How To Crochet For The Absolute Beginner: Master Basic Stitches & Pattern

1. 1. Introduction : Hello. I'm Alivia Charity, and let's learn how to crutate. I strongly believe that whatever you put your heart in your mind too, you can definitely achieve it. You just need to help the patience and the time to do it. If you're here right now, it means you are trying to learn how to crochet. Let's learn how to crochet. Today, I am going to work you guys through how to crochet for the absolute beginner. We're going to start very small from what is crochet to the history behind crochet, if you are interested in stuff like that. Then we're going to go deeper to the types of one types of crochet hooks. The best on for crochet beginners, the best hook for a beginner, how to hold a crochet hook, how to hold your on, how to make that very first slip. How to make a single crochet and a few more beginner friendly crochet stitches, working in the round, decreasing, increasing and the cherry on top, how to read a crochet pattern. At the end of how to crochet for beginners course, you will be able to make your very first crochet project using a crochet pattern that I'm going to provide for you. You can make this little crochet baby sweater because all the stitches that I'm going to be teaching you in this course, and all the tricks will be used to make this little crochet baby sweater. Why don't you click on row and let me see you in class. 2. 2. What is Crochet? History Behind Crocheting : So, what is crochet? When we talk about crocheting, we're talking about a handicraft technique that is used to create fabric from y and the crochet hook. You're going to find yourself with a crochet hook and some on and you'll be weaving them together in a technique to create yourself either a crochet toy, a crochet garment or something of the type. There's so much things that you can create from crocheting. I have seen people toys, I have seen people make playhouses, I have seen people make clothes, baby stuff, baby items, accessories, home decor or from this crochet fabric. So where did crochet come from? To be honest, it's really unknown as to where or who the first person was that came up with crocheting, but we know that it can date back to the 17th century also somewhere back then. And as to who which country came up with crocheting, we really don't know, but some say the French. Some say Europe. I mean, um the Western guys, but we are really unsure. But all we can say is thank you because personally, it is a stress coping mechanism and it's about to be for you as well. 3. 3. What you need to start crocheting : When it comes to everything you need to start to crochet, this is just about everything. So we're going to start with some yarn. But there are different weights of yarn. However, for a beginner, I would suggest that you use a worsted weight yarn. What is a worsted weight yarn? Well, a ted weight yarn is a number four yarn or a medium sized yarn. When you buy your yarn, I always has a number on always going to be a tag. I wish I had a brand new yarn because I would have shown you, but I'm going to put a page that's going to explain all the sizes of y. So we start from the very fine yarn, which is a very small yarn took extra extra ok. For a beginner, I would suggest that you use the number four or the worst weight n because that provides better grip and it's easier for you to see. So this right here is my western what y. I know you can see two strands of yon. That's because I'm using two finger and whit yarns together. Individually, this is the fingering wh y, the tiny end, but when I hold it together, it gives me a thick on, which is the west and why yarn. I am out of western why yarn, so this will have to do. Once we have our yarn, we are going to move over to the scissors. Now all of my supplies that you can see from here up to here. All of this came in a crochet hook set that I purchased. So if you would like, I can always leave a link in the PDF of that pattern that I have for you at the end of the course. You will need your scissors in order to cut off the yarn after you're done with your crochet work your crochet project. So you're only going to be needing the scissors when you are completely done with your crochet project. This right here that looks like a safety pin is actually a stitch marker. Assuming that you're working your crochet projects using that book, and you need to maintain you need to leave a stitch marker on a stitch, remember that this is where you left off or to continue from something where if you're working any pattern that need you to change young colors and it gives you specific numbers, you use this large stitch. Stitch marker. There are these other smaller stitch markers. A stitch markers purpose is to help you keep count of your roles or help you remember where you left off something as you crocheting. These are circular stitch markers, and then this is another one that's also designed like a set pin. This is my favorite because once you place it into your stitch and close it locks. Whereas for this one, you just insert it. As you work, sometimes I found that it's always come and done. It falls off my project. I find myself happing to go back to start counting. Imagine you're working a very large croche planket that needs you to work in multiples of ten or multiples of three. Now, it needs you after 60 stitches or after 15 stitches, you need to start increasing or you need to start doing a different type of pattern. That's where the stitch marker comes in handy because you don't want to keep counting each and every stitch. Personally, I'm crocheting, I like to watch a movie, watch a series, listen to music. Trust me, I'm not counting the stitches as I go. This is where the stitch markers come in handy. If you had to leave your stitch marker in the 15th or the 60th stitch, you just take your stitch marker and place it in there. When you're coming back on your project, you know that, this is the stitch that I need to change the stitch or I need to decrease, or I need to increase. That's what the stitch markers are for. Measuring tape, it usually helps you for me. I mainly use it for gauge and to measure the length of my crochet projects at the end or measure myself if I'm making a crochet cardigan. I need to know how many inches my shoulders are, and if I if I'm making a chain. I need to know that the number of the inches of my shoulders need to match the inches of the foundation chain. As we go, I'm also going to show you have to measure gauge using a crochet hook, but there is a gauge switch measurement thing magic that you are supposed to use. I will also link you to that. This little thing right here is a stitch counter, as you can see. You spin this white part. It's supposed to be at zero, both sides like so. When it's at zero like that, when you're working, let's say a large project like a cardigan, a blanket or something like that, that you need to keep count of rows. When you work your first row, you are going to start with the right side. Move it to one so that you know that I've worked one row. When you finish another row, you move it up to two. Once you find yourself that you have finished the single number, so you have gone all the way up to nine. That's when you start moving this left side. When you come to ten, you leave it ten, and then when you go up to 11 and so on and so forth. Next, your yarn needles. This is just like any shaped as any needle that you know, but it's so much thicker because obviously you need your yarn to pass through the eye. The bigger the yarn for example, this an right here, it's going to be a bit harder to pass it through this, not so much as hard, but it's going to be so much easier to just pass it through the larger eye opening. Just like so. You need these when you are weaving in your ends. For example, when you're done with your crochet project, and you've got a long tail of yarn laying around. Instead of just cutting off and leaving a little tail laying around, that's going to make your work look ugly or not as pleasant. It's easier to just weave it in, so you act as if you were sewing. You sew the remaining piece of yarn into the project itself to make it nice and clear. That's what we use this. The cordoning needle or a yarn needle. To the main project, the main event are your roti hooks. As you can see, I've got multiple and they come in different sizes. Trust me, they get larger than this. But as a beginner, the smallest one I have right here is a three millimeter, which is this one right here. Three millimeter and then there's a 3.5, I would not advise you as an absolute beginner to use these two. That's a personal preference because they're very, very small. They get smaller, trust you me, they get to a zero point something 0.5, and that's a very, very tiny creche hook. I would not advise you to use any of this, so I would leave these aside. For the absolute beginner, I would say start from a four because a four is so much larger, so it's easier for you to see what you're doing, and for your stitches to be big enough for you to see so that you do not get make any mistakes. My personal favorite is a five millimeter and that's what we're going to be using during this class. But for the set that I have, it goes all the way up to a 6.5, as you can see, Let me hold a 63 next to a six. Can you see the difference? One is so much larger than the other. If you're learning to crochet, this might be a bit too big for your comfort, but that's just my preference. I would definitely advise you to use that medium weight yarn, so that four millimeter, that number four yarn and a five millimeter crochet hook, which is what we're going to be doing in this course. 4. 4. How to hold a crochet hook: Get on to how to hold a crochet hook. I have with me my five millimeter crochet hook, which is what I'm going to be using in this lesson. There are a few methods, but personally, what I always say is hold it in whatever way you feel comfortable. When I first started to crochet, I would hold my crochet hook like this, and this is usually called the pen or pencil method. And then the puts that I was watching people were holding it like this, which is called the knife and fork method. Because it looks as if you were eating, you know, you're using a knife to eat in the restaurant. But like I said, do whatever is comfortable with you. But if you want to go for what the majority to do, then you can either hold your croche hook like so. Like I have done right here, and then you crochet, or you can do so. Personally, I usually find myself holding it like this when I'm making a chain, which you would te see me when I'm teaching you how to make a crochet chain. But then when I get into the heart of my crochet project, I find myself holding it like this. If my hand gets tired like this, I go back to this. But what I have noticed is when I hold my like this using this method, my work tends to be tighter or my stitches are tighter than when I hold it like this. My stitches tend to be more looser when I hold my crochet hook like so. Again, it's optional, it's up to you hold your croche hook in whichever method you feel comfortable. But if you would like guidance, you can try this, the pen or however you hold a pen and see how that works for you. If this is a bit too tricky for you, then you can try holding it like you hold your knife or your fork when you're eating. 5. 