The Most Complete Crochet Course for Beginners: Learn All the Basics

1. INTRODUCTION: Learning how to crochet is a truly invigorating activity, the feeling of making something with your own hands for yourself or to offer to those you love is incomparable. My name is Emilie. As you can hear, I'm a French-Canadian from Quebec and crochet is my passion. I like to design modern patterns that are easy and pleasant to make. I'm the girl behind Crochetmilie's brand, which started thanks to the Etsy platform in 2015. And I'm so happy to finally share my knowledge with you thanks to this course. It was at the age of 8 that I discovered the pleasure of crocheting and I never thought I will be able to make a living with my passion. Thank you. 21st century Internet. In this class we will learn the basic skills you'll need to crochet anything you want, whether you're left or right-handed. We will start with the theory, very quickly. Then how to hold the hook and the yarn. The different stitches and techniques of crochet, the finishing of a project. And at the end, you will learn how to read a pattern so that you will be ready to go it on your own because there's a whole world of crochet waiting for you. What makes this course unique and successful is that At the end of each lesson, a quick project will be proposed to let you practice immediately what you have just learned. And you're going to be amazed by your new skill after only one lesson, I promise you when you're done, not only will you be comfortable to crochet whatever you want, but you'll notice all the positive effects on your mental balance and your stress. And given that the equipment is easy to bring with you, all the waiting moments will turn into relaxing moments. Are you ready? Let's start this crochet journey, Have fun and get hooked! 2. THE BASICS - Hooks & Yarns: Let's start with the basics to know the difference between each yarns and hooks First of all, we're going to learn the concept of crochet. Don't repeat that. It's just to show you. It's like making an knot but never finishing it. That's the principle of crochet. And as you can see, if we pull on that thread, everything comes undone. That's it. Here's a couple of hooks I've already used. You can find the aluminum or plastic hooks really common in stores. There's bamboo hooks personally, I don't like them because the yarn doesn't slide well on them. There is the ergonomic hooks made in China. It's good quality versus price. And my favorite one, the clover hooks made in Japan, I found that they slide really smoothly on it and the handle help your wrist to not get tired of crocheting all day long. As you can see, there's a wide range of hooks tagged in millimeter, or sometimes there is a letter associated with. And in one minute, we're going to understand the meaning of these numbers. There's a huge variety of yarns and I will not go over everything. But there are three main types. There's natural fibers that can be made from wool, cotton, bamboo, anything that came from nature. The most popular one that you can see all over the craft store are the synthetics, ones made from acrylic. And you will see also blended yarn, it's often a mix of acrylic and wool. With time you will know your taste, what you prefer most between all of those yarns. Let's talk about yarn weight. You can find different thickness in the thread of the yarn. So you will see those little numbers on the wrapping of each yarn. Numbers goes from 0 to seven, from Thin to super thick. Thin yarn will be crochet with small hook sizes and thicks yarn with bigger hook sizes. And we can use different hooks for the same yarn, depending if you want your project to be tighter or looser. And if a yarn that you love doesn't have the thickness you want, you have the option to double it by taking two threads at the same time. And just a quick note when you start to crochet Please avoid these kind of yarn like this fluffy or fuzzy ones because you're not going to see well your stitches. To be well equipped to complete all your crochet projects, you will need scissors, yarn, needle, stitch marker and a tape measure. In the next ten lessons, I will use Worsted weight yarn with a 4mm hook and super bulky yarn with a seven millimeter hook. In each lesson, I will show you how to crochet with both of them and lefties are not left out because I especially made a version for them. And these tutorials will be well identified at the end of the list of videos below. So you can go to the craft store to get these or you can grab my how to crochet box with the best hooks and quality yarns inside. With all the tools you need to complete my crochet course with the projects associated with. Let's now start to crochet. See you in the first lesson. 3. The Concept: In this lesson, you will only need your hands and any stren of a good lamp that you can find at your home. It can be your cell phone charger cord, yarn that your granny gave you, and even dental floss. Clean, please. Get your yarn, we start right away. Every rose project can start by making a slip nut. The easiest way to do it if you have a very long thread is to try to make a regular nut, and you will see that the thread will not have time to pass through the look that you will have made your slipknot. But I will still show you the official method to do it. It is similar to our regular nut. Only we will not pass the yarn completely through the loop. You can go get the yarn and hold the two ends to form the slip knot. You should be able to undo it easily by pulling. I show how to do it here from another angle. Hold the yarn well so that it does not enter the loop and pull simultaneously on the loop as well as on the threads. I show you another method by wrapping the loop around two fingers and going to get the yarn to form our slip nub. We will now cross a chain with our fingers. You will be able to pass through the loop and come to get the yarn that is connected to your skin or the longest side of the c that you have go to get. You will repeat the movement. You put your fingers in the loop formed, and you always go to get the yarn to pass it it and you continue like this for as long as you want. When you have had enough, you can either keep this masterpiece as a souvenir or simply pull on the strand to undo everything super easily. It's certainly much easier with real yarn, but I'll show you here that with the same technique you can practice with any strand. You can also have fun trying this technique with your family. I left my niece Zana Tend, and she was off to go around the world with her chain. You have just learned the concept of course. This will replace your fingers, but the principle remain the same. To pull the yarn through the loop. Let's practice with a real hook in the next lesson. 4. The Starting Chain: Before getting into the subject, I wanted to show you how to find a thread in a new skein. The first way is to take the ending thread, which should be obvious. Otherwise, pull on a looser looking thread and the end should appear fairly quickly. The advantage is that this will keep the skein intact until the end, but you'll have to pull on the thread often to make it spin and unwind. The other method is to find the beginning thread, which is inside. Sometimes it sticks out a little, making it easy to find, but often it's well hidden inside. So you'll have to pull out a kind of baby skein to finally find it. The advantage of this method is that the thread is super easy to pull out afterward. The skein will hardly move while you crochet. The inconvenience is that it will leave a gap inside if you don't finish it completely. It won't keep its shape as well as the first method. It's up to you to explore both ways and choose which one you prefer. It's now time to grab your hook. The starting chain is the foundation of every crochet project. It is made up of several chain stitches joined together. You will start by making a slip knot as you learned in the previous video. Now you will insert your hook into the loop and you can tighten the knot around it but not too much. Your hook must be able to slide well inside the loop. Your left hand will come to control the tension of the yarn. You can pass it like this. You open your hand, you wrap the yarn around your little finger, passing through the inside, and then you turn your hand over, and you are going to bring the yarn on your index finger. And with your thumb and middle finger, you are going to come and hold the little knot that you made, like that. You are going to work this way. The index finger will always be in the air to control your tension. I'll show you a second time. You'll see, after about 15 minutes, this movement will become very natural. Once you're well positioned, you can hold your hook in two ways. There is the knife way, or the pencil way. You can test both methods to find out which one you are most comfortable with. We will now make our first chain. The head of the hook facing you, you will pass the hook under the yarn, so you make a movement towards you. You will try to hook the thread on the head of the hook and you will bring it back towards the loop to pull it through it. Your index finger will help you control the tension so as not to tighten the loop. You can make a small rotation movement of the hook downwards so that it can fit well into the loop. And then you twist your hook upwards so that the yarn does not escape. You have made your first chain. Don't worry if it is not as beautiful as mine. Trust me, you will succeed by the end of the video. You should not force the hook to get inside. You see that with my index finger, I control the tension of the yarn well so that it is easy to pass it. When I tilt my index finger a little bit, the loop gets bigger. So it's important that the loop on your hook always has a little bit of slack so that your yarn can pass through it properly. So let's make our second chain stitch. With the hook head facing you, you pass this one under the yarn, and you will catch it by making a small rotation of the head downwards, and you pull it through the loop. You see here, I have a little bit of difficulty because the thread is a little tighter on my index. So I could have brought it a little closer to give myself more play. To do this, you can place your right index finger on the loop of the hook, so as not to lose it. And relax your left hand, pull a little bit, and reposition your fingers. Which will give you a good length of yarn to work. At the same time, you can always bring your thumb and middle finger closer to the hook. They will always hold what you're doing. A mistake to avoid will be passing the hook over the yarn. You see that it doesn't work. You can't put it in the loop. But really the hook towards you. And you're going to catch the thread by passing it under it. This movement is called a yarn over. The yarn goes over the hook. So I'll let you continue a little bit to observe my movements. And I'll show you the common problems in a few moments. So it's very important to facilitate your work to always bring your fingers close to the hook. And you can see it very well here, that I can control the opening of my loop with my index finger, and by pulling the hook up. And if you ever drop your loop, or you've made a chain stitch that you don't really like, it's super easy to undo it by simply pulling on the thread to the next loop. This is one aspect of crochet that I really like. It's so easy to correct a mistake. You just have to put the hook back in with the little braid of the chain facing you. Don't insert the hook behind it, but in front of it. Like that. And you put your hands back and you continue your chain. Let's move on to the problems you might encounter. If you are not able to pass your thread through the loop, it is because your tension is much too tight. So release the thread a little bit from your index finger, pull your hook up so you can see a gap in your loop. I'm showing you here the movement you should do when it's too tight. So I'm releasing the tension, I'm making sure I have a gap to get into my loop. The opposite problem, if your loop is too big, like this, the small braid, your starting chain, will not be very homogeneous. It is important to keep the same tension throughout our chain for a beautiful result. So if this happens to you, you just have to pull on the thread and start again. And the last problem will be too loose tension between your index finger and your hook, which will make your thread almost impossible to catch. You should keep a comfortable length between your index finger and what you are crocheting. Also, it is important to keep your hook above what you are crocheting. Don't go passing your hook under your chain to catch the yarn. Each little chain stitch of your starting chain should be similar. Each chain is made up of two V shaped strands that make a small braid. And that's the right side of the chain. And the back side looks like this. So it's very easy to recognize the right side, the one with the small braid. I'll now teach you how to count each chain stitch. You can use the strands from above to count them. The first one will be just after the loop that is on your hook. And we will count the following strands up to our slip knot. This one does not count as a chain. The last visible strand before the slip knot will be our last chain. The first one you made. You will understand in lesson 2 why we count the stitches in the chain from the hook and not in the order you made them. Now let's try the same technique. But with a super bulky yarn. With the 7 mm hook this time, we will redo a starting chain. Maybe you will find easier to work with this thickness of yarn. You will start in the same way, with a slip knot. And you put your hook inside the loop and tighten the knot on the hook so that it can slide well through the loop. Position the yarn that is connected to the skein on your left hand by wrapping your little finger up. to your index and your thumb and your middle finger will hold the slipknot. Again, you can hold the hook in the pencil way or the knife way. I personally prefer the latter because it puts less strain on the wrist. So with the tip of the hook facing you, you are going to grab the yarn from below, rotate the hook head slightly downward to pass it easily through the loop, and then you turn the hook up. And we continue to chain. You will find that it is much easier with a large hook and a thick yarn to pull through the loop. On the other hand, you will have to adjust your left hand much more often to keep a good tension, given that each stitch will take much more yarn than a worsted weight yarn. Continue practicing your chain stitches. And remember that you can always use your index finger on your right hand to hold the loop on the hook as you adjust your left hand to keep a good tension. When you are completely comfortable, you can increase the speed. And again, if you have difficulty passing the yarn through the loop, it's because your tension is too tight. So release your left index finger, enlarge your loop to pass the thread easily. Aim to have an equal tension between all the stitches of your starting chain. If you see one that is too loose, you can simply undo it and start again. You should, once again, have a nice, even foundation chain. And this is how we should count the chain stitches from your hook. Always looking at the strands that are above. I made 9 in this case. Now let's practice with the first project. 