What do you need?
1. A hook of your choice – my recommendation is size 4 or 5, because they feel good in the hand and you can see the stitches easily, which is the most important thing for the beginning
2. Yarn – again, I recommend acrylic (soft, type Baby – almost every producer has this type). It is easy to work with and it withstands frogging (it doesn’t fall apart)
3. Yarn thickness – choose thickness according to the hook. I.e., if you decided to work with hook no. 4, it would be best to get yarn with thickness (3-4) or (4-4.5) – the number in parenthesis is the size of the hook. Every yarn has it written on the package.
4. Tape measure, markers and scissors are not needed for this tutorial because we are only practicing the first stitch.
5. Goodwill! 🙂
Single crochet – how to
When we start the single crochet from the chain, we will skip the first chain (the one on the hook).
As shown in the video, we have 11 chains, the 11th is on the hook. We can’t work in it and that is why we say that we start in the second chain from the hook – we start in the chain next to the one on the hook.
Every chain we make has an upper and lower part. To make a stitch in the starting chain, we will pull the hook through the upper part of the chain. Then we will grab the yarn with the hook, so it is over the hook (or yarn over, the more common expression among crocheters), and then we will pull the hook back through the chain. Do not pull the hook all the way – the yarn needs to be over it 2 times (2 loops on the hook), which is what we need.
Now, slowly grab the yarn with the hook again and pull it through both loops on the hook. The result is a single crochet! We will repeat this until the end of the row and at the end you should have 10 single crochets.
Starting a new row
When we reach the end of the row, we will make one chain (or chain 1, again a more commonly used expression), and then we will turn the work. We will make the first single crochet in the very first stitch – the last stitch from the previous row, where we chained 1. When we insert the hook through the stitch, we will do it beneath both parts of the stitch (they look like a little V), then we will grab the yarn (or yarn over) and we will pull the hook back, but not all the way. We will grab the yarn again (yarn over) and we will pull the hook through both loops on our hook. We will repeat this until the end of the row and once you are at the end, you should, again, have 10 single crochets.
Why do we chain 1 (make a chain of one) at the end of the row?
We do this to make the edge straight. Otherwise, it will pull in and we will get uneven shape.
Why do we pull the hook through the upper part of the chain, and not the bottom one?
We do this when we are making standard stitches. We will pull the hook through the lower part of the chain when we are making special stitches, or when we want to make chainless stitches (there will be more about this in one of the future tutorials).
