Basic stitches · Beginner
Single crochet
To single crochet, push the hook into the next stitch, pull up a loop, then take the yarn over the hook and pull it through both loops on the hook. It is a short stitch, one step taller than a slip stitch, and United Kingdom patterns call it double crochet.
- Abbreviation
- sc
- In UK terms
- double crochet (dc)
- Chart symbol
a plus sign or an x; both are in use
How to work it
Hook in
Find the next stitch of the row below, the first one you have not yet worked into. Its top is two strands that lie side by side like a V. Push the hook under both strands, from the side that faces you through to the back. The loop you started with is still the only loop on the hook.
Pull up a loop
The head of the hook is now at the back of the work. There, take the yarn that leads to the ball over the hook from back to front: up behind the hook and over its top toward you. Catch it in the head of the hook and draw it back through the stitch, to the side that faces you. There are two loops on the hook.
Close it
Take the yarn over the hook again, the same way, and draw it through both loops on the hook. One loop is left on the hook and the stitch is made.
At a glance
- Used for
- first projects: it is the stitch most beginners learn after the chain; edgings and borders, and the base round under a fancier border; toys and other stuffed pieces worked in the round
- Height
- Taller than a slip stitch, shorter than a half double crochet (UK half treble)
- To turn
- Chain 1. It does not count as a stitch.
- On a starting chain
- The first stitch goes in the second chain from the hook.
On a starting chain, skip the chain next to the hook and work the first single crochet into the second one. A chain of 21 therefore gives a row of 20 stitches. At the end of the row, chain 1 and turn the work, keeping the hook in the loop; the next row starts in the first stitch.
From the second row on, the stitches go into the tops of the stitches below. The top of a stitch looks like a V lying on its side. The hook goes under both strands of the V, unless the pattern asks for the front loop or the back loop only.
Single crochet can be worked in rows that are turned, or round and round without turning.
Tips
- When a row is finished, count its stitches. Do not count the loop on the hook.
- Work into the very last stitch of the row. It is easy to overlook.
- In turned rows, every other row shows the back of its stitches, which does not look quite like the front. The pictures here draw every row alike.
When it goes wrong
- I chained 21 and my row has 20 stitches.
- That is right. The chain next to the hook is skipped, so a row of single crochet has one stitch fewer than the chain it stands on.
- My piece is getting narrower, or wider.
- A stitch is being lost or added at an edge. Count every row. Work the first stitch of a row into the last stitch of the row below, not into the chain 1, which is not a stitch, and do not leave out the last stitch of the row.
- My starting chain is so tight that the hook will not go into it.
- Many people make their chains too tight. Make the chains loosely. If that does not help, make the chain with a larger hook, and go back to your own hook for the first row.
- I am not sure which way the yarn goes over the hook.
- From the back, over the top, to the front.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- Back loop only. The same stitch with the hook under the back loop alone, the strand of the V that is farther from you. A pattern says so when it wants it.
- Front loop only. The same stitch with the hook under the front loop alone, the strand of the V that is nearer to you. The back loop is left free.
- Ribbing. Rows of single crochet worked in the back loop only make a ridged fabric, and many patterns use it as ribbing. Ribbing can mean other stitches too, so go by the pattern.
- Spike single crochet. A single crochet with the hook pushed in one or more rows below the row you are working, so that a long loop is drawn up over the rows between.
Patterns that use it
Questions
- Is single crochet the same as double crochet?
- In United Kingdom patterns, yes: what the United States calls single crochet (sc) is written double crochet (dc) there. A US double crochet is a taller stitch, which UK patterns call treble.
- Why is the first single crochet in the second chain from the hook?
- The skipped chain stands as tall as the stitch, so the edge of the row is as high as the rest of it. In single crochet that chain is not counted as a stitch.
- How many chains do I need for a row of single crochet?
- One more than the number of stitches you want, because the chain next to the hook is skipped. For 20 stitches, chain 21.