5. The Bracelet - PROJECT: Welcome to your first crochet project. You will need a little bit of worsted weight cut on yarn in the color of your choice, a four millimeter hook and scissors. Please note that you can use any other yarn to make this little project. We will start our bracelet by making a slit nut. Insert the hook into the loop. Place the yarn as you learned on your other hand to keep a good tension. And you are ready to begin your starting chain, which will constitute your bracelet. You will make 100 chains. In a pattern, it will be written chain 100. This is the perfect project to practice your technique. Try to make each chain look the same for a nice even foundation chain. If you lose count, don't worry. I'll show you how to know where to stop. When the tension gets too tight from time to time, you can pull on the skin to give yourself some slack. You can pause the video. When you've finished your hundred or so chains, to know if it's the right len, it should be fit three times around your wrist. You can add or remove some as needed. You can check if your little braid, your chain, is always in the same direction so that the little Vs are always visible on the right side of the chain. You can take the hook out by pulling on the loop. Cut the thread, leaving a good lamp. And you have two options to secure your thread. The first one is to put your fingers in the loop and go and get the ending thread and pull on it to be able to finish your knot. The second method will be to simply pull on the loop until the end thread comes out. That's two ways to secure the end for your project to come. You can choose which method you like best. Then you will make a double not with both beginning and ending threads to close your bracelet. If you see that it is still not strong enough, you can make another nut. And that's it. You can cut the axis, leaving just a little length like this. And you are ready to wrap it around your wrist, making three turns. There you have it, your first cross set project is complete. You can be very proud of yourself. Join me in the next lesson where you will learn how to make single crochet. A. 6. The Single Crochet - Part 1: Now let's get into the real thing where you'll learn how to build something using your hook. The concept is that you will work on the starting chain that you have just made by crushing from right to left. When you reach the end, we will turn our project back on itself to continue working on the stitches that you have just made, and so on. This way of doing is called crushing in rows. I'll show you how to do this in part two and three of this lesson. For now, let's learn how to make at basic stitch the single crochet. With your four millimeter hook and worsted weight yarn, make a foundation chain of ten chains. You can pause the video. We will now build on this chain. We will make a single crochet into the second chain from your hook. By bringing your fingers together to hold the chain closer to the hook, you will hold the loop that is on your hook with your right index finger, and you will come to insert the hook into the loop that is upper of your second chain like that. Then you will come to catch the thread. Make a yarn over by passing it under this one, and you will pass it through the loop of your chain. Pull the hook up so that you can see the two loops clearly now on your hook. Put your fingers back in order to see clearly what you're doing and create space in the loops. You will make another yarn over, always passing the hook under the yarn, and you pull it the two loops that are on your hook. As with the chain, you can turn your hook up so as not to lose your loop. It doesn't look like much, but you've just made your first single crochet. Now we're going to make a second one. To know exactly where to make it. You see when I pull on my single crochet, the little strand of the chain moves. That means we've already entered this one. The next, the next loop will be this one, the one that's not stretched, and everything will fall back into place at the end. Don't worry if you see that it makes little holes. You're going to go into this strand. You hold the loop with your index finger, you insert your hook. You can use your middle finger to gide it into the top loop. You're going to make a iron over. Do not do it by passing your hook over the iron. That's another method, but really pass the hook under the iron to get it. And you pass through that chain. You replace your fingers to see your two loops well, and you make another yarn overver, and you pull it through the two loops that are on your hood. There are two steps to the single crush. Let's look together their anatomy. You see that it creates a small braid on top and the strand that you see completely to the right, this is the chain that we skipped at the beginning. We sometimes call it the turning chain. You will understand why in the following video. You can place your stitch marker on it. It will help you to find your way in the following rows. We are ready to continue with our single crochet. You can enter the next chain. You see that this one that has a big gap it's already taken. It's not in that one, but really in the next one. You enter your hook into the chain. You yarn over, you pass through the chain. You yarn over and you pull through the two loops that on your hook. You can't continue until the end of your starting chain. If you ever miss a single crushes stitch, skip the chain or make two in the same chain, you can simply pull the yarn to undo until the next loop that will appear on the break that your stitches form. Then you will insert your hook from right to left into the loop. And you are ready to start again. Your chain may be very stretched after undoing a single c, but you'll see everything falls back into place at the end. I'll let you continue. You can pause the video. We need the last single crochet to do. The last single crochet will be in the first chain that you made, the one that is right after your s. You have just finished row one of your little project. You should have nine single crochet plus your turning chain in a row one. You can tell how many there are by counting the little brakes that are on top. Let's take a look at the anatomy of single crochet. When you look at the right side of a single crochet stitch, you can see that each of them forms Vs. On these, they are the strands that form the small brad that corresponds to them. If we turn to the other side, we look at the single crochet on the wrong side. You see that it creates inverted V with one strand on top. We call it the posterior loop. For the next row, we will come work into the two loops of our small brake that is on top. You can put a second stitch marker in the last single crochet that you made. We will continue the next row in the following video. A 7. The Single Crochet - Part 2: I showed you in the previous video that you can construct something by crushing in a rows. In this lesson, I'm going to show you two methods that can be applied to any kind of stitches. The first one will give you straight edges on the side, while the second which is a bit easier will give you undefined edges. After we practice with both methods, I will show you in which situation each of them will be the best choice. By picking up where we left off in the last video, you can replace your fingers, your hook, and make a chain. It is used to give height to be able to build our second row. We will therefore always start a row by making one or more chains depending on the stitch. We will then turn our project on itself by turning it like this. To always crochet from right to left. Now we will crochet row two in each of the stitches of row one, taking the two strands bolt loops of the small bread. In this case, since we're going to use the method with straight edges, our chain will count as a stitch. It will replace a single crochet. We're going to make our first single crochet in the next stitch. That is the one right after the marker. You can remove the marker, but remember where you have to go. And you enter into the next stitch, which is this one by entering both loops. And you make your single crochet as usual. Yarn over, you pass through the stitch. Yarn over, you pull through two loops. That's the single crochet you just made. And here you have your turning chain. The one that counts. Which means we're going to use it to insert the last single crochet of the next row. You can place your stitch marker on a loop of it, the one that's facing you. We're going to continue row two by making single crochet in each of the following stitches, still taking ball loops like this. I'll let continue. We'll meet up near the next marker. Pay attention to really going to each of the little brakes of each stitch. You can pause the video. Now I have a bra visible, so I'm going to make my single in both loops of this one. And we're going to finish by making a single crushe in the turning chain. The method to have straight edges requires that we always finish in the turning chain of each row. It is normal to enter only into one strand of the chain. As when working on a starting chain, we only take 11 loop. You can remove your marker and we will look together at what we have just done. You should normally, as in row one, have nine single crushed, plus your chain, where the marker is. For a straight project, you will absolutely always need the same number of stitches in each row. Unfortunately, we can't cheat. If you skip one or make too many, you will have to undo to correct the mistake. That's why in the beginning, it's important to count the stitches in each row, so we can see if we've made mistakes as quickly as possible. You can put your marker back on the last single croche that you make. You're going to make a chain and always turn outwards, and we're going to start our third row. Where is your marker? It's called the same stitch. The last one you made in row two. We're going to enter the one after the next stitch. And you make your single crochet. You put the marker back on your chain, which is just before your single crochet, enter into the loop that faces you. By the way, you won't always need these little markers. It's really to get you used to recognize your stitches. No. You continue by making single crochet in each of the following stitches. We need just before the next marker. Same as in row two, we're going to make our last single crochet in the turning chain of row two. Sometimes you may find it difficult to get into the little strand here. You can use your fingernail if you have one to help the hook to pass. M. And you have completed row three. Let's look at the anatomy together again to understand how to count stitches and rows. Here's the nine single crochet you made plus the chain from the beginning. Here's how to recognize the rows. We find row one, which is just above your foundation chain. Row two will be on wrong side, so you will see the shape of the inverted V with the small strand on top. Row three, we return on the right side where we can clearly see the small V that the single crochet make. Since we turn the project every row, there is not really a right or wrong side. It looks much the same. But generally, the right side will be the side where the starting chain is visible and the right side of row one. If we turn that we just did to the other side, we can clearly see the starting chain as well as row one, which are on the wrong side. But as you will notice, there are no precise rules for crochet. The important thing is the visual result. If it's more beautiful on one side than the other, we'll choose the most beautiful side, that will become the right side. The one we're going to show. A common mistake that happens to all of us when we start crusheting, would be to enter our hook in the same stitch instead of entering the next stitch. Because we use the straight edge method, that would add a single crushe to your row. Therefore, an increase. You will immediately see a small bump appear on the edge. Just double check after each row that you didn't add one by accident. The same way. Remember to always end your row in the small chain. Otherwise, you will miss a single crush in your role. Another mistake would be to skip a stitch. The appearance of the mistake is subtle, but it will come to shrink what you're doing, even create a small bump from there. The importance, again, when you start to count each of the single cruce well, to make sure we haven't missed any. Now that you're used to inserting your hook into both loops of each stitch. I'll show you that you can insert your hook in different places to get a different style. You could insert your hook in front loop only, the one that is facing you. Whether your project is right side or wrong side, when the instruction tells you to go in the front loop, it is always the strand that is in front of you. Usually we will follow this indication for a full row. This will make a small line appear on the other side of the project. You could also pass your hook through the back loop only. The strand that is furthest away from you, which is right here. You can tilt the work a little bit down there to see that you are entering the back loop only. This time, it's going to give you a little line on the front of what you're doing. Let's practice now with the super bulky yarn and the second method for building rows. 8. The Single Crochet - Part 3: Now that we have practiced the first method to make straight edges, I will show you the second method that you will find maybe a little easier, but that gives less defined edges. You can practice this time with the seven millimeter hook and the super bowl Keyon. You're going to make a starting chain of ten. Chain ten. You can pause the video. We're going to start the same way as the first method, you're going to make a single crush into the second chain from your hook. You enter the loop that is upper, you yarn over, you pass through the chain. And you make another yarnover, and pull through the two loops that are on your hook. Your first single crush of row one is done. You can place your stitch marker on this one. In the second method, the turning chains do not count as a stitch. We will never crush into these. You can make your s c into the next chain. Ner the chain. Yarn over, you pass through that chain. Yarn over, you pull through the tops on your hook. And you continue like this all along your foundation chain. We meet just before making our last single cro. By the way, I wanted to show you what it looks like when you make two single crush the same stitch. You'll see that there are two small breads, two stitches that are formed into the same one. If this happens to you, you just have to undo one and continue. Your last single cru of row one will be in the chain that is right after your s. You can count to see if you have made nine single crochet. You can then place your second stitch marker on the last single crochet you made. As with the first technique, we will make a chain before turning our project to continue with row two. The difference this time is that you will not make your first single crochet in the next stitch, but in the same stitch. The one where is your marker. If the marker is in that path, you can remove it, but remember where to go. That's why this technique is a little easier because you don't have to think about where to enter your hook. It's simply in the available stitch that is closest to your hook. And you enter both loops of the stitch. The first single crochet of root two is done. You can put the stitch marker back on this one, and as you see, we completely ignore our turning chain. You're going to continue to make single crochet in all the following stitches, always entering both loops, and we meet up just before finishing our row. Your last single crusht of row two will be where you put your marker in the first single crushet of row one. And we totally ignore the small turning chain. You will see you will have done again nine single crush set. To summarize the second method, we start each row in the same stitch and we finish it in the stitch just before the chain. You can place your stitch marker on your last single c. We will continue with the th row. You're going to make a chain turn, and you start by making a single crush in the same stitch, stitch where your marker is. Place the marker back on the single crushe that you just made and continue by making a single crushet in the next eight stitches. Your last single crochet will be where your marker is in the one just before the chain. Let's look at the anatomy of what we just did. We have our starting chain, then row one, where we can curly see our single crochet with the shape of a small v. Row two, which is on the wrong side in an inverted V. Row three, we can see our single crushes stitches that are on the right