5. How to hold yarn: Now that we have an idea of how to hold our crocie hook, we're going to get into how to hold a yarn. I am right handed. Obviously, that's why my croche hook is in my right hand. If you're left handed, then obviously your croche hook is going to be in your left hand. Meaning your yarn is going to be on the opposite side. You cannot c with your yarn in the exact same hand. It's impossible. However, I did come across a woman, a lady. Who has one hand, but she still makes it work. I mean, it's a bit of a struggle I can tell because she has to hold her yarn down with one hand or something so that she can work with the other hand. But it's beautiful to watch. However, right handed, your crochet hook is in your right hand, either using this method or this method or whichever way which is comfortable for you, and then your yard is going to be in the other hand just like As you crochet, I'm just going to make a chain just to demonstrate how I like to hold my yarn. Assuming this is you crocheting as I am doing, how I hold my yarn. This is what works for me is this is the struck of y. I will take the yarn and put it through my two fingers like so. It's through this is my hand. Now, the yarn will go through my fingers like so. Turning it around, this is what it looks like on this side, and then I will secure the rest of the tail with this pinky right here, like so. Then my thumb and the other fingers are going to hold my working like so. This is what works for me. If you can find another way that's comfortable for you, absolutely fine. Let's do that again together. I will take the yarn. The lose between my fingers like so. Turnover. Just like the way is I would just turn my hand over the on is still between my fingers like that. Then my pinky is going to secure the tail, not too tight. This is just so that it doesn't move around or go everywhere because as I work, the end is just going to smoothly go through my fingers like that. The is between my fingers like so. I turn around, secure like so, as you can see. Obviously, when I'm working my hand is not like this, but it's going to be like this because my thumb is going to hold on to that working iron or project. Assuming we are crocheting, this is what it's going to look like. My pinky is a curing the, this is going through my fingers like the rest of my fingers are going to hold onto this, and then of curve. As I work, my yarn is just easily. So obviously, my finger is going to be moving up. My n is just easily sliding through, as you can see, it's just going to freely slide through. I've watched some videos or when I was learning during my learning curve because I learned on YouTube. The videos I was watching, I saw people wrapping the yarn around their fingers like so. I guess this works for them. I tried it before it made no sense because it meant after a few chains, had to keep unraveling like so, and then I'd have to go back and wrap my finger around again. I found that this slowed me down so much. As I was learning, I did what worked for me, which is this, this secure thumb and creche. Just like so. Let's do that again together. You're working on between your fingers like so, turn, pinky secure and like so. Then here you'll be crocheting or that yarn smoothly passes through that little group you've created like so. But remember, if you can find another way of holding your yarn that works for you, go for that. This is not ready in stone. You can do what you're comfortable with. 6. 6. How to make a slip knot: How to make a slip knot. You're going to begin by grabbing your yarn in your left hand, if you're right handed or your right hand, if you're left handed, then you're going to wrap it over, like so. Let's do that again. You're going to grab your yarn, wrap it over like so. Your pinky is going to secure the little loose tail like that. You're going to take the longer tail, make a criss cross across, and then you want to take your croche hook insert it underneath and then loop onto that longer tail of n, pull it through, and then you want to take your fingers out of that loop and secure. Now to tighten the loop, you want to take the longer tail of the yarn and just pull it making sure that your yarn is able to move freely around the hook. Let's do it one more time. Rub your pinky secures. Make a criss cross, like so. Grab your crochet hook, insert it underneath a hook onto that longer tail and pull it through. Release your fingers from the knot and then pull that longer tail tight enough that your crochet hook is able to move between the loop that you made. Just like that, you've got yourself a slip knot. 7. 7. How to yarn over and starting chain : Now, let's learn how to yarn over and start your chain. Remember that method that I told you of how to hold your yarn and your crochet hook. You're going to be doing that right now. I am obviously using that knife and fork method and making sure that my hook is moving around my yarn smoothly without forcing it. You're going to take your crochet hook and just put it under your yarn. Right there you have yarn over, easier. Let's do it again. Take your crochet hook, put it under your yarn, and that's a yarn over. Now, let's learn to make your chain. You're just going to grab that crochet hook. And pull it through that little hoop or loop of yarn just like so. That's your first chain. Let me show you have to do that again. We're going to go back and start for make yarning over just like so, and pulling it through the little loop, and that's your first chain. Now you're going to continue to do that to make more chains. That's your second chain. Please make sure you're not making them too tight no too loose. Maintain a good grip. That's your third chain. Then you want to adjust your finger as you go. That's your fourth chain and just like that to make a chain, you yarn over, and for the yarn through the loop and you've made a chain. Keep in mind that we will be using this chain to work into. If they're too tight, you're going to struggle to work into it. If they're too loose, you will look too big, it's going to look good. Make sure you practice a good grip. And good tension and just like so. We're going to make quite a bit of a chain long enough so that we can start working our very first stitch, which is going to be a single crochet. As you'll see in the next class for now, continue to practice, how to make a chain. You can go back to start practicing for making your slip knot and then making a chain. But so far, you're doing great. You're nova and pull through the loop like so. Continue to make yourself at least 20 chains before we get started on the main project. 8. 8. Working into the chain and row 1: So now that we have our chain, it's time to start working into the chain. So This is the last chain that we made, and we always always skip that chain. When it comes to working into the chain, you will be working into these little loops. When you hold your chain like so, you can see these loops that are furest away from you. This one right here, this one right here. This one right here, this one right here. Each one of them is representing a chain and the chain is this looking like stitches like so. When we're working our stitches, we will be going into these stitches only. Those stitches only. The first stitch is going to be a single cliche. We're going to skip that first or last stitch we made. This one not hit and then into this one, you're going to insert your hook. Okay. Ar nova, pull it through just like so. Now you've got two loops on your hook. To finish off the single crochet, making sure that your crochet hook is freely moving on the hook. You're going to v and pull both loops, and that's your first stitch. I'm going to ask you to grab a stitch marker, and you're going to place it on top of that first stitch that you just made on top of there. If you hold it like this, you're going to see it looks like a as old, that's your first stitch. This is going to be for easy counting. Okay. To make our next stitch into that next stitch right there, this one right here, insert your hook, over, pull up a loop. I like to hold my work like this for easy access or for securing. You've got tops on the hook to finish off the single crochet, v and you pull through both. That's your second single crochet. Find that next stitch Insert your hook v. Pull it. Pull it through again. S again together. Insert hook into that stitch. V hook y pull through, and pull through. Let's do the next on against your hook and over. Pull it through and over again, your hook is nice, has a good grip. If you're holding it too tight, you can see you have control over this. If you're holding it too tight, it's going to be too hard for you to pull through. And pull through. Let's do it again together. Insert your hook, that, pull it through two looks on your hook. Here over and pull through two. So far, these are the single cruces. I want you to continue going all the way down until that last one. Then I'll meet you at the last one so we can please our stitch marker and count the stitches together. 9. 9. Turning Chain: Let's finish off that row together and into that last one, go in and place your single crochet. We have a stitch marker in the first one. Grab your second stitch markers. You want to place it in this one right here. In the last the last single crochet that we just made right there. Now it's time to count our stitches. As you can see, you can see that they're forming se I'm just going to remove my hook for a second. As you can see that stitch right here, it looks like a v. The next one also looks like a v, and all of them just look like vs. Each V or each chain, each link is a stitch. The first on the des this one right here. As you can see, it's a v. A link or a chain, it looks like the chain. They look like the foundation chains actually, which is very good for us because it's easier to count. This one right here counts as our first single croc that we made. If you made a chain of 21 or 20, since we skip the first chain, it means at the end, if you start with 20 chain you will have 19 stitches because we skipped one. Remember that? Keep that in mind. Because you may have chain 20, and you're expected to have when the stitches at the end, it doesn't work like that. You're going to have one less stitch, especially when we're working the single crochet. As we go further, it's going to change and we'll see once we start working the double croche and the half double crochet that's later on in the lesson. Let's count the stitches. That V represents one. The second represents the second stitch, so that's two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, meaning I had 24 chains at the beginning. So go ahead and count your stitches. You might just want to write that down because at the end of our little swatch that we're going to make because it's going to get bigger and bigger. If you have 24 now, you also want to end with 24. Sometimes you might skip a stitch or add an extra stitch, which we don't want to do that. I find when you're just learning that you skip stitches, especially the last ones, which is why I've had you place stitch markers. In the middle, it's not as easy to skip So it's mostly easier to skip the last ones at the very end. Keep your stitch markers there. When we're starting a new rope it's just we're just going to remove it, place a single croche and replace that stitch marker. Trust me till now, I've been croche for years, but I still do this because trust me it can be confusing sometimes to miss the very first and last stitches so that now you know how to count your stitches. Let's get onto row two. 10. 