16 Essential Crochet Stitches and Skills Every Beginner Should Know - Beginner Crochet Master Class

To do the single crochet stitch, make a slip knot, place it on your hook, and chain any number of chains to your desired length plus one. Skip the first chain and insert your hook into the next chain, yarn over hook, pull up a loop through that second chain, yarn over hook, and pull through both loops on your hook. Again, insert your hook into the next chain, yarn over hook, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, pull through both loops on your hook. Repeat to the end of your foundation chain. When you get to the end of your first row, make a single crochet into the very last chain. Chain one and turn your work. The first stitch of the row that needs to be worked is right here, meaning you'll insert your hook into that first stitch, yarn over to pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through both loops on your hook, and that begins row two. The last stitch of the row that needs to be worked looks like this. Here's how the edge looks when every stitch is worked. After a few rows, your piece should look like this, and that's how you make the single crochet stitch. To make the half double crochet stitch, you're going to first make a slip knot and place it on your hook. Chain any number of chains to your desired length, plus one if the turning chain is not counting as a stitch, or plus two if the turning chains count as a stitch. It can go either way with half double crochet, it depends on your pattern and preference. If the turning chains are not counting as a stitch, skip the first chain and make one half double crochet into the second chain. By yarning over your hook, inserting your hook into that second chain, yarn over hook, pull through the chain, yarn over hook, pull through all three loops on your hook. Again, yarn over hook, insert hook into the next chain, yarn over hook, pull through the chain, yarn over hook, pull through all three loops on your hook. Continue to the end of your row. If your turning chain is counting as a stitch, you're going to skip the first two chains, which count as one half double crochet. Then you're going to yarn over hook, insert your hook into the third chain, yarn over hook, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, and pull through all three loops on your hook. When you get to the last chain of your row, yarn over hook, insert your hook into that last chain, yarn over hook, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, pull through all three loops on your hook. If your turning chain does not count as a stitch, you will chain one and turn your work and work a half double crochet into this first stitch right here. By yarning over, inserting your hook into the first stitch, yarn over hook, pull through a loop, yarn over hook, pull through all three loops on your hook. If your turning chain does count as a stitch, you will chain two, turn your work, skip that first stitch because the chain two counts as the buddy of this stitch right here. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the second stitch, yarn over hook, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, pull through all three loops on your hook to complete your first half double crochet stitch, which is your second technical stitch of the row. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the next stitch, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, pull through all three loops on your hook. After a few rows your piece will look like this. That's how you do the half double crochet stitch. To do the double crochet stitch, you will make a slip knot, place it on your hook, and chain any number of chains to your desired length plus three. The first three chains will most likely count as a stitch, so you'll skip one, two, three, and work into the fourth stitch right here. By yarning over, insert your hook into the fourth stitch from your hook, yarn over hook, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, pull through two loops on your hook. With two loops left on your hook, yarn over hook, pull through the remaining two loops on your hook. You've made your first real double crochet stitch, and you have a turning chain three that will also count as a stitch. To do the next double crochet stitch, yarn over hook, insert your hook into the next stitch, yarn over hook, pull up a loop. You now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops. With two loops left on your hook, yarn over hook, pull through the last two loops on your hook. Repeat to the end of your foundation chain. To begin the next row, you will chain three, which counts as a double crochet stitch, and turn your work. Since the chain three counts as a double crochet stitch, it is the partner to this stitch right here. So now we need to work a stitch for this guy. To do that, yarn over hook, insert your hook into the second stitch, yarn over hook, pull up a loop. You now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops, and you've made your first two double crochet stitches of the row. When you've worked the last obvious stitch of your row, you're not yet done, because that stitch you just made is the buddy for this stitch down here. But since the chain three counts as a stitch, we need to make a buddy for him right here. To do that, you'll yarn over hook, insert your hook into the top of that skipped chain three from the beginning of the row, yarn over hook, and pull up a loop through that chain. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops, and that's how you finish the edge of double crochet. After a few rows, your piece will look like this, and that's how you work the double crochet stitch. To work the front post double crochet stitch, begin with at least one row of regular double crochet. Chain three, and turn your work. To work the front post double crochet, yarn over your hook, and insert your hook between the first two stitches of your row. Weave your crochet hook around the back of your second double crochet stitch from the previous row. Yarn over your hook, and pull up a loop behind that stitch. You now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops. I'll show you that one more time. Yarn over your hook, and insert your hook down into the previous row between the stitch you just worked and the next stitch. Weave your hook around the back of the desired stitch from the previous row. Yarn over hook, and pull the loop behind that stitch. Yarn over hook, pull through two loops. Yarn over hook, pull through two more loops. And here's how front post stitches look after a few stitches are worked. That's how you make the front post double crochet stitch. To make the back post double crochet stitch, begin with at least one row of regular double crochet. Chain three, and turn your work. To work the first back post double crochet stitch, yarn over hook, from the back of your work, insert your hook between the first two stitches from the previous row. Weave your hook in front of the second stitch. Yarn over hook, bring it through that space in front of the second double crochet stitch, and pull it up. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Yarn over hook, pull through two. I'll show you that again. Yarn over hook, from the back of your work to the front, insert your hook between the next two stitches from the row. Weave your hook in front of the intended post. Yarn over hook, pull the loop in front of the double crochet post from the previous row to pull up a loop. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Yarn over hook, pull through two. When you've worked a few stitches of front post double crochet, it'll look like this. And that's how you work the front post double crochet stitch. You can combine front post and back post double crochet to make a very beautiful ribbed pattern. To do the front post back post double crochet rib, you're going to yarn over hook, insert your hook from front to back, weave it behind the intended post from the previous row. Yarn over hook, pull the yarn behind the post. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Now we'll do a back post double crochet. Yarn over hook, insert your hook from back to front between those two posts. Weave the hook around in front of the post. Yarn over hook, pull the yarn in front of the post and up. You now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Yarn over hook, pull through two. You've completed one front post double crochet and one back post double crochet. To do the next front post double crochet, yarn over hook, insert your hook between the post you just worked and the next post. Weave your hook behind the post you're intending to work. Yarn over hook, pull the yarn behind the post. With three loops on your hook, yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. Now another back post. Yarn over hook, insert your hook back to front. Weave it around the post. Yarn over hook, pull it around the post. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Yarn over hook, pull through two. After one row of front post back post double crochet, your piece will look like this. And that's how you work a front post back post double crochet ribbing. To work the treble crochet stitch, make a slip knot, place it on your hook, and chain any multiple of chains to your desired length plus four. Skip the first four chains and make one treble crochet into the fifth chain. Yarn over hook, yarn over hook again, insert your hook into the fifth chain. Yarn over hook to pull up a loop through that chain. You'll have four loops on your hook. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Three times. Yarn over hook, pull through two. Yarn over hook, pull through two. I'll show you that again. Yarn over hook, wrap it once more, insert your hook into the next chain, yarn over hook, pull up a loop. With four loops on your hook, yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. Continue that way to the end of the row. When you get to the end of the row, your turning chain, which will count as your first treble crochet, will be four chains. So chain four and turn your work. That counts as your first treble crochet and is the stitch that matches this guy right here. Make your next treble crochet of the row. Yarn over hook twice, insert your hook into the second stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through two. Three times. And you've completed your first two treble crochets of the row. When you've worked the last obvious stitch of the row, you'll need to make one treble crochet into the top of your turning chain four from the beginning of your project. Wrap the yarn twice, insert your hook into the top of that turning chain four, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through two. Three times. And that completes your row. After a couple rows, your piece will look like this. And that's how you do the treble crochet stitch. To work the single crochet decrease, or single crochet two together, you'll insert your hook into the first stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Then insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Now you can yarn over and pull through all three loops on your hook. And you've single crocheted two stitches together, decreasing by one stitch. To show you that again, insert your hook into the first stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over and pull through all three loops on your hook. And that's the single crochet decrease. To do the half double crochet decrease, or half double crochet two together, you will yarn over and insert your hook into the first stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Again, yarn over, insert your hook into the second stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. You'll have five loops on your hook. And you can yarn over and pull through all five loops on your hook. And you've half double crocheted