side with the small braid that forms on top. You should always have nine single crushes stitches in each of the rows. Since we don't finish the rows in the turning chain, that's why the edges are a little less defined because it creates a gap between the two rows. Sometimes if you have trouble seeing the anatomy of the stitches, you can always use your fingers to feel your single crutch to know how many rows you have. With this method of constructing rows, the variations of style will still remain the same. If you were told to go in the front loop only, well, you would start in the one of the same stitch. Just a reminder the front loop is always the one closest to you. Similarly, if you were told to go in the back loop only, you would start in the one of the same stitch. The first one you see. Now, how to choose the right method? The difference between the two is seen by their edges. When we start the row in the next stitch and finish it in the chain, the sides will be straight. When we start our row in the same stitch and finish it just before the chain, as we just practiced, it's easier to work with, but the sides are less defined. You can choose the method that suits you best depending on whether the borders will be visible or not. They are visible, the ideal choice will be the first method with straight edges. Otherwise, the second method will be ideal for pillows because the sides will be sewn together anyway, or for crochet projects that have a lot of color changes, often in the form of graphs that you will practice in the third project. Finally, if your project includes adding a border, you will have the option of taking the easy one since the edges will be hidden. In any case, it will be important to keep the same method for all rows. You may have wondered, does the direction you turn the project at the end of a row make a difference? I taught you to turn it to the back, but some crocheters will turn it to the front. Note that there is no wrong way to crochet, as long as you keep the same method throughout. There are two reasons why I prefer to turn to the back. First, it will be much easier when you do large projects. For example, in each row of a blanket, it will always go in your face. Also, the turning chain is harder to see, and the hook more complicated to pass in it. I show you here the aesthetic difference between the two methods. It is really a matter of taste and it's up to you to decide which one you prefer. Now, let's practice with your first real crochet project, the mug rug. 9. The Mug Rug - PROJECT: This little project is perfect for practicing your single crochet. So you will need about 12 grams of worsted weight cotton yarn, a 4 millimeter crochet hook, a yarn needle, scissors, 2 stitch markers, and a tape measure. Start with your slip knot and chain 16. You can practice counting your 16 chain stitches. Make your first single crochet into the third chain from the hook. Go into the top loop of the chain, like this. Make a yarn over, pass through the chain, yarn over, and pull through the two loops that are on your hook. Continue to make a single crochet in the next 13 chains. You can put your stitch marker on the turning chain, just before your first single crochet, which is right here. And continue your single crochet. Are you wondering why I made the first single crochet in the third chain from hook, and not in the second one as I taught you in the lesson? Well, I wanted to show you that in crochet, there are no really any mandatory rules. Even though, logically, you have to start the first row in the second chain stitch, well, you must have noticed that one of the corners of your small sample when you practiced in the lesson is not very straight and tends to curve back on itself. So, I decided to add a chain and to start my first single crochet in the third one to leave more space. And make a straighter corner. This is an example of freedom that we can take in crochet if the final result is more aesthetic. At the end of your first row, count if you did 14 single crochet in total. Then place your second stitch marker in the last single crochet that you made in row 1. Each subsequent row will begin by making a chain, the turning chain. And you will turn the project to always crochet from right to left. You will make your first single crochet in the next stitch, that is the one just after where the marker is. And insert the hook in both loops of the stitch. Remove the marker and, if you need it, replace it on the turning chain. For the rest of the video, I'm going to show you that it's possible not to use the markers and be able to recognize the stitches yourself. But if you find it too difficult, don't hesitate to use them. So, row 2, we're going to continue by making 1 single crochet in all of the following stitches, always entering into both loops of each stitch. You will have a total of 14 single crochet in row 2. You can pause the video. Your last single crochet will be in the turning chain. Where is your marker So you can guess that we are crocheting in rows with the straight edge technique. So we will always start our row in the next stitch and finish in the turning chain. Count again if you have 14 single crochet stitches. From row 3 to row 15, we will follow the same instructions. So you can chain 1, turn, and you will make 1 single crochet in the next stitch. Which is right here, right after the last stitch you made in row 2. So you will make 1 single crochet in the next 14 stitches. The last stitch being in your turning chain. And make sure to count 14 single crochet stitches at the end of each row. Repeat this 12 more times and we'll meet at the end of row 15, where I'll show you how to count them. Your coaster should now look like this. We'll count together if we have 15 rows. I've drawn each row, the little V's corresponding to the odd rows, if you're holding the project on the right side, on this side. And the little inverted V's that correspond to the even rows. I'm now going to show you how to finish a project. So to secure the thread, you will remove the hook from the loop, and you will cut the thread, leaving a good length. You will then pass the thread through the loop to secure the end of your work. It's that simple. You may notice that one of the corners is curling up on itself. I'll show you in a few minutes how to fix it. For now, I'll show you how to tuck the threads in to hide them and keep them from coming undone. You can take your yarn needle and weave one of the two strands inside it. Turn the project so that the wrong side is facing you and you will weave the needle through the single crochet stitches. There is not just one way to weave in the ends. I'll show you another technique right after. So you can go through about three single crochet, like this. You pull the yarn and you go back the other way, this time entering the strand right after the one you came out of. And you repeat one last time on the opposite side, still entering the strand immediately after where you came out. So the thread is well stuck and it will be very difficult for it to come out by itself. You can cut off what's sticking out. Test to see if you hid your thread well. With the second one, I'm going to show you another technique that I often use. It's to zigzag between the strands that are transverse. These ones here. So as long as you feel a certain tension, you will go from top to bottom and from bottom to top through these small strands, following the same principle that we just did. You go back and forth three times to secure your thread. You can choose the method you want to weave in your ends, as long as you like the visual result. And cut off the excess. This second technique will create a small thickness where you weaved in your thread. So you might find it's best to use when the back of a project isn't very visible. Congratulations! You've almost finished your coaster. All that's missing are the little decorations. We're going to make fringes on the sides. With your measuring tape and your scissors, of course, cut 32 strands about 7 inches long. When you have your 32 strands, you're going to put them one by one on the sides of your coaster. With your hook, you're going to go into any outer strand that you see on the first row or the last. It doesn't matter. Go get a thread, grab it on your hook, and pull it through the strand. And go get the two threads and pass them through the loop. to secure them well. And you will repeat this all along the side. There will be one fringe per row, and we will add one at the level of the starting chain. So, 16 fringes on each side. If you prefer, you could remove the hook after passing the yarn through the strand, and use your fingers to pick up the rest. I'll let you continue with the method of your choice. If you are not sure which strand to enter, here is a plan that can guide you. And the last two fringes will be right here. It should look like this. Now repeat the same thing on the other side. Your coaster now needs a good haircut. Cut the fringes so that they are about an inch long. And there you have it, your coaster is finished. I hope you are very proud of yourself. It should be about 10 cm long, without the fringes, by 9 cm high. Now, if the little corner that rolls up is bothering you, I'm going to show you a technique called blocking. When a project needs to be flat and you want it to keep its shape, blocking will come in handy. It's used to relax and fix the yarn so it takes on a more stable shape. It's super handy when crocheting clothes and the famous granny squares. You may never need to do this, but I'll show you the technique in case you do. The first step is to soak your project in water, either in a bowl or from the tap, and remove the excess water with a towel. Then you could either use a styrofoam with pins, a blocking board, your couch, and if you don't have anything on hand, any fabric surface, like a cushion, will do the job. The goal is just to pin our project evenly so that it stretches just a little bit, which will make it flat. And I'll prove to you that you can really block with anything, yarn needle, bobby pins, if you really have nothing on hand and want to test the process. Usually, you measure each side so that it's even, but in the case of our coaster, you don't need to measure perfectly. Go by eye. What we want to get is a coaster that is perfectly flat, with no corners that curl up. And the last step is to let it dry. And there you have it. Your coaster is perfectly flat. See you in the next lesson, where you will learn how to change color. 10. Change Colors: In this lesson, you will learn how to change color and how to attach a new skein of yarn. It's easier than you think. The only thing you have to remember is that just before finishing your stitch, in this case the single crochet, you will join the new color by making a yarn over with it and pulling it through the two loops that are on your hook. And you continue to crochet with this color. After you make your first stitch with the new color, you can pull on the threads on the back to tighten them. If it was time to change colors and you forgot, simply pull your thread to undo the last stitch. Put the hook back through the loop and start over. So, you insert the hook into the stitch, you yarn over, you pass through the stitch, you go grab the color to join and you yarn over to pull it through the two remaining loops. For any crochet stitch, it will always be at the last step that you join your color. It's that simple. Now, let's see how to join the color when we want to start a new row. The last single crochet that you are supposed to do in your row, you are going to join the new color to the last step of the single crochet. And just start the next row. I'm going to show you three techniques to make the colors follow. Because depending of the project you're doing, maybe you don't want to see these threads sticking out like that. The method that hides all the threads well is the tapestry method, which is always to crochet over your thread of the other color. So when it's time to change color, you can join it and then you're going to crochet the next stitches over the old color. So you're going to include it when you will continue your single crochet. The previous color will follow you while crocheting. And make sure that the yarn stays on the back of the project to hide it well. And when you need that color again, it will be at your disposal. And you will do the same thing with the thread of the previous color. And there you have it, your color changes are all clean. You will only have to weave in the thread from the beginning at the end of your project. Now let's see how to follow the yarn when working a row that is on the back of the project. This time, you will follow the yarn in front of you. So you will pass the hook under it. while entering the next stitch. The idea is to hide the thread on the back of your work. This is how you will know whether to follow the thread to the front or the back of your stitches. Let's say I want to change color right here. I'm just going to take the yarn of the next one and pull it through the two remaining loops. And I'm going to put the previous color on the back of the project, which, in this case, is in front of me. And I'm going to include this yarn in all the following stitches I make, until I change the color again. If your project is reversible, this is a good technique. But as you can see, because we crocheted it in rows, the beige yarn is visible. So to avoid this, another technique that I personally use often, especially when the back of my project is hidden, like a cushion for example, is that every 3 or 4 single crochet, I will include the thread. I will crochet over it, like the method we saw previously. So, right now, I chose to change color after two single crochet. So, let's say I have several single crochet of the new color. I would do two single crochet. And at the third one, I would include the previous colored yarn to make it follow well. Don't pull it too much. Just make sure it's nice, straight, and follows your work. And you see the result On the good side, you can't see at all that you've made the thread follow. The third method I'm going to show you is the lazy one. When you change colors, you totally ignore the other thread and continue crocheting. And when you need the other color again, you can take it, leaving a good length, so that it doesn't fold your project over itself. You crochet with it, and at the end of your work, you will only have to cut all these threads and make double knots with another strand that is next to it. Obviously, this side will have to be hidden because it is a really not beautiful work. But I use this method when I make pillows, for example, since there are two panels sewn on top of each other. But you see that the good side is perfect. You can decide which method you prefer, keeping in mind that it is the final visual result that counts. When you finish your project with multiple colors, you will probably have to weave in some ends. Just make sure that you weave the ends into their corresponding colors. You're crocheting and you see that you're about to finish your skein of yarn. To join a new one, nothing could be simpler. It's like a color change. At the last step of your stitch, you join your new skein of yarn. And at the end, you can make a double knot with the threads. If your project is reversible, you can weave in these threads as usual. Otherwise, you can leave them visible, making sure to place them on the side that will be hidden. Another method that I really like is the magic knot. The concept is that you take two strands and you tie a knot on each of them, respectively. It's a little hard to explain like that, but I made you two different videos so that you can see and understand it well. After you tie the knots on each strand, you pull the two threads. And you cut off what's excess. You can pull back on the threads again to be sure that the knot is solid. And while crocheting, when you get to the little knot that you have made, just make sure that it stays on the wrong side of the project. This time I'm going to show you with