Changing color · Easy
Standing stitches
A standing stitch starts a row or round with a whole stitch and no chain: a standing double crochet (UK treble), half double crochet (UK half treble) or single crochet (UK double crochet). Put a slip knot on the hook with the new yarn, then work the stitch straight into the work.
How to work it
Yarn over and go in
For a standing double crochet, take the yarn over the hook. Then push the hook into the stitch or space where the row or round is to begin.
Finish the stitch
Yarn over and pull through two loops, then yarn over and pull through the last two, as for any double crochet. The stitch stands at its full height, with no chain beside it.
At a glance
- Used for
- starting a row or round in a new color; stripes, motifs and granny squares; any place where a pattern says to join yarn and then chain
- Standing single crochet
- Slip knot on the hook, hook into the stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through both loops.
- Standing half double crochet
- Slip knot on the hook, yarn over, hook into the stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through all three loops.
- Standing double crochet
- Slip knot on the hook, yarn over, hook into the stitch, pull up a loop, then yarn over and pull through two loops, twice.
- Takes the place of
- Joining the yarn with a slip stitch and then chaining up to the height of the row
- In a pattern
- There is no standard abbreviation. A pattern may say standing dc, or it may say to join the yarn with a stitch, as in join with sc in first st.
- Does it count?
- Yes. It is the first stitch of the row or round.
The slip stitch and chain that usually join new yarn do not look like the stitches beside them, and in rounds they mark where every round began. A standing stitch looks like an ordinary stitch, so a new color can start anywhere without leaving that mark.
A standing stitch can go into any stitch or space the hook can enter. Use it wherever a pattern says to join yarn and chain.
At the end of a round begun with a standing stitch, close the round into the top of that stitch as into any first stitch, with a slip stitch or with an invisible join.
The chainless starting double crochet is a different thing. It begins a row in the yarn that is already on the hook: the loop is pulled up to the height of the stitch and wrapped round the hook. No new yarn is joined.
Tips
- The same start works for taller stitches: put the slip knot on the hook, then work the stitch as usual.
When it goes wrong
- I chained first out of habit.
- Leave the chain out. The standing stitch is itself the first stitch of the row or round, at full height.
- I do not know where to put the standing stitch.
- In the place where the pattern tells you to join the yarn: the first stitch, a corner space, or the stitch it names.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Questions
- What is a standing double crochet?
- A double crochet made with new yarn that starts from a slip knot on the hook and not from a chain. It begins a row or round at full height.
- Is a standing double crochet the same as a chainless starting double crochet?
- No. A standing stitch joins new yarn. The chainless starting double crochet starts a row in the yarn already in use.
- Do I need a slip knot?
- Most instructions for standing stitches begin with one. Some start a standing double crochet with no knot: the yarn is wrapped round the hook twice, and the first wrap takes the place of the loop.