10. Row 2: Starting row two, you are going to start by making a chain of one. We make a chain one because single crochets are quite small stitches. But the bigger we get and by bigger, I mean, the longer the stitches get a double crochet, you're going to see as we go, a double crochet is longer, half double crochet is also longer than this. We're working a half double or a double crochet, we are going to chain more than one, maybe two. Sometimes when I'm working half double crochet, I chain one, and that is because a double crochet is half the size of a double crochet. But when you're making a double crochet, you are usually chain two. This is a single crochet, meaning we're going to make a chain of one. Remember how we make the chase, over and pull that yard through, and that's it. Let's do a get together. Arning over and pulling that through. We finish that row. Now to start the second row, you are going to turn just like so. This is what the sides of the single crochete look like. That's the top and that's the other side of the single crochet. Now, the first stitch of the row is going to be where your stitch marker is. But obviously, you're not going to work in it when that stitch marker is still in there, so let's just remove that stitch marker. Keep it close since we're going to be replacing it right back in there. Where that stitch marker was, go in and place your first single croche. Remember when we made that chain, we were working into the bag. Well, this time, we're going to be you're going to be holding stitches like this. You're going to see that there's two loops, that v. Just under that V you're going to find yourself there's a little hole That hole right here is where we're going to be placing our stitches. Into there, get your hook, insert it. V. Hook pull it through. You have to loops on the hook, v and pull through both. Let me show you that one more time. This is your v. Before, at the beginning, we're working our first row. We were working into this stitch, remember. If we work into this stitch, then we're going to get a ribbed look, meaning this loop is just going to show throughout our work. When you're working beans stuff, it does tend to look pretty, but that's not what we're doing right now. We're trying to make a solid single croche We're going to take our hook, and we're going to place into that hole right underneath the two vs. When I put my hook into this, you're going to see that these two vs are right on top of the hook. That hole underneath those two vs is where you want to place your crush hook over or look that y and pull it through the same hole. And finish your single crotch. Grab that stitch marker and replace it on top of that V to secure or min itself. That is going to be your first or your last stitch. Now, for the next one, you're going to repeat the same thing. You see that V stitch. That's your second stitch. Now just underneath that there's that hole. That's where you stitch cro hook is going to go. So into there and single crochet. That's where you're going to do that next hole, this one right here. That's where you're going to place your third, single crochet, like so. As you can see, that's where we're going to go fourth, fifth, your sixth seventh. As you go, if you can't see just put your work like this and you can see these little holes, that's where you're going to be placing your stitches. Let's work our fourth together right in there. Is that, pull it through, and pull through both two. Is your hook, loop that. Pull it through and pull through both loops. Let's continue to do that for the rest of the row. Then I will meet you when I'm about to work into that last stitch marker so that we can end the row together and start row three. 11. 11. Row 3 and other rows: All right. So I have now reached the last stitch. Remove that stitch marker and place your last single crochet in that last stitch. Just like so. Like we've been doing at the end of the previous ll just like we did, I'm going to chain one and turn. That stitch right there where we place that last single crochet is also where we're going to be placing that first single croche. Remember that. In with our hook, that, pull through and pull through two. As always. You want to bring that stitch marker and mark your first stitch. Always mark the first stitch and the last stitch. You will not continue working single croches. You will not continue practicing this. Single croches all the way to the end, chain one turn single crochet to the end, 1010, chain 110. Do this for about ten, 15 rows until you have a little swatch. So that now I can now teach you how we count rows as we go into the lesson. Pause the lesson, continue making your little swatch, work up until because right now we have two rows. Work up until you have ten to 15. You can even go up to 20 if you want, and then let's me right back here in class. 12. 12. How to fasten off and count rows: So I have just finished working about I finished growth of 15 rows. So I'm just going to grab my measuring tape to show you how long that measures for me. That gives me sorry. So 15 rows gives me just under 4 ". So that 3.9 ". And From the chain, it gives me exactly 7 ". We're just about 7.1 ". So before we get to how to count the row, I will show you how we fast off. So obviously, assuming this was your work, you're done. How do you get your hook off? Because you can't obviously just do that. It means it's going to come and done. You need to secure. So be sure to have the scissors close by. Got mine right here. To fasten off your work. Before that's after you have just finished your last single crochet, like I did, you will chain one as if you were about to start working a new row. And then you always want to leave quite a bit of a tail, not too long, but enough for you to weave in. So I would say this is enough. Grab your scissors and cut that off. Just like so, and then you just want to take your hook and just pull it out and snuck onto that. Just like that, you have secured your work. Chain one, take a scissors cut off, pull out the hook, secure. There you go. That's a little suppressed swatch. So we have made this using a single crochet, and it looks just the same on either side. Now let me tell you how to count your rows. To cut the roles, do you remember this first slip from the first slip note that we made, I like it to be on my right hand. So if you left hand, it's going to be on the left side. So Now, as you can see, let me hold it down like this. There are little ridges in between, little bumps, there's a bump right here, bump right here, a bump right here, a bump right here. I hope you can see those a bump right here, bump right here, a bump right here and if we keep going, you'd be seeing those little bumps. After each bump, that represents two rows because this right here is that first row or a single crochet. This right here is your second row, single crochet. I personally like to count in two, so I'll just go two, four, six, eight, ten, 12, 14, and then there's that individual row of 15. However, if you'd like to count singular, you can always do that because when we hold it close, you can see each row. Okay? So this is a row right here, as you can see. And then this right here is another row. This right here is also another row. This here is another row, this here. But then as you go, as you get more familiar, you're going to see that it's easier to just count in two. So one, two, four, six, eight, ten, 12, 14, and that last one, that is your 15. Role. I hope that made sense if it didn't. You can always leave a message in the discussion area, and we will furthermore talk about how to count your roles. So that's how you work your single crochet. That's how you fast off, and that's how you count your single croches. Now let's move on to our next stitch. 13. 13. Half double crochet row 1: Have to get started with the half double crochet. We've finished the single crochet. Next, we're going to do the half double crochet. We are going to begin like we did before. Start by making a slip knot. And for my previous one, this one foundation, I think I changed about 24. I'm just going to do the exact same number of chains. I'm going to go fast because we've already done this class, but if I'm going too fast, I'm pause I've got three sofa for five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 18, 19, 2021, 22, 23 and 24. And as you and I call back and double count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 16, 17 18, 1920, 21, 22, 23 and 24, perfect. If you remember the single cro, we were going into that second chain right here and placing our stitch in there. I hope you can see me. We are going to be doing the same thing for the for the half double crochet, other people will skip two stitches. But sometimes I like to skip one or two, it's fine. But in this case, we're going to skip the first two stitches. As always, bring those stitch markers somewhere nice and close so that we can place it on to first stitch when we're done, please off this half double crochet. All right. So we're going to skip those first two chains, and into that third, we're going to be placing our half double crochet. If you remember the single croche we were just going in to place our stitch to start a half double crochet, we'll begin by yarning over like so. Yarn like this, count one, two, and then into that third. Chain, insert your hook. Look that and you'll pull it through. You'll have three loops on your hook one, two, and three, ova and you'll pull through all of them. Right there is your first stitch. Let me do that again into that third stitch. I skipping two, one, two, and into that third one, like so. Into that chain that we're going into loop that. Pull it through. You have three loops on your hook. You will yarn over and you will pull through all of the three. That view right there, you go be seeing two s. These two ones are the chains that we skipped. That one right there is our first stitch. You will grab your stitch marker and you will place it on top of that first stitch that we just made. Following here, we're just going to be placing single crochets into each and every stitch. I I mean into each and every chain. Sorry about that. V into that next chain, insert your hook. Loop pull through. Just like so. V and pull through all three. Sorry, I just want to make sure I'm on cover. I am. Into that third chain, find that chain, insert your hook. You loop that pull through v and you will pull through all three, and you will repeat that v insert your hook into that chain pullthrough ova, pull through all three, and then you will continue to do so v pullthrough all three. Insert hook into chain, puree loops on the hook, v pull through all three. Now this is the top of our half double crotches. And this is the body of our half double crotches. Do you remember, I told you that the half double crotches is just about the size of two rows of the single crochet. It's it's thicker than the single crochet. Obviously, the half double crochet uses more on than this. I have chained exact the same number and we will work the exact same rows, and you will see the difference in length. Let's just get done with the first row va insert your chain right in there. Loop that y pull through Nova and you'll pull through all three. I want you to continue doing this all the way to the end of the row. Then I'll meet you right back so that we can do a turning chain together. Yes. 14. 14. Row 2 and other rows: So that I finished the first row. To start row two, you can either make a single chain, a chain of one or a chain of two. Remember, we skip two stitches, so we can also just make a chain of two to start the new row. However, if you happen to have a loose tension, so you For example, the time that I was measuring this right here. I believe that my tension is between loose and tight, just somewhere in between. If you happen to have a bit more inches than I did or half an inch or if you measured a bit more slightly more than I did, then you can absolutely do a chain of one. If you measured less than I did, then you can do a chain of two. If you measure close to or exactly like I did, you can do either one or two. If that makes sense. So I say this because if you have a very tight grip, the stand is going to be very small. So I'd suggest to do a chain of two. However, if you have a looser group, the new chain of one is going to give you enough length for you to start the new chain. So as for me, I'm just going to do a chain of one and turn. So into that first stitch, you will arnver as we've been doing, and go right in there with your half double crochet. Just like stitch marker, and you will place it on top of that first stitch that you just did. Now, working into the rest, as you can see, this is where we'll be working into. Right now, you've quite experience from the single christians that you made. All we're doing is yarning over and into that stitch and have double crochet, into the stitch, anova pull through three. Another thing I'd like you to note, this is just one row, but do you see how it looks like two rows of single crochets in terms of thickness that is. That's because this stitch tends to work up faster. When you see people making blankets and stuff, most people like to use this compared to this. Because if you're going to use a single crochet to work up a blanket or a cardigan or something like that, trust's going to take you much longer than if you are using this. But as we do have a double crochet. It's bigger than this as well. Any way back to the half double into the next stitch, you will y insert your hook. Look through. Into the hook. Look through and finish. Let me just put up, and that's what we are going to be doing for the rest of the row, all the way up to the last one, and when you're done, you'll repeat just like we did. Chain one or two turn and repeat. So for this one, if you did 15 or 20 rows for the single croches, I want you to do the exact same number of rows for the half double crochet. So I did 15 for the single croches meaning I will also do 15 for this half double croches. I know I can leave you alone now to finish 15 rows. When you reach the end, remove the stitch marker, place your last half double crochet in there. Chain one or two turn around, place your first stitch, replace that stitch marker and proceed up until you have the same number of roles that you did with this one. Then I'll come back. We fasten off, we'll count the roles we will measure, and we will see the difference between the stitches before we go onto our next stitch. 