two different colors so you can see better. So I'm making a knot with the rust color around the beige yarn. And I'm going to make a knot around the rust colored yarn with the beige one. We pull on the two threads and cut off the excess. And finally we just re pull on them to make sure it's solid. Join me now in the next video where you'll practice changing colors with the mini rug. 11. The Mini Rug - PROJECT: You will now practice changing colors with the mini rug. You will need worsted weight cotton yarn in two different colors, a four millimeter crochet hook, a yarn needle, scissors, stitch markers, and a measuring tape, which is optional. In the previous project, we practiced working in rows with the straight edges method. Now we're going to use the second method we learned in lesson two. Which was to start in the same stitch. This is the ideal method for projects that use a graph like this one. And even if the edges are not very straight, we will hide them by adding a border and small tassels. And like the second project, your mini rug should measure about 9 cm by 10 cm. Here we go, let's begin. With the contrasting color, you will make a slipknot and chain 15. Count if you have made 15 chains. We will start the first row. Here is the pixelated graph of what we are going to crochet. The odd rows will be made on the right side of the project, and when you crochet the even rows, it will be in the back, the wrong side that will face you. Each little square, each pixel, corresponds to a single crochet stitch. So you will easily know when to change color. For now, our first row will stay the same color. Make a single crochet into the second chain from the hook. If you want, you can place a stitch marker on this one. And single crochet in the next 13 chains. Your last single crochet will be right here. Count if you have 14 single crochet stitches in total in row 1. We have just finished the first row of our graph. But you see that we have to change color in the second row. So you can undo the last single crochet stitch you made to join the second color. So you start doing your single crochet. And at the last step, you're going to yarn over and join the new color. We're now ready to start the second row. Row 2 will be made of 14 single crochet again. In a neutral color. So chain one, turn. And since our rug can still be reversible, we will use a tapestry method. Which is to follow the colored threads while crocheting. The first single crochet will be made in the same stitch. That is the last single crochet that you made in the first row. You can put a marker to guide you. Tighten the threads of the color change a little, and you will make the first single crochet of row 2, where your marker is. Once you know where to make your stitch, you can remove the marker. Otherwise, it will be in your way. So if you remember the tapestry technique, we want to make the contrasting colored yarn follow. So, you're going to bring it to the back of the project that is in front of you right now. You're going to pass your hook under this thread while entering the stitch. You can use your index finger to help you hold the yarn. And always enter both loops of each stitch. And you make your single crochet with the neutral colored yarn. And now your contrasting one is ready for you to follow throughout row 2. So keep it facing you, on the back of the project. If you want, put the marker back on your first stitch. And make a single crochet in the next 13 stitches. Always including your contrasting color yarn. At the top of the screen, I put what I wrote in the pattern. Usually, when there are graphs with multiple colors and since we use the same stitch throughout the project, I simplify the writing by telling how many single crochet will correspond to each of the colors, either neutral or contrasting. The last single crochet will be where your marker is, which is actually the first single crochet of row 1. Make sure to insert the hook into both loops of this one. And that's it for row 2. You should count 14 single crochet. Place the marker on the last one you made. Okay, now that we have finished the second row, the third will be a little bit more challenging. Every 2 single crochet, we will change color. Start by making your chain 1, turn, and this time, since the right side is now facing you, You will follow your other color yarn behind. So you make your first single crochet still in the same stitch, while including the colored yarn behind. You will make another single crochet with the neutral color, and just before finishing it, you will join the contrasting color. You can pull on the thread in the back and continue. You make a single crochet, this time including the neutral colored yarn, another single crochet, With the contrasting color. And you will join the neutral color at the end. You see that with the tapestry technique, it is very easy to go find a colored thread. It is always at our disposal when we need it. Now, we are going to make 2 single crochet with the neutral color. Including the contrasting color yarn behind it. And you are going to change color again at the last step. of your second single crochet. It comes quickly, but it's great practice. And you continue like this by alternating the colors every two single crochet. In the pattern, I wrote row 3 this way. We made two single crochet in a neutral color. Then what is in parenthesis, we will repeat it three times. That is two single crochet in a contrasting color followed by two single crochet in a neutral color. And the last one is right here. Well done! You've made the most difficult row. Here is the front and this is the back. Now you'll notice if you make projects with multiple colors that the yarn tend to wrap around each other. So at the end of a row, get the habit of untangling them. It will be much more enjoyable. Now let's move on to the next row. We are now at a row of neutral color only. So you will make 14 single crochet with this one. You always start by making a chain. You turn, this time you will make the yarn of the contrasting color follow in front of you, since the wrong side of the project is facing you. Start your first single crochet in the same stitch, and continue to make single crochet including the yarn of the other color until the end. And you will still have a total of 14 single crochet in row 4. If you have good memory, the next row will be a row with the contrasting color. So just before you finish your last single crochet, join this one. You have already completed a third of your mini rug. You're going to repeat everything we just did two more times. I'm putting the graph here. You can refer to it to continue. To help you keep track, every five seconds I'm going to check a row. So just press pause, and when you've finished your row, Press play again to move on to the next one. Keep in mind that we always start a row by making a chain. And that we will always start the first single crochet in the same stitch. And that we will end the row with the stitch just before the turning chain. You will also have a total of 14 single crochet in each of the rows. Feel free to rewind the video if you'd like to see how to do it again. Have fun! And there you have it. I hope you liked following the little graph. It should look like this. We're now going to crochet a border all around. Without cutting the yarn, you will simply continue to crochet on the side of your little rug. Starting with a single crochet in the chain stitch, which is just after your last single crochet. Place your stitch marker on this one, and we're going to continue crocheting a single crochet in each of the rows on the side. A bit like the fringes that we put in the second project. So you can insert your hook into an outer strand of each of the following rows. I'll do it with you. It's a little hard to see, but really you can go in anywhere, as long as you have the right number of single crochet on the side. You'll notice that I'm entering into the turning chain of the even rows, as well as the outer strand of the last single crochet of the odd rows. Here I'm showing you what it looks like if you ever enter more than one strand. If you go a little further, it will appear. It's not that bad, but I wanted to show you the difference. We have now completed one side of our little rug. You should have 12 single crochet stitches made. Now, to make our outline straight, We're going to have to make some increases. I'll talk about it in the next lesson, but it's very simple. It's to make several stitches at the same place. So in this case, in this small space that corresponds to the beginning of the starting chain, we're going to make a single crochet, a chain, and a single crochet. All in the same space. This will ensure that the corners of your mini rug will be nice and straight. And now, a new concept that is super practical, that you will find in several patterns, is to work on the opposite side of the starting chain. You remember when we start row 1, we work on the loops that are on top. The lower ones are therefore available for us to crochet on them if necessary. This is what we will do with the lower edge of our project. I'll show you two ways to enter the loop. on the opposite side of the starting chain. The first one I'm going to use, which is the easiest and strongest, is to enter at the intersection of two loops, at the level of the small V. I'm trying to give you a description of what I'm doing, but it's actually super simple. This is the place where it's most intuitive. The hook will go into the space by itself. Another method that may be easier to visualize is to just take the one loop, like this. It's not bad, I did this for a long time, but aesthetically, it will create a sort of empty space between the first row and what we are doing. So continue to make your single crochet all along the bottom edge. Again, you should have made 12 single crochet on this edge, not counting the stitches that are in the corners. At the end, in the small turning chain, you'll do as in the first corner, a single crochet, A chain, and a single crochet, still in the same space. And we continue on the next side, in the same way as the first one we did. I'm putting there little arrows here to show you where to do them. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just remember to do one single crochet per row, taking an outer strand. You will have 12 to do on this side too. Continue like this, we will meet at the next corner. When you reach the third corner, you will do the same thing. This time in the first single crochet of the last row. You will make a single crochet, a chain, a single crochet, always in the same stitch. Only one side left and it's over. Make a single crochet in the next 12 stitches of the last row. And when you get to the stitch just before the one where your marker is, you're going to finish your last corner by making a single crochet, a chain, and a single crochet in the same stitch. Sorry for the camera focus. And you finish all that with a slip stitch. This may be a new term. I will show you how to do it. It's simply to enter in the stitch, yarn over, and pull through the stitch as well as the loop that is on your hook. It's a stitch that is used to make a join or to finish a project, like in this case. You can take the hook out of the loop and cut the thread. In the second project, I showed you that you can secure the thread at the end by putting it into the loop. But while I'm showing you lots of new things in this project, here's another way to secure the thread at the end. You could just pull on the loop until the yarn comes out. This method is ideal if the join at the end of your project is visible. I'll show you how to weave the yarn at the end so that your junction is invisible. You will enter your yarn needle into the next stitch, after the one where you made your slip stitch. You will then enter your needle into the stitch that is just before the slip stitch. That is the last single crochet you made. You're going to enter from the front to the back, in the back loop only. This will give you the most beautiful junction possible. You won't even know when your project begins and ends. I know it's a lot of information but know that everything I've just taught you is really to make your project as aesthetic as possible. You could just choose to tie a knot, weave in your ends, like in the second project. You might not even know the difference. But it's fun to know the best techniques. I'll let you now weave in all the ends with whatever method you like. We'll meet up for the finishing touches. Cut 12 strands about 7 inches long. You're going to enter 3 strands in each of the 4 corners. With your hook, you enter one of the corners and you're going to come to find the middle of the three strands that you're going to pull through the corner. The same way as the fringes in the second project. You will go grab the remaining threads to pull them through the loop. And you repeat in the other three corners. Once finished, cut each small tassel so that they are about an inch long. To make them a little curlier, you have two options. Either you separate each strand with your yarn needle, or the super fast option, if you have a comb on hand, brush them to separate the strands more easily. And there you have it, you have completed your third project. It may have been a challenge, but I'm sure you're very proud of yourself for having accomplished it. See you in the next lesson! 12. Increases & Decreases: To increase or to add a stitch, you simply have to make two stitches in the same one. In this case, two single crochet in the same stitch. And that's it. It's as simple as that. I'll show you a second time and we'll look together at the anatomy of what it looks like. So I just made two single crochet in a stitch from the previous row. You can see the two little V's that the single crochet made. If you want to add stitches in your row, usually it will be at the beginning and at the end of it. When working with the straight edges method, when you start the row in the next stitch, the way to make an increase at the beginning of the row, instead of going into the next stitch, you will start in the same stitch. This will add a stitch to the row. And at the end, you would make 2 single crochet in the turning chain. By adding a stitch at the beginning and at the end, you will therefore have 2 more single crochet in your row. In this example, I had 9 single crochet in the previous row, and now I have 11. If you work your rows like the third project, starting the first stitch in the same one, This time, you will make two single crochet in the same stitch to make your increase. And at the end, you will make two single crochet in the last stitch, the one just before the turning chain. And again, you will have two more stitches than the previous row. There are two ways to make a decrease that consists of removing a stitch. When using the straight edge method, when you're supposed to start in the next stitch, the first way would be to simply skip the next stitch, ignore it. And start in the one after. And at the end of a row, you could skip the second to last stitch and make your single crochet into the chain. The result will be that you will have two stitches less than the previous row. The second way to make a decrease would be to make one stitch in two stitches. Two single crochet together. I'll show you how to do it. So you insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, you pass through the stitch and stop there. You insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, you pass through the stitch. You make a yarn over and you pull through the three loops that are on your hook. So we just made a decrease. We transformed two stitches into one. You will see in the patterns the abbreviation single crochet two together. sc2tog. I'll show you how to do it another time. And at the end of a row, it will be the same principle, you will enter the second to last stitch, as well as the chain, to do your decrease, your single crochet two together. Again, the choice of method to use will depend on the visual result of what you prefer. With single crochet, we