Working in rows · Easy
Rows without turning
To crochet rows without turning, fasten off at the end of every row, go back to the first stitch with the right side still facing you, and begin the next row there with new yarn. Every row then runs the same way and shows the front of its stitches. The other way is to keep the yarn and work the next row back along the piece in the opposite direction.
How to work it
Begin with a standing stitch
Start the new row with new yarn, straight into the first stitch: put a slip knot on the hook and work the first stitch of the row as usual. No slip stitch and no turning chain are needed.
Deal with the ends
Weave every end in, or leave the ends long at both edges and make them part of a fringe.
At a glance
- Used for
- color patterns worked from a chart, where every stitch should show its front; stitches that are only worked with the right side facing; patterns that change color on every row
- Which side faces you
- The right side, on every row
- Ends
- Two for each row, one at each side edge
- How a row begins
- With a standing stitch in the first stitch, in new yarn
- The fabric
- Every row shows the front of its stitches. In rows that are turned, every second row shows the back.
- Also done in
- Rounds. A piece worked round and round without turning has the right side facing all the time, with no ends.
Turned rows show the front of the stitches on one row and the back on the next. That is the ordinary look of crochet worked in rows. Some patterns want another: a picture in colors looks more even when every stitch shows its front, and some stitches are made to be worked with the right side facing.
Stitches worked always from the same side all lean the same way. In single crochet (UK double crochet) the lean is slight, but it adds up, so that a color pattern can drift to one side as the rows build. It is the same drift that shows in work done round and round without turning.
The cost is the ends. A blanket of a hundred rows has two hundred of them. That is why some makers turn the ends into a fringe, and why a pattern that changes color on every row suits this way of working: the yarn would have been cut there anyway.
When it goes wrong
- I have dozens of ends to weave in.
- Each row leaves two. Weave them in as you go, a few rows at a time, or leave them all long and turn them into a fringe at both edges.
- My color pattern leans to one side.
- Rows that all run the same way lean the same way, as rounds do. The lean is in the stitch; it is not a mistake in the count.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- Working back the other way. The yarn is not cut. At the end of a row, the next row is worked back along the piece in the opposite direction, with the right side still facing: the hook goes into each stitch from the back to the front, with the yarn held in front. A maker who can crochet with either hand can do the same by changing hands. There are no ends, and the piece is never turned.
Questions
- How do I crochet on the right side only?
- Fasten off at the end of each row. Go back to the first stitch without turning the piece, and begin the next row there with new yarn and a standing stitch.
- Can I crochet rows without turning and without cutting the yarn?
- Yes, by working every second row backward: from the other edge, with the hook put into each stitch from the back, or with the other hand.
- What do I do with all the ends?
- Weave them in, or leave them long at the two side edges as a fringe.