15. 15. Half double crochet vs single crochet : So after 15 rows, this is what I have. So I'm going to grow up by measuring tape and show you the inches I have. That's 6.5. Actually 6.6 roughly 6.66 " and 7 " exactly. So I'm going to bring that old swatch that we made before we do that, fast enough as we always do. It's a chain one says and you pull off and tug on that not too hard, but just like that. Let me put my work side by side. Both of them start at the same number of chain. Both of them have the same rows. I don't know if you can see both. Yes. Both of them have the same number of rows. Both of them start the same chain. But obviously, this is longer than this one. This is wider than this, as you can see. Let me put this one on top. When I put this corner, when I put the two corners together, you can see a bit more of the single crochet swatch right here. That's because we started we left one chain on this one, and we left two chains on this one, meaning it's quite smaller. And after we do the double croche you can see it still get a bit smaller. However, since The half double croce is about one row of this is about two rows of this. That's why you can see that the half duple croc watch is double the size of this one. So these are different rows. So how do you count how do you count the single croc? Another thing if you hold this, you can see it's a bit more stiff. But when you see this, it's a bit more soft. If that makes sense. Hold yours and hold this one. You can see that this is a bit more rougher, not too rough, but it has more hold than this. Even when I do hold it like this, you can see a bit more holes than when I hold this one up. This stitches on this one tighter and closer together. So how do you count the roles on a half double croche? I do that exact same thing I did with this counting in two sorry counting tools for a single creches. For this one, I usually just take a look at these little ridges, little folds right here, and each represents two. I know that there's two rows on this I know that there is two rows right here, but after this little ridge, it's two, four, 610, 12 14 and 15. However, for this the stitches are bigger, it's easier for you to even see encounter a single row. So you can see that this is one row, two row, second row, third row. This is your fourth row, fifth row, sixth seventh eighth ninth, ten, 11, 12, 13th 14th and 15th, just like so. And the yarns are the beginning yarn, the beginning chain or yarn is on my left. For this one. If it was on my right, then you can see that the ridges are different because we have one a single row here, and then following by and so forth. If I'm going to do counting per two rows, using this stitch, then I like that foundation slip the tussle to be on my left hand. Just like so. These are the two. After this now, we are going to go and get started on the double croche stitches. 16. 16. How to double crochet: So now to begin the double crochet. We just finished the half double crochet, now to finish the double crochet. I'm going to start by making that slip as we've been doing. I'll begin my making a chain. I'll make a chain 25, two, 345, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13 14, 15 16, 17 18, 1920, 2022, 23 24 and 25, so I've got my chain of 25. So remember that single crochet, we went into the second chain, and then the dohalf double crochet went into the third chain. Well, for the double crochet, you can also do the same going into the third chain, that is, but other people like to leave three double crochet. I mean, three chains at the beginning. However, sometimes this would count as a stitch. So I would leave one, two, and I'll still go into that second chain. This gives you a room so that the double crochet is not short or shortened, if that makes sense. I like to leave two double croches but feel free to also leave three. But for the sake of this course, I am going to teach you how I like to do it. You'll leave the first two chains. Then into that third, you are going in with your first double croche. Right here, the first one will always look weird, and it's going to look like those two stitches. But remember, we always count according to the top vs. Right now, is a perfect time to grab a stitch marker. Let me just grab mi. So you want the stitch marker and just place it on top of a stitch right there. For the stitch marker will remind you that right there is where your first stitch is. So let me show you more clearly how we did that double cro. You will begin by ing over. Find that stitch. Find the next chain. Insert your hook as we've been doing. Loop that p. Now there's two loops on your hook, pull through two. V and pull through two. Now that's a double croche insert your hook. Pullthrough three loops on your hook. Now, pull through two, and put through two. Let's do that again. Insert your hook, pro Tree loops on your hook, p through two loops, and pull through two loops. Then you'll continue doing that all the way down. And this is what we call a double crochet. How is this different from the half double crochet? The half double crochet will just over hook put Three loops on your hook will put or three. You can see that when I hold them together, it's a smaller stitch than the double crochet. You want to continue with the whole row you want to continue the whole row working to all the chains, placing your double crochets. So let me continue and I'll meet you at the end of the row so that I show you how to turn, even though by now you're already confident with turning. So I'll just meet you at the end of the row. We'll turn together, start the next row. And I'll just do two rows with you for this one, since you are now confident since you have worked the single crochet and the Hobo crochet. 17. 17. Row 2 of double crochet : All right. Then so onto road two. So I like to do things just a bit different. But if you're going to watch other roh tutorials, you're going to see them start road two slightly a bit different. But I'm going to teach you what I find comfortable. However, if you happen to watch other tutorials for courses, and they start road to differently and you prefer that method, stick to that. It's absolutely fine. I want to tell you that do what makes you comfortable as you crochet, road two, we will start by making a chain of two. I start with a chain of two because my chain of two does not count as a stitch, and what do I mean by that? Remember, in the previous stitches that we've been doing, the first stitch would always go on top of the previous one, that's what I like to do for all my stitches. However, other people will do a chain of three and this chain will count as a stitch on its own, meaning they will not place a stitch into that slot right there because the chain counts as a stitch, meaning going continuing down the row, they will go into the second one, which is with this one right here. So in this case, that first chain would count as a stitch and follow. But then, as you can see, it slopes or leans over. Sometimes when you're coming back, it's hard to see, I do not like to count that as a stitch. What I like to do is start with a chain two turnaround That chain two never counts as a stitch for me. Into that same stitch. Well, that first stitch right there, you're going with your first double crochet. Do you see that? To me, it looks more solid. It's a bit thick, just like the first one was, which is fine, but it's a bit more solid and it means when I'm coming back, it's going to be easier for me to see that right there is my stitch or my last stitch. If you have the stitch marker, I don't have one close by, grab it and place it into there. Let me just remove the first one I made. I'm removing it because I know how to find my stitches. You probably don't because you are still quite e to this. Place your stitch marker into that first stitch, you just placed right there. That's the first double crochet. Remember, chain two to begin chain two never counts as a stitch and work into that very first stitch with double crochet. Then following that into all the rest of the stitches, you will place your double crochet just like. Continue with your double crochets. You know, I am moving a bit faster than I was at the beginning. And that's because I know that you are very much more confident right now. Because if it is just the first two stitches that I taught you, you can make yourself a cardigan or a blanket using those Because so far, we know how to crochet straight edges because we are counting as we go and we're leaving stitch markers at the beginning and at the end. And that means you will not be skipping stitches. So double crocheting, as you go going down. This is a common stitch people like to use for blankets because it works faster because it's a longer stitch than the previous ones we've been doing. However, they do get longer than this, and you're about to see in the next stitch that we're going to be doing. I'm going to continue to croch and I'll meet you at the end of the row. 18. 18. Finishing double crochet : Then, so this is our two rows of the double crochet stitch. And let me just bring the half double crochet. Okay. As you can see. The right here was one row. These two rows here. This is one row to get that two rows. When I put them side by side with the double crochet, you can see that one row of the double crochet is almost two rows of the half double crochet. Why? Because the double crochet stitch is longer than the half double crochet. Can you say it's a soft stitch just as this is. Of course, I'm using two different arts. But still more, you can see that it gives you it's a lighter. The project is more lighter than the single crochet, which is stiff. These two are the same number of roles. If I had continued to the same number of roles that we did with this one, you'd have seen that this one is so much longer than the half double crochet. However, you're trying to work a stitch that helps you work faster or finishes faster, then the double crochet is definitely the way to go. It's still a very neat look. As you can see. As the half double crochet, it's also another neat look. You can also use this to make sweaters, blankets, cardigans or large projects because the half double crochet also tends to work out quite fast. It's the single crochet that's going to have you sit down for quite a while. I do like to use a single crochet when I'm working the mosaic crochet projects. However, they take a while. If I'm working a blanket using the single crochet, it could take me a month or two weeks and I'm fast. When it comes to croche but it takes your precious time. Anyway, that's our double crochet. Now, let's get onto our next stitch. We've got two more stitches that I'm going to teach you that are perfect for beginners. Next one is a trouble crochet, and then the last one will be a slip stitch. So let's get into the trouble crochet. 19. 