don't really see a difference, but you'll see that with other crochet stitches, maybe you will prefer not to skip a stitch, but to make two stitches together. And as you can see in the pictures, decreases are used to remove stitches on a row. And that's how we make triangle shapes. If you use the method of crocheting a row by starting in the same stitch, to make a decrease, you will simply skip the same stitch, and you will start in the next one. And at the end, you will skip the penultimate stitch, and you will make your single crochet in the last one. But as you can see, since we are working with thicker yarn, it will make a small hole. The fact of having skipped a stitch has created a void. So the solution is to use the second method for a nicer finish. So you would make two single crochet together. You enter the next stitch, yarn over, you pass through the stitch, you enter into the next stitch, yarn over, go through the stitch, yarn over, and you pull through the three loops that are on your hook. And you can see that there is no more empty space between the two stitches. Before we get to the practice, I wanted to show you that you can do the sc2tog in a slightly different way. You might see some people go into the stitch. Yarn over, pass through the stitch, and that's the difference. We would yarn over, And pull through one loop only on the hook. And then we would go into the next stitch. We would yarn over, pass through the stitch, yarn over, and we would go through the three loops that are on the hook. The official method is the one I taught you earlier, but if you see this other method, know that it is just as good. The result will only be slightly different from a visual point of view. And personally, I often choose this method when I find that it gives a more aesthetic result. For example, when I design the pattern for little baby booties. Let's now practice increases and decreases with the Cozy Mug. 13. The Cozy Mug - PROJECT: The Cozy Mug is the perfect project to practice increases and decreases. You will need about 30 grams of super bulky yarn, a 7mm hook, yarn needle, scissors, stitch markers, a measuring tape, and a button about 1 inch in diameter. And, of course, your favorite mug. First, measure the circumference of your mug with the measuring tape and write this measurement down on a paper. In my case, the mug has a circumference of about 11 inches. Leaving a good length of yarn at the beginning, start by making a starting chain of 5 chains. We start the first row by making 1 single crochet in the second chain from the hook. If you want, you can put the stitch marker on this one. Then continue by making 1 single crochet in the next 3 chains. You should have a total of 4 single crochet made in row 1. Again, if you need to add a marker, you can put it on the last single crochet you made. For the second row, chain 1, turn, and you will make 1 single crochet in the same stitch. The stitch where the marker is. If you had not put a marker, it is really the stitch that is right next to the hook. And continue by making 1 single crochet in the next 3 stitches. And don't forget to enter into both loops of each stitch. Again, you should have 4 single crochet made in row 2. Row 3, we're going to start making increases. So you're going to chain 1, turn. And start with two single crochet in the same stitch, the stitch that's right after your hook. So you're going to make your first increase. You make two single crochet in the same space. If you want, you can place your marker on the first single crochet you made. Continue by making one single crochet in the next two stitches. And make two single crochet in the last stitch. You will have made two increases in the third row, which will add two stitches. So you will have a total of 6 single crochet made in row 3. Row 4, chain 1, turn, single crochet in the same stitch, and a single crochet in the next 5 stitches, for a total of 6 single crochet in this row. Count if you have made 6 single crochet. If you still have difficulty locating the stitches, don't hesitate to use your stitch markers. In row 5, we will make 2 more increases, one at the beginning and one at the end. You can chain 1, turn, make 2 single crochet in the same stitch, and 1 single crochet in the next 4 stitches. And the second increase, you will make 2 single crochet in the last stitch. You will have a total of 8 single crochet in row 5. Row 6, we will repeat until we have the length we want. And it goes like this. You will chain 1, turn, 1 single crochet in the same stitch, One single crochet in the next 7 stitches. For a total of 8 single crochet in the row. You can repeat this row until you have a length that is 2 inches less than the circumference of your mug. You can pause the video, we'll meet up to count the rows together. When you're done with your rows, you can measure your work to be sure that the measurement is indeed 2 inches less than the circumference of your mug. Mine was 11 inches. So after doing 23 rows in total, I get the correct length, which is 9 inches. You don't have to count the rows, but we'll do it together, so that you can get used to seeing them. You see these little strips that form on your mug cover? They correspond to two rows. This can help you count them. So you have the first row, which is just after the starting chain. The second, third, four, five, six, seven. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23. Oof, I realized that it's faster to count in French. So I'm going to continue with the next row, which will be row 24 for me. No matter how many rows you have done, just continue following the instructions for the next rows. We will now start making decreases, so that our mug cover returns to its original shape. You will chain one, turn, you will skip the same stitch, and make your single crochet in the next one. This way, we remove a stitch from the row. And continue by making one single crochet in the next four stitches. In the last 2 stitches, we will make 2 single crochet together. The technique that I taught you in the lesson. You enter the hook in the next stitch, you yarn over, you pass through the stitch, you enter the next stitch, you yarn over, pass through the stitch, and you yarn over and you pull through the 3 loops that are on your hook. You have made 2 decreases in this row. So you will have a total of 6 single crochet. The next row will be very simple. You will chain 1, turn, 1 single crochet in the same stitch, and 1 single crochet in the next 5 stitches, for a total of 6 single crochet in this row. In this row, we will make 2 more decreases at the beginning and at the end. Start by making a chain, turn, skip the same stitch, and make a single crochet in the next 3 stitches. And make a decrease in the last 2 stitches by making 2 single crochet together. You will have a total of 4 single crochet in this row. Chain 1, turn. Single crochet in the same stitch. And single crochet in the next 3 stitches. For a total of 4 single crochet in this row. You are now at the last row. You will chain 1, turn. Make a single crochet in the same stitch and in the next 3 stitches. And last step, we will make the cord that will attach to the button. You're going to chain 3, turn, and you will do a slip stitch into the chain 1, the turning chain. To slip stitch, you enter into the strand of the chain, yarn over, and pull through the stitch as well as the loop on your hook. And that's it! You can cut and secure the thread. Now we will weave in the ends and sew a button with one of them. You're going to sew it on your mug cover with the thread from the beginning. Put it in your yarn needle and pass the thread between the strands to bring it out between row 2 and 3. It's going to be right here. This is the first row, the second and the third. Right in the middle. You take the thread out and you're going to sew the button. And to properly secure the button, you can wrap the thread around it. And we're going to bring this thread into the back of the project. There is not really a good or wrong side to your mug cover. Just make sure to weave the threads on the opposite side of the button. And now, weave the ending thread. Make sure to weave it on the right side, which is the one behind the button. And there you have it! Your cozy mug is finished! Well done! You can make a nice hot chocolate or a cup of tea to enjoy your creation right away. And even if your mug doesn't have a handle, it's still beautiful. Now I'll see you in the next lesson where you'll learn how to crochet in rounds. 14. Crochet in Rounds - Part 1: In this lesson, you'll learn how to crochet in the round, which is really useful for making hats, mittens, or any other creation that has a round shape. I'll show you two techniques for starting a project in the round. The first way to do this is to start with a slipknot, and chain two. To create a circle, you'll make six single crochet in the second chain from your hook. The first one you made, always enter the same chain, the same space to make all six single crochet. And if the hole gets bigger as you work your single crochet in it, that's completely normal and we'll fix that right after. And be careful to actually work your single crochet one next to the other, not one on top of the other. So you can push on the side the previous single crochet to make room for the others. Once you have finished your six single crochet, you will pull on your starting thread. To close the circle, you can pull very hard. Next, we'll close our first round by making a slip stitch into the chain that We skipped at the beginning. It's possible that after closing the round, the small chain is well hidden. So try to pull your stitches a little to see it. It's normal if you have a little difficulty getting into this chain. I'm showing you this specific method for the purposes of this lesson, but I'll show you another technique that you might find a little easier in a few minutes. So you slip stitch into the chain one like this. And we are now ready to begin our second round. You will chain one and to enlarge our circle, we will increase in each of the stitches. So you'll start by making two single crochet into the next stitch, which is your first single crochet of rnd one. Be careful to always work through both loops of the stitch, and you'll make your second single crochet still in the same stitch. And it's completely normal. If you find it a little difficult to start rounds one and two, the space is very limited, but you'll see it'll become more and more enjoyable. That's why I didn't make you use your stitch marker at the beginning because it would have been really in the way. So now's the time to use it. You can place it on the chain stitch that's located just before your two single crochet. And you'll continue by making two single crochet in each of the following stitches in each of the remaining five stitches. As a general rule, on the second round, we'll double all our stitches. We are going to make increases in each of them, and if we do a little math, if you double your six stitches, that will give you 12 single crochet in round two. Okay. Now let me explain a very important concept. Maybe you really want to do your single crochet in what it looks like a stitch, but it's not one. When you slip stitch into the chain one, it creates a connecting thread that's located just before your chain. If you want your circle to remain a circle, you absolutely must not crochet inside it. I will give you a little trick to tell if it's a single crochet or not. Usually you see the little V of the single crochet. In this case, there is absolutely nothing underneath. Another way would be to tell you to never crochet into the strand That is just before the chain stitch. In any case, the best way to know if you've made your round correctly is to count your stitches at the end of each round. So in this case, you have 12 single crochet made. The chain one will not count as a stitch, since it only serves to give height So you can start the round. So everything looks good. Now we're going to join with a slip stitch into the chain one where your marker is. It'll be easier to make your slip stitch without the marker, but just remember where it is. So you'll ignore the joining stitch and go directly into the chain one. By the way, the slip stitch used to join a round will never count as a stitch. It'll not be part of the total number of stitches in a round. It'll only be used to join the end of a round to its beginning, and there you have it. Your second round is now complete. Before moving on to the next round, I'll explain the theory behind the technique for crocheting in the round. First, you absolutely must increase in the rounds. Otherwise, it'll look like a very small hat to construct a uniform circle We'll make increases in each round until we reach the desired diameter. These increases will be proportional and not exponential. We won't double our stitches on each round. Instead, we'll add the same number of stitches on each additional round. For example, if we start the first round by making six single crochet on the next round, we'll add six single crochet, making 12. To add six stitches On round three, we'll make proportional increases. We'll increase every other stitch the next round, every out of three, and so on. This probably reminds you of your multiplication tables from elementary school. We'll finally put them into practice by crocheting. Now back to our little circle. We're going to start the third round, so chain one. Place your marker On this one, as I just explained, we won't double each stitch, but we'll make one increase in every other stitch to have a total of six increases. Six additional single crochet in round three. So you can start by making two single crochet in the next stitch. Make one single crochet only in the next one, two single. crochet in the next stitch. Followed by one single crochet in the next stitch. And you repeat this all around, one increase, one single crochet. I've shown at the top of the screen how this could be written in a pattern. This would be to make two single crochet in the next stitch, followed by one single crochet in the next stitch. And everything in between The parenthesis repeating six times in total. You can pause the video. We'll meet again at the end of round three, and you should finish your last stitch with one single crochet and count If you have 18 single crochet in round three, not including the chain one. Once again to close the round, we'll skip the connecting stitch and make a slip stitch in the chain one where your marker is, and we're ready to begin the next round, you're going to chain one, replace your marker in it. And this time we're going to increase every third time. To have a proportional increase of six additional single crochet, you'll start by making two single crochet in the next stitch an increase. And this time you'll make one single crochet in the next. Two stitches, and you'll repeat this all around. Two single crochet in the next stitch, followed by one single crochet In the next two stitches, you might see patterns that simplify the writing. This way, in parenthesis, we will repeat an increase, followed by two single crochet. Six times. It's exactly the same. It's just a different way of writing, and that's good to know. If you want to explore different patterns after the course, I'll leave you alone. Now to finish your fourth round, you should have 24 single crochet in total at the end count If you have made 24 single crochet. And again, ignore the connecting stitch, which is just before the chain one. And you make a slip stitch into this chain one. You now know how to crochet in rounds. Note that to make it larger, you will need to add six single crochet proportionally equally around on each round until you reach the desired diameter. I've provided a table showing the mathematical rule to follow to enlarge your round. Regardless of the number of stitches you choose to make it in the first round, the table is in the downloadable documents. Just below the video, the method we just saw for joining the rounds in the chain will create a seam line like this. In the next video, I'll show you another technique and you can decide which one you prefer. Now we'll count the rounds together. You'll see it's much easier than working in rows. We can see round one, the small circle at the beginning, round two, round three, and round four. Each round creates a little stripe that's easy to spot. And just before finishing, I wanted to show you that if you ever enter in the joining strands. The joining stitch, it'll add an extra one, and you'll quickly realize that your circle isn't very round anymore. And as the rounds go by, you'll have far too many stitches as well as a teardrop shape. Now let's look at a different technique for starting to crochet in the round as well as for joining the rounds. 