Crochet tips and tricks

Before you start

• Read the whole pattern first. Read it to the end before you make the first chain. Notes and materials are not always at the top, and it is better to meet them now than halfway through. How to read a crochet pattern explains each part.
• Check which terms the pattern uses. Patterns in English are written in United States terms or in United Kingdom terms, and one name can mean a different stitch in each. US and UK crochet terms shows how to tell.
• Make a gauge swatch when size matters. For anything that has to fit, work a small swatch and measure it before you begin. If you skip it, the piece can come out too big or too small. Crochet gauge and how to measure it shows how.
• Read the yarn label. It suggests a hook size for that yarn. The chart of hook sizes by yarn weight gives the usual range for each weight.
• Learn on plain yarn that is not dark. Stitches are hard to see in very dark yarn and in fancy, textured yarn. A smooth yarn in a lighter color shows where the hook goes.
• Start small. A common first piece is a small rectangle, such as a washcloth or a simple scarf. Things to crochet puts first pieces in order.

While you work

• Count at the end of every row. It is easy to add or lose a stitch without noticing, and then the sides stop being straight. Counting each row catches the mistake while it is one row deep. See how to count stitches and rows.
• Mark where the row begins. A stitch marker in the first stitch of a row, or at the start of a round, shows you where that row or round began. Using stitch markers covers the other jobs a marker does.
• Go under both loops. The top of a stitch looks like a V. Unless the pattern says otherwise, the hook goes under both strands of it. Back loop and front loop covers the times a pattern asks for one.
• Keep the starting chain loose. A tight chain is hard to work into, and it pulls the bottom edge in. If your chains are always tight, make the chain with a larger hook and change back for the first row. See chain stitch and crochet tension.

With yarn

• Pull from the center. A skein has an end on the outside and an end in the middle. Yarn pulled from the outside makes the skein roll about. Yarn pulled from the middle lets it sit still.
• Find the center end by feel. Reach into one end of the skein with a finger and thumb and hunt for the loose end by touch. A small clump of yarn often comes out with it. That is normal.
• Put a rolling ball in a bowl. A ball wound by hand is pulled from the outside, so it rolls. A bowl keeps it in one place.
• Rewind a skein that has gone slack. Near its end a center-pull skein loses its shape and tangles easily. Wind what is left into a ball.

Winding yarn into a ball has more on each of these.

When you finish

• Leave long tails. Leave about 6 in (15 cm) of yarn at the start of a piece and again when you cut the yarn at the end. A tail that long can be woven in. See fastening off.
• Weave every end in. Do not just tuck an end out of sight. An end that is only tucked can work its way out, and the stitches can then come undone. Weaving in ends shows the way to do it.

When something looks wrong

Most problems have a short list of causes.

• Edges that grow or shrink, a piece that curls or waves: crochet problems.
• Stitches that are too tight, too loose or uneven: crochet tension.
• A mistake several rows back: frogging, which is pulling the work out to that point.

New to all of it? How to crochet starts from the slip knot.