19. How to treble crochet : All right. Then to start the trouble croche. You are going to make your chain. I've already made my slip knot. Okay. So I am now going to make a chain. I'll make a chain of 25, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 1920, Toy student three, 24 and 25. This is our working chain. Now for the treble croche we're going to start by skipping one, two, three stitches and we're going to begin into that fourth stitch. Right there. So now, let me tell you this one thing about a trouble crochet. I would not advise you to work at Trouble crochet to make a crochet project. Most people use it to extend a stitch to make it longer or when they're trying to make an arc. So assuming you are making you're trying to make a corner or let's say you're making a baby you're croching like a cat or gran square. It's mostly common in gun squares, and you're trying to make a corner and you want the sites to get smaller and then get larger, as you're making the corners. Most people will go from a single croche and transition up to make the I don't know if this is making sense. Let me get you a paper so that I can draw. What I'm talking about. All right. So assuming you are working the granny square. So you have worked in circles now you're trying to make the corners. So you work the flat areas. So in order to make the corners, some would like to have their corners kind of go up like so. So for the stitches to go up, as I'm growing right here, they will go from single crochets and then they'll start going up to stitch so from single crotes to a double crochet, half double crochet, and then to a double crochet. And then if they still want their stitch to get longer, they'll transition to a trouble crochet. So the trouble crochet, honestly, I don't think it looks very net, and you're going to see as we go. So I wouldn't recommend you work a crochet project like a cardigan, a blanket using a treble crochet. I would say no. For me, that is a personal preference. Again, If you like it, and you're going to make a project with it, that's absolutely fine. Back to the lesson, you're going to skip one, two, three stitches into the fourth. It's yarning over once as we've been doing the half double crochet and the double crochet, you're going to yarn over twice, one and two, just like that. Let's do it again, over once, over again. Now into that fourth chain, insert your hook. Look that yarn, pull it through. Now you're going to have one, two, three, four loops in your hook, over, pull through two. Pull through two and v through two. Instead of pulling through two twice as we were dealing with a double crochet, we're going to be pulling through three times for the treble croche. That's where the name comes from. Into the next chain, v twice, insert your hook. Two, two, and through two. So that the chains that we left were a bit small, but then that's because the first one never acts as a stitch for me. So this is quite fine. But if you wanted to leave just a bit more. So we left three chains and into the fourth. If you wanted it to stand up a bit more up right you could leave four and you could start into the fifth. That's also fine. 20. 20. Treble crochet body : That's also fine. So over twice into the next chain, insert your hook 22 and anova two. Do you see that that's a long stitch. Before the double croc was about this long and the double cric was about this long. Now we've tripled in size. Over twice. Insert your hook pull two, two, and pull through two. Do you see that that's our working stitch is quite long. Let's do it again, nova twice. Insert two, two, two. Let's do that for the rest of the row over twice, insert your hook into the chain. Look that pull through through two, two, and v and put through two twice. F that next chain. Two, pull through two and through two. Look at that. I mean, maybe it looks a bit neat, but I mean, I don't know. Personally, personal preference. I wouldn't work this work in a blanket or something like that. So let me just grab that double crochet. So you can differentiate the stitches. So this right here is one row of the double crochet. And this is one row of the trouble crochet. Put them together. You can see that one row of the trouble croce is equivalent to tours or almost two of the actually is tours. One row of the trouble is equivalent to two rows of the double crochet. As you can see the stitches are getting longer and longer. Let's just finish off this over twice. Remember your hook. Over twice. P two and you can work as fast. If you've mastered it. Just like I'm doing. Twice, never forget to over twice. P two and so. Now that I'm looking at this, I think it doesn't look so bad, actually. I think if you are trying to make a project a blanket, I think it would look fine. Okay. Just, you know, it's not something I've come across before where anybody works using the trouble croche, but I guess it just looks like a very, very long double crochet, but it looks quite fine, actually. Now that I see this, I am starting to get some ideas in my head of projects that I might want to make. I am almost at the end of the row. Two twice. Put the two p two, p two, and ice put the two, p two, p two, twice, and I've got two more chains into the last one. Put 2p2p through two 21. 21. Finishing treble crochet: Okay. So to begin row two of the trouble croche, we are going to make a chain of three, one, two, and oh. And three. The chain of three does not count as a stitch. Meaning, stitch right here is where we're going to be placing our first trouble croc stitch. As usual, over twice, insert your hook in there. Look that pro Puth two pure put the two, and that's our first stitch. Crop that stitch marker and place it in there. Into the next stitch, over twice, insert two, put the 232. As you can see, Let me just stop the stitch again. I'm leaving quite an inch. It's not so close like this to make the stitches tight because if the stitches are so bit tight, it's going to be the stitches are going to be shorter as you can see, it's quite tighter than the rest. So you want them to be free and not too loose but free enough. So don't make them too tight. Unless that's your grip, then that's absolutely fine. Let me do this one more time. Over twice. I set your hook. Pull through two, pull through two, and put through two. And then just like that, you are going to continue all the way up to the end of the row. So you get the idea of how to do the triple crochet, so I will not finish the whole row. Once you reach the end, you place your last one in this stitch right here, which is where you should have your stitch marker. And after you're done, you chain three, turn your work and repeat. And so on so forth, that is how we're going to be working our triple croche stitches. So let's go on to the next stitch, which is the slip stitch. 22. 22. How to slip stitch : Right. So to start working on the slip stitch, let's start as we usually do. Slip knot, for this one, I will make a chain of ten, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, there we go. For my slip stitches, I like to work into the back. As you can see, this is our chain and before we were working into the stitch right here. The stitch right here. That's where we started our stitches. I want you to take your chain like so and then turn it upside down. Do you see these little bumps? That's where we'll be working our stitches. As always, we skip the first stitch and into the next one. The slip stitch is even smaller than the single crochet. We're going to skip the first chain and then into the second one into the back pump. You want to insert your hook as if we're doing a single crochet, loop that yarn. Pull through. Now you've got two loops in your hook. A single crochet would over and pull through both loops. But for this case, we're just going to loop onto that yarn, the loop plus to the hook and pull through. Let me show you how to do that again in the next one. Insert a hook into the back loop. Back bump over that and pull through. You've got two lops on the hook, you're not going to over, you're just going to pull through. Just like stitch. Lo that pull through and pull through. For the slip stitch, you want to make your stitches as loose, not too loose, but you want to make sure you have that loose grip like I do. If you have a tight grip, then you're going to loosen it up a bit because it's going to be hard for you to work row two in the following rows, if your first row was super tight. Inside your hook, L that p and p three. Instead, and pull through. Look, pull through and pose the video if I'm going too fast, but I have reached the last one, which is this one right here. Look that on and pull through. This is what one looks like. I honestly doesn't make sense. It looks a bit funny. As we go, you're going to understand chain one and turn Now, this is our chain one. These are our other stitches. What I like about the slip stitch is it gives you that stretchy ribbed stitch. For the slip stitch, we always work into the back loops, which is these ones right here. You have change of one. Chain one does not count to the stitch. Into that first stitch, this one right here, you will go into the loop, pull through and slip through just like we've been doing. Set your hook, pull through and slip through. Set your hook, pull through and slip through. Set your hook. Look at you, pull through and slip through. That's why it's called a slip stitch because you just slip it through. Just like so. And just like so, and I am almost at the end of the row. You want to pause the video, if I'm going too fast. If you haven't finished because I have reached the last. Since we start with the tune of ten, we have nine slip stitches. There we go. It still doesn't make sense as to what we're making, but I'm going to work about five rows of camera. I will come back and I will show you what it looks like, and then I'm currently making a cardigan where I'm using the slip stitch to make the sleeves because they do give it a little grip. I'm going to work five rows, come back to show you what it looks like, and then I will show you the cardigan that I'm working on so that you can see what that stitch looks like and how it incorporates very well with the cruce projects. 23. 23. How to use a slip stitch : All right. So I got rid. I ended up doing ten rows. But after you do a few rows, this is what the stitch looks like and as you can see. It's quite stretchy. It gives you the ribbed or like a knitting look. So this right here are ten rows, and it looks exactly the same on the other side. So I wouldn't say the stitch has a wrong side or a right side, as you can see. So How to count this stitch. I like to lay my work so that the tail is on my left hand. That means now this first little bump is the first row. Then this ripped or chained look row is my second row. This right here, this chained row with little chains, for Vs is counts as row two. In between is row three, this is R four. I'd just like to go two, four, six, eight and ten, the same we do with the other stitch, the single cruce. So I just cut the ribbed stitches, but I always make sure that this tail is on my left side. If you're right handed, then I believe it should be on the other side. So you just cut the ribs two, four, six, eight and ten. Okay. So let me show you the work I'm working on. This is the cardigt. This is the hand that I'm working on, and this is the slip stitch. So as you can see, it's a very thin stitch, so it comes in. It's quite tight. The rest, this stitch is a half double slip stitch. I'm not going to teach you in this course because it's more of an advanced or an intermediate stitch. It's quite it's quite difficult. But as we get strong on to the course, Okay. I will show you. So I want to show you the other arm that I finished. As you can see. Of course, I'm using a smaller hook to achieve the slip stitches and they're quite stitchy, but they narrow in while the rest of the sleeve comes out like a balloon. So the aim is to just make the rips especially for the sleeves. So I like to just use the slip stitch for the sleeves. As for the bottom. I wish I could lay my mulate down so you can see properly. So it's an oversized cardican that I'm making. There we go. So this is work in the arms. I like to work my cardigans together in one piece. I don't like sewing things together. So the whole body is made using a half double slip stitch together with the arms, but the sleeves, I use the slip stitch. And for the bottom band, it's still the half double slip stitch, but as you can see it gets smaller down here, but I just changed the hook size. So don't worry if you want to learn how to make this stuff, I'll make more courses in the future. But for now, I just wanted to show you what the slip stitch looks like on rush projects. 