15. Crochet in Rounds - Part 2: If you have super bulky yarn, you can use it to continue this lesson. This time we won't start by making a slip knot, but by making a magic ring or a magic circle. Start by wrapping the yarn twice around your hook and holding it with your right index finger. Make sure to leave some slack when wrapping the yarn around the hook. Adjust your index finger to hold both loops. Place the yarn as usual on your left hand and with your thumb and your middle finger. Hold the ring that has formed under your hook. Pinch all the loops together downwards. Then simply slide your hook to catch the yarn and pull it through the loop. Pull your hook upwards to give space to the new loop. And while keeping the circle facing you don't let it go. You're going to make a chain to close the whole thing. This is my favorite technique for making a magic ring. This gives us much more space to work the first round than with the previous technique. I'll now pull it up at normal speed. After passing our yarn through the loop, it's important to secure it with a chain. I'll show you a second method for making the magic ring. This way, you'll have alternatives if you can't manage it with this one. One that I found quite easy to explain is to wrap the yarn around your left index finger twice. Insert your hook under these two threads using your right index finger with your thumb. Hold the thread you want to pass under the first loop. You can take your finger out of the ring while keeping it intact. Place the yarn as usual on your left hand and hold on tight the circle with your thumb and middle finger and you'll close this one with a chain stitch. I preferred the method I showed you earlier, but it's up to you to choose which one you're more comfortable with. Now, let's start the first round. If your magic ring isn't already on your hook, you can make it any way you like. Don't forget to chain after making your magic circle. And now we can begin by making six single crochet into the ring. Try to always keep the ring facing you and it shouldn't wobble around the hook. Use your left hand to guide you and hold it securely in place. When you have finished making your six single crochet, you can pull the beginning thread to close your magic ring, and this time you will join with a slip stitch into the first single crochet you made. The one right after the chain. Go through both loops and make your slip stitch. As I mentioned in the previous video, the slip stitch will never count as a stitch. So we have the first single crochet where you made your slip stitch, which is at the very top, and the sixth one, which is just before your slip stitch. We'll continue with the second round. You're going to chain one. And since we joined in the first single crochet, you're going to make your first single crochet of round two in the same stitch, the one where you made your slip stitch. And since we're going to double each stitch to make our circle larger, you're going to make another single crochet still in the same stitch. You can place your marker on the first single crochet you made. The one immediately after the chain. And you will continue by making two single crochet in each of the next five stitches. Follow your circle with your left hand so that the stitch in which you're working with is facing you. You should have made 12 single crochet in total, not counting the chain one and the connecting strand, which happens to be the slip stitch. You're going to make your slip stitch in the first single crochet where your marker is. This seems far away, but you'll see it'll make a perfect circle. Your second round is now complete. If you have good memory on the next round, we will increase every other stitch to always add six single crochet proportionally around the round. We'll start with a chain and you'll make a single crochet in the same stitch. If we went into the next stitch, we would be missing one at the end. So remember that when using this joining technique in the first single crochet of the round, you must always start in the same stitch. Place your marker on your single crochet and you'll make one increase in the next stitch. Two single crochet, and repeat all around. Single crochet in the next stitch, followed by two single crochet in the next stitch. So you'll make six increases in total, and you'll have 18 single crochet in round three. I don't know if you noticed the difference from the previous practice. I reversed the order of when to make the increases instead of starting with an increase. We'll end with one. Just to show you that in crochet, there are no fixed rules as long as you follow the mathematical formula, which is to make your increases proportionally around the circle. So whether you start or end with an increase, it'll always give the same thing. We'll have the same number of stitches in the end. I'll let you continue. We'll meet again at the end of the round. You should finish your round with an increase. Be careful not to go into the joining stitch and count if you have made 18 single crochet. Finally, you can make a slip stitch in your first single crochet to join your third round. Round four we will increase once every third stitch, and we'll continue with the same logic by making the increases at the end of a sequence. Since we joined in the first single crochet, don't forget after your chain one, to make your first single crochet in the same stitch. Place your marker on this one and you will continue by making a single crochet in the next stitch. Followed by an increase, 2 single crochet in the next stitch and continue this pattern all the way around Single crochet in the next two stitches, followed by an increase. Once again, you'll have added six single crochet proportionally, and that will give you a total of 24 single crochet in round four. I'll let you continue. We'll meet again at the end. At the end, you will finish with an increase in the last stitch. Count If you have 24 single crochet made in round four and finish by joining with a slip stitch in the first single crochet of the round, ignore the joining stitch as well as the chain. And go directly into the first single crochet you have now discovered two slightly different techniques, but they give essentially the same result. The difference will be in the seam line of the rounds. Here we have the method we just used when joining in the single crochet and here when joining in the chain. It's up to you to decide which one you're most comfortable with and which one you prefer. In any case, if you're following a pattern, it'll generally indicate which method to use. Personally, I like to join in the first single crochet. I think it gives a slightly more aesthetic finish, and you can use these same methods when crocheting in the round with any other crochet stitches. And your learning isn't over yet, because in the sixth lesson, you'll learn how to crochet in the round without joining them. But first, let's move on to a little project to practice even more with the scrubbies. 16. The Scrubbies - PROJECT: [MUSIC] Let's practice to crochet in rounds with these scrubbies. You're going to need worsted weight cotton yarn in the color of your choice. A four millimeter hook, a scissors, yarn needle, and a stitch marker. Let's start by making your slipknot and chain too. You're going to do six single crochet in the second chain from your hook. You can pull on your beginning thread just to close the circle and you are going to join into the chain 1, the turning chain by doing a slip stitch in it. Round 2, chain 1, place your stitch marker on this chain 1. You're going to make two single crochet it in next stitch and two single crochets in every other stitches. In the next five stitches. Just remember that this joining thread is not a stitch and you can count to be sure that you have 12 single crochets in this round. You join into chain 1 where your stitch marker is slip stitch. Round 3 you can remove your stitch marker, chain 1, place your stitch marker back on that chain. They're going to do two single crochets in next stitch. One single crochet in next one. Two single crochets in next one, one single crochet in next one, and you continue this pattern all around. Two single crochets in next, one single crochet, and next. You should finish this round with only one single crochet in the stitch. You should have 18 single crochet in this round. You join into the chain 1 with slip stitch where your stitch marker is. Round 4, you remove your stitch marker, chain 1. Put your stitch marker back on it. Make two single crochet in the first stitch. Make one single crochet in next two stitches. Two single crochet into next stitch and one single crochet in next two stitches. Repeat that pattern all around. At the end, you should have 24 single crochet done in this round. You can join with slip stitch and chain 1. Round 5, remove your stitch marker, chain 1. Put your stitch marker back into the chain 1. You're going do two single crochet in the first stitch, the next stitch. Follow it by one single, crochet in the next three stitches. Two single crochet in the next stitch and single crochet in next three stitches. You can continue this pattern all around. At the end of this round, you should have 30 single crochet. You can join with slip stitch in chain 1. Round 6 we're going to learn a new stitch, a new way to do your single crochet. You can remove your stitch marker, chain 1. We're going to do a reverse single crochet. You can put your stitch marker back on the chain 1. You're going to go backward. Instead doing single crochet from right to left, you're going to do them from left to right. You go backward with your hook. You enter in the next stitch to your right and you do your single crochet as usual. This stitch creates great texture and a great finishing for your edge. You're doing like your single crotchet the same way but backward. You don't need to count. You just need to enter in all of those little V's, all of those stitches all around. When you've done all your reverse single crochet, you can join with a slip stitch. In the first one any loop, you see, it doesn't matter as long as you close it. That's it. You remove your hook from the loop. You can cut the thread and pass it in the loop to secure your little scrubby. You can now weave in ends by entering with your yarn needle back and forth and little loops behind your project. Cut the upper edge and with the beginning thread, we can weave in all around your first round in the little loops in the back. You made a beautiful face scrubby. You can do another one with another color if you want. See you in the next lesson where you're going to learn how to crochet a 3D shape. [MUSIC] 17. Crochet in 3D: In this lesson, you will learn how to do a little crochet ball. Let's try with twist white yarn first. You can start by doing your slipknot and chain 2. [MUSIC] You can do six single crochet in the second chain from your hook. [MUSIC] This time, we will not join at the end, but we will work in continuous rounds. For round 2, you can do two single crochet and the first single crochet of round 1. Place the stitch marker on the first one you made, this one. Since we're doing round 2, you're going to do two single crochet in next five stitches [MUSIC]. It's really easy to see with your stitch marker where your round 2 will start, it's just the stitch before it. Round 3, remove your stitch marker. You will do two single crochet in this stitch and place your stitch marker back on the first one you made [MUSIC]. You will do one single crochet in next stitch and you're going to increase every other stitch, so two single crochet in the next stitch, one single crochet in next stitch all around [MUSIC]. At the end of this third round, you're going to remove your stitch marker and you can do one single crochet in the next stitch. Put your stitch marker back in it. It's now time to shape this little ball. We will stop increasing and you're going to single crochet in each of the next stitches. You should have 18 single crochet in this round [MUSIC]. At the end, you're going to remove your stitch marker, make one single crochet in the next stitch and place your stitch marker back on it. Continue for round 5 to do a single crochet in each of the next 18 stitches. You see when we crochet in round, it forms like a little ball, so you need to roll it to the good side to be able to crochet from the outside of the project. Now for round 6, you repeat the same thing. One single crochet in the next 18 stitches [MUSIC]. Round 7, remove your stitch marker. We're going to start to decrease in this round. You're going to do an invisible single crochet two together by taking the two next front loop of next stitches and you finish your SC2 together. One single crochet in next stitch. Don't forget like me to put your stitch marker back on your SC2 together. Just before the stitch we just made here. We're going to do another SC2 together invisible way. You take two next front loop of the two next stitches and you're doing your single crochet. Single crochet in next stitch, single crochet two together the invisible way again. Single crochet in next stitch, and you repeat that all around, SC2 together. Single crochet two together in next two stitches, single crochet in next stitch. The invisible way to do the SC2 together makes a better finishing, it's more subtle [MUSIC]. It's now time to fill this little ball. If you have polyester stuffing, it's the best way to do it. Otherwise, if you just want to practice, you can just put your yarn leftovers inside. Last round, we're going to decrease on every stitches. You're going to do single crochet two together the invisible way by taking always the two next front loop of next two stitches. With the middle finger of your opposite end, you can push in the polyester fill, do not let it be caught by your hook [MUSIC]. You can finish the last stitch like a slip stitch and you can cut the thread leaving a good length. Remove your hook from the loop and pull the thread to secure it. You can put the beginning thread inside the little ball, and with the finishing thread, pass it in your yarn needle. You're going to go into front loop of each stitches with it. [MUSIC]. [MUSIC] We do that, to close the end of our little ball, and you enter the yarn needle in the middle of the hole and you pull to close it really beautifully. Congrats, you just made your first-level crochet ball. To secure the end of the thread, you can just pass it back and forth into stitches and cut the other edge. [MUSIC] Let's now try with super bulky yarn, we're going to start with the magic ring, so you make two turn around your hook, you pinch the ring yarn over, pass through the ring, chain one, and you start to do six single crochet in this ring. [MUSIC] Once you have done your six single crochet, you can pull on the beginning thread and make a single crochet in the first single crochet around one. You can put your stitch marker on that stitch, [MUSIC] and since we start the round 2, we're going to increase on every stitches so you can do another single crochet in this same stitch, and two single crochet in next five stitches. [MUSIC] Round 3, single crochet in the first stitch, remove your stitch marker, and place it back on that one. [MUSIC] Do another single crochet in the same stitch, and only one single crochet in next stitch and you alternate like this, two single crochet in next stitch, one