Working in rows · Beginner
Straight edges
Crochet edges stay straight when every row has the same number of stitches. Count each row, and watch two stitches above all: the first and the last. Where they go depends on whether the turning chain counts as a stitch.
How to work it
If the chain counts
The chain is the first stitch of the row, as the chain 3 usually is in double crochet (UK treble). Skip the stitch it stands on and work into the next one. At the end of the row, the turning chain of the row below takes the last stitch: work it into the top chain.
Look again at the last stitch
The last stitch of a row is easily left out. When the turning chain counts, that stitch belongs on the turning chain of the row below, at the very edge. Stop before it, and the row is a stitch short and the edge steps in.
At a glance
- Used for
- scarves, blankets and any piece worked back and forth in rows; finding out why a piece is getting wider or narrower
- Does the turning chain count?
- In single crochet (UK double crochet) the turning chain never counts as a stitch. In double crochet (UK treble) and treble crochet (UK double treble) it counts unless the pattern says otherwise. In half double crochet (UK half treble) patterns differ, so go by the pattern, and where the pattern is silent choose one way and keep to it.
- A piece that grows
- A stitch was added: a stitch worked into the place the turning chain stands on when the chain counts, a stitch worked into a turning chain that does not count, or two stitches in one place.
- A piece that shrinks
- A stitch was lost: the last stitch missed, the first stitch skipped when the chain does not count, or a stitch skipped along the row.
- Usual turning chains
- 1 chain for single crochet, 2 for half double crochet, 3 for double crochet.
A row of crochet has no spare stitches. Every stitch of the row below gets exactly one stitch, and the turning chain either stands in for the first of them or stands beside it. Both ways give straight edges. Mixing them up, even once, adds or loses a stitch, and the edge moves.
Rows that keep their count can still look uneven if some stitches are much tighter or looser than others. That comes from how tightly each stitch is pulled, and it evens out with practice. Blocking the finished piece straightens what is left.
Turn the work the same way at the end of every row, and make the turning chain at the same moment each time, either always before the turn or always after it.
Tips
- Put a stitch marker in the first and in the last stitch of a row. The markers show where the next row starts and where it stops.
When it goes wrong
- My piece is getting wider.
- Count the row. If there is one stitch too many, look at the two ends first: a stitch in the place the turning chain stands on, when the chain counts, or a stitch in the turning chain, when it does not. Pull back to the row where the count changed.
- My piece is getting narrower.
- Count the row. A lost stitch is most often at the start or the end of the row. Find the top of the turning chain, or the last stitch of the row below, and make sure a stitch stands on it.
- There is a gap at the start of every row.
- A turning chain that counts as a stitch can leave a small gap beside it. Some patterns use one chain fewer for that reason. Go by the pattern, and keep to one way for the whole piece.
- My piece slants to one side.
- A slant starts at the ends of the rows, like a wobble: a turning chain left out, so that the first stitch sits too low, or a first or last stitch in the wrong place on row after row. Count the row, check both ends against the steps above, and make the same turning chain at the start of every row.
- The edges or corners of my piece curl.
- A little curl in the first rows is common and often lessens as the piece grows. Stitches that are too tight make it worse, a tight starting chain most of all: make the chain more loosely, or with a larger hook. Blocking the finished piece flattens what is left.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Questions
- Why are my crochet edges not straight?
- Most often the stitch count is changing. A stitch is being added or lost at the start or the end of a row, where the turning chain is.
- Where does the last stitch of a row go?
- Into the top of the turning chain of the row below when that chain counts as a stitch. Into the last stitch of the row below when it does not.
- Do I work into the turning chain in single crochet?
- No. In single crochet the chain 1 does not count, so the first stitch goes into the stitch it stands on and nothing is worked into the chain.