochet. Work one into each chain across the row, then chain one and turn your work to start the next row.
Double crochet
Yarn over before you insert the hook into the next stitch. Pull up a loop so you have three loops on the hook. Yarn over and pull through the first two loops, then yarn over and pull through the remaining two. Double crochet is taller than single crochet and works up faster.
Changing colors
Work your last stitch in the old color until the final yarn-over. Drop the old yarn and complete that last pull-through with the new color. Carry the old yarn along the back if you will need it again soon, or cut it and weave in the tail later. A clean color change happens on that very last pull-through, not at the start of the new stitch.
Reading a crochet chart
Crochet charts use standard symbols: an oval for a chain, a plus sign or X for single crochet, and a T shape for double crochet. Read odd-numbered rows right to left and even-numbered rows left to right, just as you turn your work. Each symbol sits where the stitch should go, so the chart is a visual map of your finished piece.