single crochet in next stitch. [MUSIC] Round 4, you remove the stitch marker. [MUSIC] You can see here, round 1, round 2, round 3. For round 4, single crochet in next stitch, you can put your stitch marker back on it, and you're going to do a single crochet in next every other stitches, so 18 in total in this round. [MUSIC] Make sure to pop your project out, to always crochet from the outside of it. Round 5, same as round 4, you will do a single crochet in the next 18 stitches. [MUSIC] Round 6, you repeat the same thing, single crochet in the next 18 stitches. [MUSIC] Round 7, we're going to start to decrease. Remove your stitch marker and you're going to do single crochet 2, together in the two next front loops of two next stitches. Single crochet in next stitch, single crochet 2, together, the invisible way in next two stitch, single crochet in the next stitch, and you repeat this pattern all around. Basically, the invisible way to do the single crochet 2, together is the same as a single crochet, but it's made by taking two stitches, front loop. If you forgot like me to place your stitch marker back. You can see the shape of the single crochet two together is different, you see that it takes the two previous stitches, and you should have a total of 12 stitches in this round. It's now time to fill our little ball, so you can put in the beginning thread inside and put polyester filling in. Again, if you don't have this, you can take any leftover yarn or your previous practicing and put it inside the ball that will make the jump. [MUSIC] We will continue with the last round, you can put your hook back, and you're going to do AC2 together, the invisible way again into each of next stitches, so you're going to decrease six times for a total of six stitches in this last round. [MUSIC] With your middle finger, you can push in the polyester feel to help it not getting in your way. You can do your last one like a slip stitch just to have a better finishing, and if you forget, you only have to do a slip stitch in the next one. You can cut your yarn and secure it, pass the thread into your yarn needle, and pass this one into every front loop of next stitches to close the end. [MUSIC] Enter your needle in the middle of the hole to close it. You just made a bigger crochet ball, and you can secure this ending thread by passing it back and forth in some stitches like this and cut the other edge. [MUSIC] With the same pattern you make two different crochet ball. Let's practice crocheting 3D shapes by doing this heart keychain. [MUSIC] 18. The Heart Keychain - PROJECT: [MUSIC] Let's practice to do 3D shapes. By doing this cute heart keychain, you will need a bit of worsted weight cotton yarn, a four-millimeter hook, scissors, a yarn needle, a stitch marker, polyester fill, and a key. But if you miss these last two, you can do it anyway. [MUSIC] Let's start by doing the magic ring, so wrap your yarn two times around your hook, yarn over chain one and you're going to do five single crochet in this ring. [MUSIC] Pull on the beginning trip and you will do two single crochet in the first single crochet you made. Place your stitch marker on the first single crochet in this round, this one, and you will do two single crochet in next four stitches for a total of 10 single crochet in this round. [MUSIC] Round 3, you're going to remove this stitch marker and you're going to do one single crochet in next 10 stitches. You can place the marker back on the first single crochet you made and continue crocheting one single crochet in every stitches. [MUSIC] You can fasten up this part and we're going to do another one like this. [MUSIC] You can put this part aside and start a new one. We'll repeat round 1-3. [MUSIC] You can redo the magic ring and five single crochet into it. [MUSIC] Round 2, two single crochet in next five stitches. [MUSIC] Round 3, single crochet in next 10 stitches and don't fasten up at the end. [MUSIC] Round 4, you're going to do a single crochet in next 10 stitches, and we're going to join the other part we left aside. We will continue round 4 by crocheting on the part we left aside. In any stitch you can go into the first one, so you place your hand and you crochet in the stitch on the other part. You will do a single crochet in next 10 stitches on this part. [MUSIC] Thanks to your stitch marker, you know where to continue. You will continue round 5 on that stitch, you can remove the stitch marker, do a single crochet and replace it on it. You will do a single crochet in every stitches for a total of 20 stitches in this round. [MUSIC] Round 6, we're going to start to decrease, so remove your stitch marker. You're going to do an invisible decrease, so you go into the front loop of next two stitches to do your single crochet. You place your stitch marker back. You're going to do one single crochet in two next stitches. A single crochet, two together, the invisible way in the next two frontal loops, single crochet in the next two stitches, and you continue this way all around. You will have now 15 stitches in this round. [MUSIC] Round 7, you will do a single crochet in next 15 stitches. [MUSIC] For round 8, we will decrease again, so you're going to do an invisible decrease in next two front loops. You can put your stitch marker back on it, and you will do a single crochet in next stitch. Single crochet, two together in front loop of next two stitches. Single crochet in next stitch, and repeat that all around for a total of 10 single crochet in this round. [MUSIC] Round 9, you're going to do a single crochet in next 10 stitches. At the end of this round, you can remove your hook, and we're going to sew the little hole that the two parts made up in here. With your yarn needle, you can sew this hole by entering in any loops [MUSIC] like this. Bring this tread back inside and you're going to do a double knot with the other ones just to secure well these treads. [MUSIC] Put them inside the heart. [MUSIC] You can now fill your little heart with the polyester fiber. If you don't have it at home, you can take any yarn leftovers to fill it with them. Round 10. You can put your hook back into the loop, and you're going to do five dimensions the invisible way. You're going to take front loop of next two stitches all around. [MUSIC] At the end you can make a slip stitch in the next stitch just to close and give a better finishing through your project. You can remove your hook from the loop, cut the yarn, and pass it through this loop. [MUSIC] With definition thread, you're going to enter it in your yarn needle and you're going to pass into front loop of last five stitches. [MUSIC] Enter the yarn needle in the middle of the hole, and pull it through the top of the heart. [MUSIC] It's now time to put a little key chain on it with the same thread. You can wrap it around two times just to secure it. [MUSIC] Check if it's really solid, and you can secure this thread by going from left to right into some stitches and cut the average. That's it. You made a beautiful little heart key chain. See you in next lesson where you're going to learn how to half double crochet. [MUSIC] 19. The Half Double Crochet: The half-double crochet is a stitch taller than single crochet. You can start by doing 10 chains. [MUSIC] At the end of chain 10, you will yarn over. This step is really important, and since this stitch is taller, you're going to go into the third chain from your hook. Yarn over, pass through the chain, yarn over, pass all three loops on your hook. This is the half double crochet stitch, so you yarn over. You go into next chain. Yarn over, pass through the chain. Yarn over, pass through all three loops on your hook. We will repeat that on every chains yarn over, go into the chain, yarn over, pass through it, yarn over, pass all three loops on your hook. It's really important to yarn over just before going into the chain. [MUSIC] You're going to have a total of eight half double crochet HDC. Now for the turning chain, you will do chain 2, because it's about the length of the HDC turn. You will make an half double crochet in next stitch. This one is the same and this one is the next one. You yarn over, enter your hook into the stitch yarn over pass through the stitch yarn over, pass through all three loops on your hook. You can continue doing your HDC's half double crochet in every next stitches. [MUSIC] The last one will be on top of chain 2 the turning chain of row 1. You can always count the total stitches you have. You are supposed to have eight double of crochet in this row, row 3, chain 2, turn. This is your two chains, the same stitch and you go into next stitch, this one. [MUSIC] Always taking both loops in this practice. [MUSIC] Your last HDC will be on top of chain 2. You can see that this stitch is less tight than the single crochet. Let's try now with the super bulky yarn. You can start by doing 10 chains. [MUSIC] Yarn over, and go into the third chain from your hook. Yarn over, pass through the chain. Yarn over, pass through all three loops on your hook. I'm going to repeat it. Yarn over. Hold the thread with your finger. Go into next chain, yarn over, pass through the chain. Yarn over, pass through all loops on your hook. Continue making HDC half double crochet in each of next chains. [MUSIC] You should have eight HDC's in this row. Next row, chain 2 turn. This time we're going to try to do our first HDC in the same stitch. You see your chain 2 and this is the same stitch. Yarn over, go into the stitch yarn over, pass through it. Yarn over, pass through all three loops on your hook and continue making your half double crochet in each of next stitches by taking both loops. This time the last one will be in the stitch just before the turning chains. [MUSIC] Your last stitch is here. You should have eight half double crochet it in this row. I will now show you how to decrease with this stitch. It's called HDC 2 together. Yarn over, go into next stitch, yarn over, pass it through the stitch, yarn over, pass it through only two loops on your hook. Yarn over, go into next stitch, yarn over, pass through the stitch, yarn over, pass through all four loops on your hook. I will repeat it for you. [MUSIC] That's how we decrease with half double crochet. I will now show you some variations on where to do your half double crochet. First of all, we're going to try to do our HDC by going into the back loop only on next stitch, the back loop is behind there. You can try another one in back loop only. This time now we're going to try in front loop only. The loop was facing you like this. You can do another one, front loop only. Now we're going to try in the middle loop because you see HDC creates a third loop behind the work, but in this case, it's in front of us. You see the little v. There is another loop behind it. It's called the middle loop. By entering in it, it creates a different texture for your project. You can see the design it makes on the front. It's look more like a knit stitch. You can chain 2 turn. We will now try to do our HDC between each stitches. You go into the hole, that is between two different stitches, I think it's the most easy way to crochet because you can't miss a stitch. Let's try now front post HDC. You enter your hook from front to back around the next stitch. It creates great texture. From front to back and you yarn over around this stitch. Let's now try the back post half double crochet, so you yarn over. You enter your hook from back to front of next stitch and you yarn over around this stitch and you finished your HDC. You can try again. You pass from the back to the front and you yarn over this stitch. You can see that the same stitch, but made in different places, can create different texture, different style. Let's now practice doing half double crochet by making these cute newborn heart. [MUSIC] 20. Newborn Hat - PROJECT: [MUSIC] Let's now crochet this newborn hat. You will need 50 gram of super bulky yarn, a seven millimeter hook, scissors, a yarn needle, and a stitch marker. [MUSIC] Let's start with the magic ring. Wrap your yarn around your hook two times, hold it and yarn over and pass it through the ring, chain two and you're going to do 9.5 double crochet in this ring. Yarn over, enter your hook in the ring, yarn over, pull it through the ring. Yarn over, pull it through all three loops on your hook. [MUSIC] At the end you can count to be sure you did 9.5 double crochet. You can pull on the beginning thread to close the round and join with slip stitch in your first half double crochet. Round 2. Chain 2. [MUSIC] You're going to do to half double crochet in the same stitch. [MUSIC] You can put your stitch marker on the first HDC and make another one in the same stitch. [MUSIC] You will do two half double crochet in every next stitches for a total of 18 stitches in this round. [MUSIC] Round 3, you're going to slip stitch in your first HDC. Remove your stitch marker chain 2. [MUSIC] You will do two half double crochet in same stitch and you can put your stitch marker on the first one. [MUSIC] One half double crochet in next stitch. Two half double crochet in next stitch, one One in next stitch. You continue like this all around. [MUSIC] You should have 27 HDC's in this round. You can join into your first HDC with slip stitch. [MUSIC] Round 4-7, you will do the same thing. Chain 2, half double crochet in the same stitch. Put your stitch marker back on it, and half double crochet in every next stitches. You should always have 27 stitches in these rounds. You can pause the video and come back when you're done with your round 7. [MUSIC] We can count together our rounds. Round 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Now we're going to do round 8. We will now work in single crochet, you will chain 1. You will do a single crochet in the back loop only of the same stitch. You put your stitch marker back on it and you will continue doing single crochet in every next stitches back loop. [MUSIC] Join with slip stitch in your first single crochet. You can remove the stitch marker. [MUSIC] Round 9, we repeat the same thing. Chain 1, single crochet in the back loop only of the same stitch. Put your stitch marker back and single crochet in back loop of every next stitches. [MUSIC] You can join with slip stitch and the first single crochet you made. That's it. Your new born hat is done. [MUSIC] You can cut definition thread and pass it through the loop. We can weave in all ends. [MUSIC] Flip the hat on the other side too with the hands there. [MUSIC] To even the beginning thread on top of the hat, you can turn around taking some loops to secure well this thread. [MUSIC] That's it. You will just have to find a new baby to give it to him. See you in next lesson where you're going to learn how to do double crochet and treble crochet. 