two stitches together, decreasing by one stitch. Again, yarn over hook, insert your hook into the first stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over, insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over and draw through all five loops on your hook. And that's how you do the half double crochet decrease. To work the double crochet decrease, or double crochet two together, you will first yarn over and insert your hook into the first stitch. Then yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook to complete the first half of the double crochet stitch. Then yarn over and insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through the first two loops on your hook. You'll now have three loops on your hook, and you can yarn over and draw through those three loops. You've double crocheted two stitches together, decreasing your stitch count by one. To show you that again, yarn over, insert your hook into the first stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Then, as if to begin a double crochet, yarn over and pull through two loops on your hook. Do not complete that first double crochet. Instead, yarn over, insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through the first two loops on your hook again. Now, with three loops on your hook, you can yarn over and pull through those three loops. And that's how you work the double crochet decrease. To do the treble crochet decrease, or treble crochet two together, just like the double crochet two together decrease, you'll start as if you're making a treble crochet. So yarn over your hook twice. Insert your hook into the first stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through the next two loops on your hook. But don't complete that triple crochet yet. But don't complete that treble crochet yet. Instead, yarn over your hook twice again. Insert your hook into the next stitch. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through the first two loops. Yarn over, pull through the next two loops. Now you have three loops on your hook. You can yarn over and draw through all three loops on your hook. And you've treble crocheted two stitches together, decreasing your stitch count by one. I can show you that again. Yarn over twice. Insert your hook into loops. Yarn over, pull through two loops. With two loops left on your hook, yarn over twice again to insert into your next stitch. And yarn over pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. You now have three loops on your hook, and that means you can yarn over and pull through the last three loops to treble crochet two together. And that's how you do all the basic crochet stitch decreases. To work into the back loop of any stitch, you're going to find this little V shape that's created at the top of each stitch that you work. You'll see that there is a front leg, the one closest to you, and a back leg, the one facing away from you. To work into the back loop is exactly how it sounds. Rather than inserting your hook into both legs of the stitch, as in the case with a normal stitch, you're going to insert your hook only into that back leg of the stitch. And then you can work whichever stitch you're doing as you normally would. Again, rather than working into both legs of the stitch, you will only work into the back leg of the stitch. And by working into the back loop of the stitch, it creates a ridge on one side where the front loop remains unworked. And that's how you crochet into the back loop of a stitch. To crochet the griddle stitch, make a slipknot, place it on your hook, and chain any even number of chains to your desired length plus one. Skip the first chain and work one single crochet into the next chain by inserting your hook into that second chain, pulling up a loop, yarn over hook, pull through two. Work a double crochet into the next chain. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the next chain, yarn over, pull through the chain. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. And repeat. Single crochet into the next chain, double crochet into the next chain, all the way to the end. You should end with a double crochet into the very last chain. Chain one and turn your work. Make one single crochet into the very first stitch of the next row. Then make one double crochet into the next stitch. Repeat. One single crochet, followed by one double crochet. This is effectively alternating putting a single crochet into the double crochet stitch from the previous row and putting a double crochet into all the single crochet stitches from the previous row. In a way, it's like seed stitch in knitting. So we're alternating our stitches every row. And at the very end, you'll make a double crochet into that last single crochet stitch from the previous row. Chain one to repeat row two for the remainder of your project. After a few rows, your piece will look like this. And that's how you crochet the griddle stitch. Make the puff stitch, make a slip knot, and place it on your hook. Chain any multiple of four plus three. Skip the first three chains, which will count as a double crochet. Skip the fourth chain and work a puff stitch into the fifth chain from your hook, like so. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the fifth chain. Yarn over hook, and pull up a loop a bit longer. And repeat. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the same chain. Yarn over hook, pull up a loop, pull the loop up high. One more time. