Starting the second row

How to work it

1. Count

   You are at the end of the first row, with one loop on the hook. Count the stitches of the row before you turn: one for each V along its top edge. The loop on the hook is not a stitch.

2. Chain 1

   

   Make one chain stitch: 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), and draw it through the loop on the hook. This is the turning chain. In single crochet it does not count as a stitch. One loop is on the hook.

3. Turn

   Turn the work around so that the side that was away from you now faces you. It turns sideways: the hook, which was at the left-hand end of the row, is now at the right-hand end. Keep the hook in the loop. You can turn clockwise or counterclockwise; turn the same way every time.

4. The first stitch

   

   The first stitch of the new row goes into the last stitch you made before the chain, the stitch the chain stands on. 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, and make a single crochet there: take the yarn over the hook, the same way as in step 2, and draw it back through the stitch, to the side that faces you (two loops on the hook), then take the yarn over again and draw it through both loops. One loop is on the hook. Nothing is worked into the chain.

5. Across the row

   

   Work one single crochet into each stitch along the row, each time under both strands of the next stitch you have not yet worked into. The last one goes into the last V of the row below, at the far edge: the stitch that was made first in that row. One loop is on the hook.

6. Count again

   Count the stitches of the new row. It should have the same number as the first one.

At a glance

Used for

every piece that is worked back and forth in rows

Turning chain

1 chain for single crochet. Taller stitches take more.

First stitch

Into the last stitch of the row before: the stitch the chain stands on

Last stitch

Into the first stitch of the row before, at the far edge

Chain first, or turn first?

Either. Do it the same way throughout a piece.

Which way to turn

Either way, and the same way every time.

Tips

• While you are learning, mark the first stitch of each row with a stitch marker as soon as you have made it. The next row ends in that stitch.

When it goes wrong

I cannot tell which is the first stitch.

It is the last stitch you made before the chain, directly under the chain. The chain itself is not a stitch in single crochet, so nothing is worked into it.

My second row came out one stitch short.

The last stitch of a row is easy to overlook. It goes into the first stitch of the row below, right at the edge.

Left-handed

The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.