21. The Double & Treble Crochet: [MUSIC] Welcome to lesson number 8. You will learn how to do double crochet and treble crochet, and you can guess that these stitches will be longer than half double crochet. Let's start by doing 10 chains. Let's start by making a double crochet. Yarn over, and you will enter your hook into fourth chain from your hook. Yarn over, pass through the chain, yarn over, pass through two loops on your hook, yarn over again and pass through two loops on your hook. That's it. That's a double crochet. Let's try another one. Yarn over, you can go in the next chain, yarn over pass through the chain, yarn over pass through only two loops on your hook, yarn over pass through the last two loops on your hook. You can continue to practice. Since we skipped three chains for the turning chain at the beginning, we will have a total of seven double crochets in this row. Next row, you're going to chain three, so the turning chain is longer when the stitch is taller. You turn, and we're going to do our dc in the next stitch, this one here. We yarn over go into the stitch, yarn over pass through it, yarn over pass it through two loops, yarn over pass it through two last loops. You can continue to practice your double crochet in both loops of each next stitches. Your last double crochet will be made on top of chain three for a total of seven double crochet in your rope. Let's now try treble crochet or triple crochet. You're going to do four chains because it's a taller stitch. It's the same principle of double crochet, but you will yarn over twice on your hook before entering in the next stitch. You go in the next stitch, yarn over, pass through it, yarn over pass through two loops in your hook, yarn over pass through two loops on your hook, and yarn over pass through the next two loops on your hook. You see it's a long stitch and you can continue practicing it in every next stitches. Yarn over twice, go into next stitch, yarn over pass through it, yarn over pass through two loops, yarn over two loops, and yarn over pass it through last two loops. The last one will be on the top of chain three from last row. You just learn double crochet and treble crochet. Let's now try these with super bulky yarn. Start with chain 10. You can yarn over and enter your hook into forth chain from your hook. Yarn over pass through the chain, yarn over pass through two loops on your hook, yarn over pass through the last two loops on your hook. Let's try again. Yarn over, go into the chain, yarn over pass it through it, yarn yarn over pass through two loops on your hook, yarn over pass through last two loops on your hook. Continue to practice your double crochet in every other chains. You should have a total of seven double crochet made in this row because we skipped three chain at the beginning. Next row, we're going to try treble crochet. Chain four, yarn over twice. This time, we're going to try in the same stitch. You can go in this one, yarn over pass through the stitch, yarn over pass through two loops on your hook, yarn over pass through two loops, and yarn over pass it through the last two loops on your hook, and you can continue to practice this stitch. Yarn over twice, enter in next stitch, yarn over pass through it, yarn over pass through two loops, yarn over pass through two loops, yarn over pass through last two loops on your hook. I will show you a little bonus. You can do a double treble crochet if you want. If you yarn over three times on your hook and you do the same steps by always going through two loops on your hook, it makes a stitch even more longer. You see that it's the same principle and you can do a very long stitch. I will continue doing the treble crochet now, the last one will be in the stitch just before the turning chain. You should have again, seven tribal crochet in your row. Let's now learn how to decrease with double crochet stitches. You will yarn over go into next stitch, yarn over pass through it, yarn over pass through two loops on our hook, yarn over pass through only one loop on your hook. Yarn over again, go into next stitch, yarn over pass through it, yarn over pass through two loops, yarn over pass through all three loops on your hook. That's how we make a dc two together. I will repeat it again. Let's now try doing our double crochet in different places. You can chain three, turn. We're going to try this time into back loop only, so the loop far away from you. You can try another one in back loop only. Let's now try into front loop only, so the loop facing you. We can do our double crochet also between stitches, so in this space created by stitches of previous row. We're going to try another variations, gently turn. We are going to do front post double crochet, so you enter your hook from front to back and you yarn over around the stitch. There's the back post double crochet. You enter from back to front around the stitch. You see that it creates different textures. Lets now try doing something with double crochet, the headband [MUSIC]. 22. The Headband - PROJECT: Let's practice to make double crochet by doing this comfy headband. You will need 60 gram of super bulky yarn, a seven millimeter hook, scissors, a yarn needle, and a tape measure. You can start by doing 10 chains. [MUSIC] Row 1 make a double crochet in the fourth chain from your hook. Yarn over, go into the chain. Yarn over, pass through it. Yarn over, pass through two loops on your hook. Yarn over, pass through last two loops on your hook. You continue doing double crochet in each of next chains. [MUSIC] You should have a total of seven double crochet in Row 1. [MUSIC] Row 2, Chain 3, done. You're going to do a double crochet between stitches. You can go in the first space between two stitches and continue to do double crochet into each of next spaces. [MUSIC] Last one will be in the space between the turning chain and your first double crochet of Row one. You should again have seven double crochet it in this row. [MUSIC] Row 3, Chain 3, done. You're going to do double crochet in each of the next spaces between stitches of previous row. You will have repeat that row to Row 23, or until your work measure is 19 inches long. [MUSIC] When you finish your 23 rows, you can measure your work to be sure it's 19 inches long. You can fasten enough. Cut the yarn, pass it through the loop. [MUSIC] We will suit the end and the beginning together like this by entering your yarn needle into each loops of the ending row and the beginning of row. [MUSIC] You can pinch this part in the middle by folding it on itself and so this part together to make it stay in that position. [MUSIC] You can now weave in ends. [MUSIC] Congrats you made a beautiful headband. See you in next lesson, where you're going to learn how to mix stitches. 23. Learn to Mix Stitches: [MUSIC] In this course, you learn how to do a single crochet, a half double crochet, double crochet, a treble or triple crochet, and even a double treble crochet. Basically, everything you see in crochet is made from these stitches. Different textures or design will be made by mixing them, by taking the thread differently, or by making the stitches in different places. After this beginner course, you can do whatever you want in crochet. In this lesson, I will show you two of my favorite mix of stitches. We will start with the moss stitch. You can do 11 chains, as long as it's an uneven number, it will work. You will do a single crochet in the third chain from your hook and you will do chain 1, you're going to skip one chain and do a single crochet in next one, chain 1. Skip the next chain, single crochet in next one, chain 1. Skip next chain and single crochet in the next chain, chain 1. Skip next chain and single crochet in the last chain, for a total of five single crochet made in this row. Second row, chain 2, turn. You will do your first single crochet in the first chain 1 space here. Chain 1. You're going to go in the next chain 1 space there. Do a single crochet, chain 1. Go into the next chain 1 space, single crochet, chain 1, single crochet in the next chain 1 space, chain 1, and the last single crochet will be in the chain 2 space, the two chains we skipped at the beginning. That's it for row 2, chain 2. You should have five single crochet made again in this row. Row 3, you're going to do the same thing. First single crochet in chain 1 space, chain 1, single crochet next chain 1 space, chain 1, and you continue like this. You see that it's a very easy stitch and crochet because you can't miss the chain 1 space. Your last single crochet would be in the chain 2 space at the end. I really like the moss stitch because work is done quickly and the result is beautiful. Let's try now the bobble stitch, it will be five double crochet in this same stitch together and they will pop out like a bubble, so let's do it. You will yarn over, go into next stitch, yarn over pass through the stitch, yarn over pass through two loops on our hook, yarn over pass through only one loop. Yarn over, go into the same stitch, yarn over, pass through the stitch, yarn over pass through two loops. Yarn over pass through only one loop on your hook. Again yarn over, go into the same stitch, yarn over pass through it. Yarn over pass through two loops. Yarn over pass through only one loop, another one. Yarn over pass into same stitch, yarn over pass through the stitch, yarn over pass through two loops, yarn over pass through one loop only. Yarn over again for the last time, go into the same stitch, yarn over pass through the stitch, yarn over pass through two loops, yarn over pass through all the loops on your hook. You will do a single crochet in next stitch. That's the bubble, it really pop out of your project. [MUSIC] It's now your turn to try different mix of stitches. In this example, I'm doing several stitches in the same one by going from small stitch to a DC, and I go back to single crochet in same stitches, it's form like a half circle. You can play with this stitches and crochet any shapes you want. Let's now practice the moss stitch with this washcloth. 24. The Washcloth - PROJECT: [MUSIC] Welcome to your last project. Everyone loves a handmade washcloth. You will have fun making it and you will practice the mustache at the same time. You will need 25 gram of worsted weight cotton yarn, a four-millimeter hook, scissors, and iron needle. Let's start by doing 33 chains. Row 1, you will do a single crochet in the third chain from your hook. Followed by Chain 1, you will skip a chain and make a single crochet in the next chain. Chain 1, skip a chain single crochet in the next chain and you will repeat that on all the starting chains. The last single crochet will be in the last chain, so you should have made 16 single crochet in total in this row. Row 2, Chain 2, turn and you will do a single crochet in the Chain 1 space in every Chain 1 space. Single crochet, Chain 1 single crochet in the next Chain 1 space. Continue like this for the whole row. Your last single crochet will be in the Chain 2 space like this. You will repeat the same thing for Row 3-26. So chain to turn, you're going to do a single crochet in the first Chain 1 space here. Chain 1, single crochet in the next Chain 1 space, Chain 1, single crochet in the next Chain 1 space, and your last single crochet will be in the Chain 2 space. So you should always have a total of 16 single crochet made in each row. See you at the end of Row 26. You can easily count how many rows you made because we see well the little V that each row made. At the end of Row 26 you will chain them because we will do a little loop to be able to hang this little wash cloth. After your 10 chains you will slip stitch in the last single crochet of Row 26. You can now fasten up and weave in all ends. Don't forget to weave in both ends on the same side. Congrats, you made a gorgeous classic washcloth. Oh, I think I heard your dishes calling you. Come back right after towards the last lesson, how to read a crochet pattern. 25. Read a Crochet Pattern: [MUSIC] Welcome to the very last lesson of the How to Crochet course. I will show you how to read crochet patterns because there is a crochet world just waiting after you, and it's so fun to find out what the designers come up with and to be able to crochet. Let's take a look on the crochet patterns I wrote for this class. The layout of each designer's pattern can differ, but the basis will remain the same. Once you follow one pattern, you can easily follow another one. On the front page, you should clearly see what you're going to do, and which skill level it will take. Thanks to this course, I'm sure you can do any level. Next page is really important because you will know what materials you're going to need, you will know all the abbreviations used in the pattern, and just a quick note about US and UK terms, they differ a little bit if you buy US or UK pattern. You just have to know that these terms, like single crochet is variant dc in UK. For them our single crochet means double crochet. But you will do a single crochet. I just want to let you know that if you buy a UK pattern one time, you can refer to this chart or you can search on the internet to be sure to make a good stitch. In this page, you will also know if there are some rules to be applied on all the pattern. In this example, I specify that every stitches will be made in both loops unless contrary indications. Sometimes you will read that the turning chain is counting like a stitch. It all will be specified in this page. You're also always going to have the gauge. It's a sample to be made to have the same result, the same measurement as the one who wrote the pattern. Most skip this step because the general rule is to make a four-by-four inches square, and that takes time. So I would tell you that it's very important to do it if your crochet is close or large pieces because a small difference can give a disappointing result, and you don't want to start all over again. Then for small crochet projects, I like to give a small sample to do, which is super quick, and will give you an idea if your yarn and your hook will be suitable for the project. If your sample is smaller than the measurements given, you can take a larger hook or a slightly thicker yarn. If it's larger, you can take a smaller hook or a thinner yarn. It's now time to read a pattern. So you'll see it's super easy because you know the abbreviation, you know the rules, so you're going to see which hook you'll have to take, which yarn, which color, and a pattern always start with how many chains you have to do. In this case, you're going to do chain 13, row 1, single crochet in second chain from hook, and single crochet in the next 11 chains. I like when the designer put the total stitches at the M2, it's really helpful to know if you did your row well. You can see that I wrote to turn after a row, although in the course we chain before turning. But it's more simple for you to see well that you have to turn after the row and you will start the next row with a good amount of chain. At the end of the pattern, you will add additional information for what to do next. Let's now take a look on this pattern because there's a lot of color change. I wrote the rule that every stitches are made in single crochet, so I don't need to repeat it in my pattern. I show you which abbreviation the colors have. The starting chain is right here. In row 2, you have this little reminder to always do the first single crochet in same stitch, and you do five single crochet with main color, one in contrasting color, and so on. Here's you have the additional information and pictures with the letter associated with. Let's take a look into a round pattern. This time it will not be right in row, but round, to let you know that you don't need to turn your project, but always continue to crocheting on the same side. You have the choice to do the magic circle or the starting chain to be able to do your stitches in the first chain you will do. Round 1 you will do in this example six single crochet in second chain from hook or in your magic circle. It's specified that you need to join with slip stitch in the chain 1. On round 3, you see those parenthesis, that means you need to repeat that sequence six times. If there's a term or an abbreviation you don't recognize, just go on the first page to see what it means. In this example, screv means reverse single crochet. Pictures are really useful, sometimes it reminds you how to do a certain stitch. That's it for my crochet class. See you in next video for the conclusion words. 26. CONCLUSION: Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your crochet journey. I hope you had fun. I can't wait to see picture of the small projects I proposed. If you'd like to share them with me, feel free to post them in the project gallery below. If you enjoyed this course and my style of crochet creations, you can find my collection of modern and easy to make patterns on crochetmilie.com or in my Etsy shop, crochetmilie. I have a ton of new ideas I can't wait to share with you. You can subscribe to my newsletter to not miss anything and to take advantage of exclusive discounts. You know what, you are no longer beginner. Now you have all the basic knowledge. You need to be able to crochet whatever you want and continue to learn other kinds of stitches and variation of techniques. Go shop your yarns and your patterns. There's a whole creative world that just opened up to you. And finally, I wish you a lot of crochet your life. Au revoir!!