24. 24. How to decrease in between your work: So following up, we're going to start learning how to decrease and how to increase our stitches. I'm going to have you work one row of half double crochet. You'll have to chain that long chain. You can just chain 12, work that one row and then post a video and meet me right back. After you have done that one half double crochet, you're going to change one. I'm going to show you three ways of decreasing, that's at the beginning at the end and in between. Some people have a few theories of how to decrease. I will show you what I like to do, which I also find to be meter, and I'll tell you what other people also do, which I really wouldn't recommend. For the first one, I will show you how to decrease in between, you're going to start your role as normal. I'm just going to work into four stitches. I'll place my first half double crochet in there. Second half double croche third and my fourth. What some people like to do is to just skip that next stitch and have double crochet in the next. So just like so. But as you can see, it leaves that gap in your work and it doesn't look needed. You can tell that you skipped a stitch. I wouldn't recommend that style of decreasing. However, this is how I like to decrease va as if you are about to start to do your half double crochet. Insert hook, that, pull through, just as you do in normal double crucial. However, you will not finish by yarning over and pulling through three. What you will do is instead of joining over, you will insert your hook into that next stitch. Lo that on and pull through. Now you've got one, two, three, four loops on your hook. You'll yarn over and pull through everything. Now, these two stitches have turned into one stitch and there's no hole that you can see. Let me do that with you. One more time. Nova into that next stitch, insert your hook. Lo that yarn and pull through as if you are doing a normal half double croche. You will not finish. Instead, you will insert your hook into that next stitch. You will look that, pull through, nova and finish, and then you will continue to half double crochet. Just as normal. And what we've done is decreased in the middle. But I mean, we know that it's this stitch. It's just a bit thicker than the rest, but it blends in just fine. You cannot tell it apart. So let's go to the next decreases, which is which will be at the end or at the beginning of our work. 25. 25. How to decrease at the beginning and end of the row: Okay. So I have to put cruce until I had two stitches left at the end of my work and we're about to decrease those just like we did earlier. Yova insert your hook into that stitch, like, pull through three loops on your hook, and then into that last one, insert your hook, loop like pull through, four loops on your hook, your nova, and pull through everything. As we start in a new row with the doable croche cheering one and turn. Just like that, you have decreased at the end of your row. Now we're starting a new row, which is row three. We're going to start with a decrease. We have already done our chain one. Into that first stitch right there, over, insert your hook that and pull rothree loops on your hoop, and then into that next stitch, loop that pull Now you've got four loops, your yarn over and close through. Now that's a stitch. Then you'll continue to crochet just as you normally would. So when you decrease, what that means is, you're making your work or your project smaller, and you can see that the project is starting to look a bit finny. Let me just show you. When I lay my work down, you can see that it's starting to arc in. That's because we have done increases. And this side has arched in a lot because we ended the row with a decrease and we started the row with a decrease. So if you ever see a project and it's coming in, it's narrowing in, then you can just know that that was a result of a decrease. So that is how we decrease in the middle of our work at the end and at the beginning of our work. Next, I'm going to show you how we increase. I'm just going to finish the row, and I'll show you how we increase using this very little swatch. 26. 26. How to increase : All right. So let me just take a minute to say if you happen to be crocheting and you see that your work is looking like this, then you know that you've been missing skipping a stitch or decreasing di accident. And as a beginner, it's easier to skip a stitch like we did that method, I say that I wouldn't recommend. So sometimes when we're crocheting, I've done this a lot when I was neuter crocheting as well. Tend to skip stitches in between. I know that when you, it's not as easy to tell that this is a stitch. It's easier for you to work into this stitch, skip the next, work into two or three, skip one. As you lay down, it looks a bit wonky like this. It starts to curve vein. Sometimes you increase by working the same stitch in one stitch twice, and then you see it comes down to be. It just doesn't look neat, for example. This right here. Is perfect. Has the perfect corners is straight. That's because we skipped no stitch. Everything was worked perfectly. This right here is one key because we've been skipping or decreasing. How do we increase? I'm going to start by showing you how we increase at the beginning. Then I'll show you how we increase in the middle and how we increase at the end. How we increase at the beginning, and at the end, it's the exact same thing, but I will still show you for the sake of this class. We're going to start by increasing in the beginning. We start by working our first half double croche as we normally would. To increase, you are going to go back into that same spot with another half double crochet, and that's an increase by two. In that place where there was one half double crochet, we have now made two half double crochet. I will double crochet four to show you now how we increase in between the work. So that was 123 and four. I'm not going to show you how I would increase or how we increase between the work into that next stitch, we're going to go ahead and place two half double croches. So that's one and then into that same stitch. Two. And if you come real close, you're going to see that there are two stitches coming out of that. In that one, there's one, there's one in here, but when you see the one that we just worked, you see that there's one and there is two. I want you to master this because that means you would be able to know why you increased by accident or where you decreased by accident. So I've got just a few more stitches left and we will increase in the last one together. Let me just work to the end of my row. And I have reached, got two more. The last is this one right here, which was a decrease from the previous row, and it was a bit tight. So you might want to have a stitch marker close. Into that last stitch, I will go in with two half double crochets. That's one and two. And just like that, I have increased my work. Let me increase the next row again. Chain one and turn into that first stitch, my two half double crochets. One, and two. And when I lay down, you can see that my work is now starting to come out again this side as well. It's starting to bulge out. That's because we decreased and now we're increasing again. If you see somebody's work going up like so, as they cruciate, just know that they are increasing by adding on one or two more stitches. There are circumstances where you can add multiple stitches and I will show you just that. Let me take another class or another lesson to show you how you can add three or four stitches in a row. 27. 27. Finishing off increasing : All right. So assuming you want to increase by three or four, you made some patterns that will tell you to add five stitches. So I'm going to add five stitches into this one right here. It sounds crazy, but it's really not. It's very doable. So you're going to go one, two. Three. Four and five, and you can see that it's do from a little curve. That's what happens. If you see stitches where there's a little shale stitch or the stitches are arching out like so and little waves. That's because they're doing this she stitch. All they're doing is increasing. But sometimes when you do stuff like that, they're going to have you skip two or three stitches to make another shale stitch in the next stitch. But I will also increase five in here to show you what it would look like if we did so many increases next to each other. That's one. Two, three, four, five, do you see that? It's a lot. It's too much. I would not advise you to increase so right next to each other. However, the increase in the adjusted or five stitches in one. Five doable cries in one stitch is usually done on c blankets when you're doing the edges or Yes, they just to make them pretty and to make them. Assuming you are making a blanket using this trouble crochet stitch and you're trying to make the border of the blanket. You could use this stitch and it's going to have this little ribs at the edge of your blanket and they look so beautiful. You could use them as a baby blanket a throw or just your couch blanket. That is how we increase and how we decrease. 28. How to crochet in the front and back loop: Now, we are going to learn how to crochet in the back and in the front loop. To start crocheting in the front or the back loop, you would have worked one normal o. I just worked one nomoro of a double crochet. Now on the second row is where you can now begin working either in the front. Or in the back loop. First, let's see. Most people call this a front loop, some call this a back loop. Some will call this a back loop, and the one furest to you a back loop. Personally, the one close to me is what I'm seeing as the front loop. The one away from me is what I see as a back loop. These are the loops, obviously, the top ones right there. First, I am going to show you how we croch in the back loop. I have chained three and this right here is going to count as my stitch. For the next stitch is into that next one right there, that next view one. I'm going to nova and I am working a double cruce for this stitch. Instead of going into both like we've been doing, I am going to insert into the one the furest away from me. If I bring it closer to the camera, there's this loop and there's that loop. I'm going to insert my hook in the middle and into that back one grab the loop and finish off my double crochet. Then the next one, nova. Into the back just like that and double crochet, into the next, just like that, and I will double crochet. If we continue like so, it's what we call the back loop. As you continue to work, you're going to see that it forms this ribbed look the work tends to come across as ribbed and it tends to stretch out quite a bit, then it would if you are just working a normal one, which is just inserting your hook into that one right there. Now, the front loop. As we have been going into the back loop just like so. To do the front, we would insert our hook as if we're about to work a normal word, so we're going to go into both of them like so. But we will only come for the one closest to us, just like this underneath and you put the loop close to you, just like so, and you continue to do it. For the rest of the rose. Personally, I've never worked a project where I had to use this stitch because honestly, I've never really understood it. But some people will reverse, they'll do a back in the front, a back on the front, but really that's your preference. But as you learn as