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the chain. Yarn over hook, pull up a loop, and pull it up to meet the height of the skip chain three from the beginning of the row. To complete the puff stitch, yarn over hook one last time, and pull through all of the loops on your hook and through that last loop, which is the top of your skip chain three. To close the puff stitch, chain one. Then you will skip the next chain and make a puff stitch into the next chain. Yarn over, insert your hook. Yarn over, pull up a loop. Pull it to the height of your previous puff stitch. Yarn over hook, insert your hook into the chain. Yarn over hook, pull up a loop. Yarn over hook, insert, pull up a loop. Yarn over hook, and pull through all the loops on your hook. Chain one to close the puff. Skip one. Yarn over hook, insert hook into the next chain. Yarn over hook, pull up a loop, and pull it to the height of your puff stitches. Do that two more times. Yarn over, pull through all of the loops on your hook, every single one, and chain one to close the puff. Continue like this to the end of your row. When you get to the end of your row, you'll have two chains left. Skip the next chain and make a double crochet into the last chain. That completes row one. To do the next row, chain three and turn your work. Now you have two options. We can either stagger the puffs on the next row, or we can stack the puffs. Let me show you what I mean. If you are going to stagger your puffs with this chain three, you're simply going to complete your first puff stitch right into this space between the last puff stitch and the double crochet from the previous row. Chain one to close the puff, and then you will work your next puff into the chain space between the next two puffs. Repeat like that to the end of the row. If you are staggering your puffs, when you get to the end of the row, you'll make your last puff into the space between your turning chain and your last puff. Chain one to close that puff, and make a double crochet into the top of that turning chain three. To do the next row of puffs, if we're staggering them, you're going to chain four and turn. Skip this stitch and this space entirely. Skip this puff stitch, and work your first puff stitch in between your first two puff stitches from the previous row. Chain one to close that puff stitch. When you get to the end of the row, you'll work a puff stitch between the last two puff stitches, and work a double crochet into the top of this turning chain three only. That's how you work the puff stitches staggered. Now if you want to stack your puff stitches, at the end of row one, you're going to chain four and turn your work. You're going to work your first puff stitch into this stitch right here. This is the top of your previous puff stitch. This gappy stitch right here is the chain that you use to close your puff. We want to work into the stitch, and work your first puff stitch of row two into this stitch right here. Pull through all the loops on your hook, and chain one to close the puff. Repeat. Work a puff into the top of the previous puff stitch. When you've worked a puff stitch into the stitch of the last puff stitch from the previous row, then you will work a double crochet directly into the top of the skipped chain three from the previous row. And that's how you do the stacked puff stitches. Make the Suzette stitch. Chain any odd number of chains. Skip the first chain, and make one single crochet, followed by one double crochet into the second chain from your hook. Skip the next chain, and again make one single crochet and one double crochet into the same chain. Skip one, one single, one double, all into the same chain. Continue like this, putting one single crochet and one double crochet into the same chain, skipping a chain between them to the end of your row. When you've worked a single and double crochet into the last chain, chain one and turn your work. Skip the first stitch, which is the top of the double crochet from the previous row, and work one single crochet and one double crochet into the next stitch. Skip the next stitch of the previous row, and work a single and a double crochet into the next stitch. You're working a single crochet and a double crochet into the single crochets from the previous row, skipping the double crochet stitches from the previous row. After a few rows, your piece will look like this. And that's how you crochet the Suzette stitch. To do a classic granny square, begin by making a slip knot. Place the slip knot on your hook, and chain four. Join your chain four in the round by slip stitching into the first chain. Make your first double crochet granny cluster by chaining three. This counts as your first double crochet. Yarn over hook, and make two more double crochets into the center of the chain four ring. Chain two to make your first corner, and make three double crochets into the center of that chain four ring. Repeat that two more times. Chain two, three double crochets into the ring. Chain two, three double crochets into the ring. When you get to the last corner of your square, chain two, and slip stitch into the top of the chain three from the beginning of the round. Round two. Chain three, and make three more double crochets into the chain space beneath your beginning chain three. Chain one, and make three double crochets into the next chain two space. Chain two, and make three double crochets into the same chain space. This creates your first corner of round two. Chain one, and repeat. Make three double crochets into the next chain space. Chain two, and three more double crochets into the same chain space. Repeat for every chain space available of the round. When you reach your final chain space, chain one, make three double crochets into that chain space. Chain two, and slip stitch into the top of your beginning chain three of the round. That completes round two. To begin round three and any further rounds, you will again chain three, and make two more double crochets into that corner space. You will then chain one, and into the chain one space, make three double crochets. Chain one, and again make three double crochets, chain two, and three more double crochets all into the corner space. When you've worked a three double crochet cluster into the last corner space, chain two, and slip stitch into the top of the beginning chain three from the start of the round. And that's how you crochet the traditional granny square.