Slip stitch, Single crochet, Turning

This is the third post in this series.  Please start here:
What do you need

Where do I stitch?
Well, this depends partly on what you're doing and who you ask.  For particularly sturdy work, you want to go into the entire top of the stitch.  For lighter work you only need to go into the back loop of the stitch.  Obviously if the directions tell you which to do, you should do that.

As you crochet more and see how doing it differently changes the look, you might decide that one or the other is best for what you're doing. 

This is going under the entire stitch (ignore the arrow, it's not my picture):

When the directions say to do something "in the loop", that implies that you've made a loop somewhere in your prior work.  In a prior row or round you may have done a chain, which leaves an open space in your work.  To work in that loop means that instead of going into one of the stitches, you're going to actually stick your hook in that big open space and the stitch you make now is going to wrap around the chain itself, instead of just the top of a stitch.

Slip Stitch (sl st)

This is used in two places:

1. You need to connect two parts together without creating additional stitches - this is also called "joining"
2. You need to start your next stitch in a different place than you're currently working

You'll use this stitch a lot when working in rounds.  Every time you end a round, you'll need to connect the last stitch of the round to the first stitch of the round, before starting a new round.  It's very easy to do.  You just put the hook where ever the directions say, then hook the loose yarn and pull it through everything on the hook all at once.  If the directions say "slip stitch to join to 3rd chain" then you stick your hook in the third chain.  If the directions say "slip stitch to next chain 3" then you'll need to find the next chain 3 (don't worry, you'll be able to spot it) and work a slip stitch into the top of each stitch between here and there.  This is like building an underground tunnel so you can pop up over there without ruining the look of everything in between.

Here's a slip stitch in action:
Slip stitch into a chain

When working a round piece, the directions will often say to chain x times and join to make a circle.  What they mean is to chain x and then slip stitch into your FIRST chain. 
Here is a picture of "Chain 6 and join to make a ring"

Note that this is going into the back AND the bottom of the stitch.  :-D  It makes it more stable.


Single Crochet (sc)

Now we're getting into the meat of it all.
For the single crochet, you're going to stick the hook through the stitch where ever the instructions say.  (If you're not working from instructions, when working a single crochet into a row of chain, you want to start in the SECOND chain stitch from the hook.  I'll explain why later.) 

• So stick your hook through the stitch.
• Remember the motion you used to grab the loose yarn when chaining?  Use that same motion here and grab the loose yarn.
• The motion you used to pull through?  Use that now to pull the loose yarn back through the stitch but not through the yarn that was already on the hook.  You should now have TWO loops on your hook.
• Now again grab the loose yarn, and pull through both loops.  This is the same motion as the chain, but pulling through 2 instead of 1.  If you can't get through both loops at the same time that's okay, pull through one, get a fresh grip, and pull through the second one without grabbing more loose yarn.

Here's a good video of doing a single crochet into a chain, then going back through and doing single crochet into the prior row of single crochet.
Single Crochet

Turning stitches
So why do you go into the second chain?  And why does she need to chain 1 before starting the row of single crochet?

The row of single crochet has height, and we're working from the top of it.  Think of a brick wall.  When you start a new row, and you put down the first brick in that row, you don't want your brick to slope up to the new height, you want to BE at that height and keep working across from that height, right?  By chaining once you move the hook away from your work by one stitch - which is the height of a single crochet.  So now you're at the correct height and you can work across.  That chain will take the place of the first single crochet in that row.  When you work back across you won't be able to tell that it was a chain instead of a single crochet - it will look exactly the same.  So you're faking a single crochet in a way that gets you up to the height you need.

All crochet stitches have their chain-height equivalent.  A double crochet takes 3 chains to fake.  Why not 2?  Because there's a stitch in between called a half double crochet and it takes 2.  So a triple crochet takes 4 chains.  There IS a stitch called a double triple crochet, and it takes 5 chains, but you'll seldom need it.

All well-written crochet patterns will tell you how many chains to use for your turning stitch, so you don't need to memorize this.  I'm explaining it because you might find it helpful to know WHY you're doing it.


A simple practice piece
You now know enough stitches to make an actual piece.

1. Chain 11
2. Working back along your chain, starting in the second chain from the hook, single crochet across.  This will require 10 single crochets, not including your turning chain.
3. Chain 1.  Starting in the top of the prior single crochet, single crochet across.  This is 10 single crochets.
4. Repeat as many times as you like!

I'm now going to rewrite the above directions using standard crochet abbreviations, the same way a regular crochet pattern would look.

1. ch 11
2. sc in 2nd ch.  sc in ch 9 times
3. ch 1.  sc in sc 10 times

How do you know that the single crochets don't all go in the same chain?  Because the directions would tell you so very clearly.  They would say "sc 9 times in same ch" or if there were multiple stitches they would say "(sc, dc, sc) in chain" which means "(single crochet, then double crochet, then single crochet) all in the same chain."

But we haven't learned a double crochet!

Yet...

Lesson 4