you advance in your crochet journey, you might meet some crochet patterns that will ask you to work into both. Now we have reached the very end of the row. The first stage doesn't really have a back front. Personally, I just like to work into both loops, just to make the sides or the ends even. If I lay my work in front of you like this, you're going to see that where these little ribs are showing is where we're doing the back loop, and where you can only see these loops right here is where we were doing the front loop. Just like that, that's how you work your front and your back loop. 29. How to crochet in the round beginner method : Now I'm going to show you how we croche in the round. I'm going to show you two ways of how to begin crocheting in the round, one before absolute beginner friendly. The next one will be advanced. I say it's advancc because even the advanced creches still struggle with this. I'm going to start with the easier method, which is we're going to start by a chain of 41, two, three and four. Obviously, you already know how to do this. What you're going to do now is slip stitch into that first chain that we made. And just like that. Now what we've done is formed a little circle, and we're going to be using this circle as our root to crotate around. So make yourself a chain of three, and that three is going to count as our first half double crochet, around the circle, we're going to be placing eight double crochet. This was our first. Now we're going to go in with our second and you want to insert your hook into that very center. If you could work on bar, that would be great. Or you don't have to if it's a bit challenging. But Ova insert your hook into that center. Double crochet. This is going to be two double crotch. Count as two double crotches, yarn insert your hook. Place double crochet, that's your third. When I say work around this tail, what I mean is when you insert your hook, you are going to treat the tail like it's part of the little circle. You're just going to hold it together with the circle when you yo. What that does is, as you work, it gets incorporated with the circle and that way you don't have to cut anything at the end, or there's just a little bit left. It makes your work needle in short. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Okay. So I forgot to over for that one. So no. I double. So I've got four. So I want to do four more. 02. Three and five D that wrong. Let's do that again. Finally, that's my fourth. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I have placed my eight double crochets. We have a semicircle, something that looks like a semicircle at least on top of that chain three, you're going to count one, two, and three. At the top of that third chain is where we're going to slip stitch. And just like that, that's your first route of a circle. Now to start row two. We're going to chain three, and that chain three is going to count as a stitch. First round has a total of eight double cro start the second row, in order to have the circle grow bigger and bigger, we have to. We already know how to increase, we place two or more stitches in one stitch for the second round. We're going to place two stitches in each and every stitch around. We have eight, meaning that the second round, we're going to have a total of 16. We have connected to the previous double crochet that we made. We have changed three. This change the counts as a double crochet. Into that same stitch where we connected, we're going to go in with another double crochet to count that has two double crochets. Then we found our next stitch to this one right here, we're going to place two double crochets. Just like that, find the next one. Two double crochets. Just like so. The next one. Remember, we are placing two double crochets in each and every stitch going around. I'm just going to work off camera for this, and then I'll meet you right back when I'm done with my double croches all the way around. Take your time. A n of, you want to stop and count making sure that there's two in each stitch. Remember we had eight on round one for round two, having a total of 16 double crochet. So I have just completed my way around, and I have a total of 16 double crochets. So just like we did the first round, you're going to count up three from the first chain three you did, so one, two, and three, and you want to slip stitch on top of that third chain to closure round. And that's what round two looks like. Now, to start round three, as usual, you are going to chain three. This is going to count as your first double crochet. Let me explain this. Round one, we placed eight. Round two, we placed two in each and every stitch. Round three, we're going to place two. We're going to increase in every other stitch. We're only going to increase in half of the stitches to explain that better. We're going to place one double crochet in the stitch and then in the next we'll place two, and then one double croche in the next and then in the next we're going to do two. Chain three counts as our stitch. That's done. For the next one, we are going to place our increase. Each row is going to be increased by a total of eight double crochets. We increased in that one. In the next we're going to place one double crochet. Then in the next one, we're going to be placing two double crochet and two. Then in the next. One double crochet. Then in the next two double crochet. And then in the next one double. Then in the next two double and one double. And you're going to do that the way around. So if we had 16, you're just going to add eight to 16. So that's the total of stitches you should have for round three, and I'll meet you at the end of the round. So I have just finished three, and I have a total of 2020 double. So for the next round, start with a chain of three, as always, chain three counts as a double crochet. For third round, we're doing a double croche and then increase, double croche and then increase. For this one, we're going to do two double croches and then increase two double croches and then increase at the end of a row. We're going to have a total of 32. When you're done with round three, for round four is going to be three double crochets and then increase three double crochets and then increase. The following roles four double crochet and that's how we do and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. The idea is to make it flat. And if you're working a height and then you have worked the flat surface and you want it to have that little lift, you maintain the number. For example, I have done I've got 24 around. If I maintain 24, it now becomes like a little cup. I start to come up upright, just like I assuming you are making let's say a case or a cup holder, so you want this to be the base and then you want this place to lift. The previous stage that we just learned, which is working in the front or the back loop is what's going to help you divide or to make it have a little arc, if that makes sense. At the bottom. So For now, this is how we work in the round using that chain for method. Now, I'm going to show you how we can work in the round using the more advanced method, which it's a bit more intimidating, but with practice, it becomes so much easier. Okay. 30. How to crochet in the round advanced method (magic ring): So now when it comes to doing the more advanced method, we call it the magic ring. So what it means is instead of changing the four that we did previously, you are going to grab your arm. So what's carefully what I do. I like to loop around my three fingers. So just like I'm about to make a slip knot. Let me start again. This is my yarn, wrap it around my three fingers, just like so. Then you get your hook. This is the long tail of your yarn, this is the short tail of your y. Grab your hook, put it underneath and you look that you're about to make a slip knot, and then you secure by one chain. Now, You have got yourself this loop. This loop is what we now call the magic ring. Let me do that with you again. You grab your yarn. This is the short tail. This is a longer tail. The short tail like so. Grab the longer tail, criss cross, just like that. Grab the croche hook underneath loop that longer tail, chain one. The chain one is to just secure the magic ring. Some people, if you're reading a croche pattern, they may be they may say chain, make a magic cring and secure. What we just did here, that chain one, that's securing that magic ring. If we were to work, just like we did the previous grow, we'll start by chain three and that chain three counts as our double crochet. Into that magic ring, that big circle right there, we're going to place seven more double crochet. One. Two, three, four, five, six. I'm going to double count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven plus that chain 38. The whole time we do this, keep in mind, we're working over all the tails, even the short one. So it looks a bit weird right now, what is that? But what we're going to do, just put up a loop. What we're going to do now is grab that short tail and we're just going to pull it. When you pull it's going to close the circle. So you pull and you tighten it just like so and then you're going to slip stitch to close, just like we dip with the rows, you're going to count up to three, so one, two, three, up to the top of that chain three, and you slip stitch to close. If you want to secure, if you still have a bit of a hole, you just tug onto that tail and you close. I like this method because the circle there at the center is completely closed, whereas the chain four, if you chain a bit more loosely, you might be left with a bit of a hole it doesn't close. Whereas for this, you can just tug into that it closes. That's why it's quite a magic circle. However, you're going to be left with the tail, which is fine because all we do now is weave it, which is our next lesson, which is learning how to weave in our ends. Now you know how to work this method. If you want to use this method to make to work in the rounds, row two, you're just going to chain three, place two double crochets in each, each stitch, giving you a total of 16. Then the next one you're going to be placing you're going to be increasing in every other we will double croche one, double croche two in the next, and so on around, and that's how we increase. Just like that, you have learned how we work in the round now after our next lesson. 31. How to weave in ends: So now that you've finished your work and you are trying to weave in, right? You obviously you're going to need your needle. And I always say when you're done with your work, you want to leave a long tail. So grab one of the swatches that we did, that you left quite a bit of a tail because now we're going to practice how to weave in the ends. So we're going to take that yarn and insert it into the eye of your needle like so. Okay. So to weave in, obviously, the tail is quite big, but it's absolutely fine. You're going to use the stitches. I like to use this method. As you can almost not see the stitch. Other people would have you weave in through your work. They would have you just go in and out in and out in and out with your and then you can pull that through. Eventually, it's going to hide within the stitches. That's one way. But personally, what I like to do. Let me just pull it out. Okay. What I like to do is find the stitches and I like to go in through the back loop and then through the front loop of the next stitch. Through the back loop and then through the loop of the next stitch. B loop and front loop. As you go, you're going to see that the stitch, the remaining yon blends in well with the stitches it's almost impossible to see plus it's almost hard to to come and d. The longer on is the longer or the more you know that you're going to definitely not going to see the little tail poke out. So after you've reached a certain length, I just like to tag on the on like so and then cut it off. So This is the normal work. I'm just going to grab the and pull it through like this, and then I'll grab my scissors. I'm not going to cut obviously because I'm still working on this swather. Grab the scissors, cut and then you're going to straighten it out again. Now, what that means is the little tail that you had will be lost within the work just like that. That is how you are going to weave in your end. But obviously, like I said, I'm still working on mine. If you are trying to take it apart, you would just pull onto where you began that tail. As you can see it's so hard to come out when you've done it so good. I almost can't find it. Can you imagine. But if you're trying to take it apart, yes, you can go within your work and just pull it out. I'm doing. But if you've had it for a while and you've done a few washes, it just blends in so well, it's almost impossible to see. With that, you can trust that your work is definitely going to stay in one piece and it will not come and done. Just like that. That is how we weave in our ends. 32. Gauge : Now, it's time to learn how to measure gauge or gate switch. So every pattern must have a gate switch because when you when the person the person croching their tension and your tension is very, very different. For example, is if I tell you to chain a chain about 5 " long. Okay. The number of stitches will be different. Because some will chain a much looser chain or some will chain a tighter chain. Those that chain quite tightly, we tend to have more chains to get to that 5 ", whereas some of us that have a loser tension, we'll chain less chains to get to that five inch. We do a gauge switch in order to make sure that we're working the size of our work is similar. For example, what I've done right here, I'm going to do a gauge switch to tell you how many stitches I have and how many rows I have in a specific dimension. Before you start working on the pattern, that I wrote, you want to make a gauge swatch. So that gauge swatch should match what I have here. I know it sounds a bit lecture bridge, so I'm just going to get to it. I use a measuring tape. I do not have that measuring ruler two. I like to measure by 4 " and it's exactly what I have right now. So what we do is we start from in my case, I want to start from the tip of my work right here, and then I'll see how many rows give me 4 ". Right here is the fourth inch. Let me just grab my pen. And Nice to. All right. This is exactly 4 ", and these are these are double crochet rows. So I have 121, two, three, four, five, six, seven rows. Is that really seven rows? Justice, these are double crochet rows. I have one, two, five, six, eight rows. Eight rows are giving me 4 ". So I'm just going to write that down. And then the same 4 ", I am going to count the number of stitches that are found in the same 4 ". So I'll find my first stitch, say this one right here. The stitch right here and I'll place my measuring tape. It's going to start from there, and I will keep my measuring tape within that same row until I see where it points to 4 ", which is right here. And then I will count the stitches in between. So one. One, two, three, four, I have moved the stitch. So let me just start from where it says for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14 rose is four ST for stitches. And this is in the dimension of 4 " by 4 ". So When I give you your recommendations, say, for example, because I am making a baby cardigan and this was a zero to three months. So if I save two balls for zero to three months with this dimension, what it means is you're going to make yourself a little swatch so you can chain 15 and work a few rows. So in that 15 in that little swatch that you're going to make, you want to make sure that in the same dimension of 4 " by 4 ", you are getting the same the similar eight rows by by in 14 stitches. You're going to find yourself doing an doing crocheting, taking apart until you have a similar switch because what this means is when I write the pattern, if I call this Simall if you have a tighter tension, and you follow my number of stitches and I have a looser grip and you have a tighter grip. My small with your grip could be an extra small in my version. So we do this to make sure that we're crushing the exact same sizes. I believe that makes sense. If it doesn't, please be sure to ask the discussion area, and I'll be more than glad to further explain it for you. 33. How to read a crochet pattern : Right then. We're not officially done with our crochet hooks and our yarn. We're not going to I'm going to give you a little crash course on how to read a crochet pattern. Like I said at the beginning of the course is I'm going to give you a free crochet baby sweater pattern that should be very easy for you to do. It's going to allow you to practice the stitches that we've learned from the slip stitches, the single crochet, increasing, working in the rounds and everything like that. How do you read the crochet pattern? First of all, every good pattern is going to have everything that we've learned one gauge. Like I told you, gauge is to make sure that the size of the crochet pattern that you either purchased or you're using matches with what you're going to make. In every crochet pattern, you're going to find a gauge. Before you begin, you always want to make sure you test the gauge, making sure that your gauge and the one of the crochet pattern, you're going to use match. Number two, is going to be the abbreviations. So what do I mean by abbreviations? There's going to be stuff like the stitches. Because obviously, if let's say I'm trying to tell you to half double crochet, ten stitches, I'm not going to write the whole thing half double crochet. So we use abbreviations. So there's double crochet. Which is written as a DC. It means to double croche. There is half double croche. You will find it as HDC like so. There is a single crochet. It's just written as S C. There is slip stitch. I like to write minus this, but others will write it as that SOT. There is a repeat I'd like to just remind us this. You're going to find DC 17 and then HTC four. What that means is double croce 17 and then half double croce four and then you're going to find them right in REP. This means no repeat the whole thing that you did. So the good thing about my patterns is you're going to find a lot of words because I know how my child was struggling when I was new to learning to crochet. I mean, there are some patterns that just would be numbers. For example, if you're learning how to make am garms, it's just 6s4s3, DC or DEC, DEC means decrease by the way, DEC or something like that. For a beginning of that it's going to be confusing. You want to go for more friendlier beginner friendly crochet patterns. The good thing is, they will always have an abbreviation. And you want to pay attention to that crochet terms. Another thing that you have to keep note of, there is two crochet patterns. There's the British version, and there's the US version. What I'm teaching in this class is the US version. For the British version, the double crochet is actually the treble crochet the D treble crochet is TRB. This is how I write it anyway. TRB, this means trouble croche a single crochet, they call it a half double croche a half double croche they'll call it a double croche I believe, and then the double crochet is a trouble crochet. In case you find another pattern like that, make sure you always read terminology. It tells you which ones they're using for me, it's always the US. The pattern I'm going to leave for you in this after the course is going to be in US. Another thing that a pattern is going to tell you is the size of y and the size of croche hook. Make sure they match. If you want your gauge to match, make sure the yarn and hook size matches. However, if let's say my gauge was 18 stitches in 12 rows. And you keep getting 24 stitches in 15 rows. You can consider going down a yarn size, for example, if you quote this with a with a medium weight yarn, a wasted weight yarn, and you are using a wasted weight yarn as well, and you're getting a larger gauge, no matter how many times you try, you can consider going down. A hook and the size. You can go from a western weight on to a de weight decay means double it by the way, you can go down to a decon if you're using a five millimeter, you can try going to a four with 4.5, and you're going to see that you're going to come close or you're going to match the gauge. That's something to keep in mind otherwise when it comes to reading cross patterns. What I find to be most tricky is the abbreviations because most pers do not know what is this. Always follow the abbreviation. Some people, patterns will have it different. You always make sure to cross check what does this mean. Sometimes you're going to find, for example, I'm going to say DC four H D C six, then it's going to be in a bracket. Sometimes what the brackets mean is to repeat and then write four at the end of the brackets. What this means is after you double croce four and then double croce six, you are going to repeat that four times. Then sometimes it's just going to write DC that was in frame. DC four HTC six. And then at the end of the row, they're going to write ten. This sometimes just means at the end, you're going to double croche four, have double croche six and the end of the row you're going to have ten stitches. But not to worry, a very good pattern has everything like this written out. Another thing that you want to make sure of every pattern has a level or level of difficulty. It's going to tell you beginner or intermediate beginner advanced beginner, intermediate or super advanced. You always want to go for the beginner. Once you find that you're finding it easy work in the beginner projects. Go up a notch, to be honest with you, the pattern that I've left for you, I would not entirely call it a beginner friendly crucial pattern, but it's a great way for you guys to practice. For the pattern that I've written for you, there's going to be a little teddy bear. On it, but you can always ignore that because it's a sweater that I made for babies. I think I showed it at the very introduction of the video. You're just going to work the whole sweater. The good thing is it's worked in one piece. You're not going to have to sue anything. All you're going to have to do is cut and rejoin yards especially when you're working sleeves. So I start with making the collar and then we start by crushing the body. And as we do that, we increase in four corners. So it's going to be this corner this corner this corner at this corner. And it's going to increase. So this is the color. This is where it's going to be the T would be the back and this would be the front. And then as we increase, we are going to now work the body, finish with some ribbing of single crochets here, and the whole body will be worked in half double crochets, and then you're going to connect your work the arms, finish with the ribbons and then the other arm in some ribbon as well. If you have a baby nearby, that would be a great present. If you know that someone is going to have a baby, another great present. If you don't, you can always donate to a hospital, just random act of kindness from something that you just learned. And as you get comfortable, you can make more and more and more of the crushi sweaters. That is a little crash course on how to read in croche pattern. 34. Outro: With that, I am now going to have to love and leave you guys. I had a great time teaching you guys the basics to the crochet for the absolute bicker. You have learned how to double crochet, how to travele crochet, how to count, calculate your gauge, how to single crochet, how to slip stitch, how to work in the round, how to front loop and back loop, how to increase, how to decrease, how to fasten off, how to weave in your ends, and of course, how to read the crochet pattern. I hope you enjoyed and I hope everything made sense in this course, remember, if you have any questions or if you need extra help, do not feel sure. You can always reach out to us in the discussion area, and I will be more than happy to help you. There's an assignment for you, a little croche sweater for you to work. I cannot wait to see your projects. Until next class, see you guys.