Lesson One: Crochet Foundations

In this lesson, we’re going to talk about the foundations you need to know before starting crochet:

Holding the yarn and hook
Foundations
1. Chain
2. Magic Ring

For clarity, I refer to the two ends of the yarn as the working end (WE), the end that is attached to your work, and the skein end (SE), the end that is attached to your skein of yarn, or the ball of yarn.

Let’s get started!

Holding the yarn and hook

When starting crochet, you first need to learn how to hold the yarn and the hook correctly.

There are different styles of holding the yarn. I’m only going to teach you one, the one I use. If you find you don’t like it or there’s a style you already use, no problem! The point is before you can start crocheting you have to make sure you are holding the yarn in a way to keep tension on it. Without tension, you will have a difficult time keeping your stitches even and tight.

Holding the hook

Before I talk about the yarn, I want to briefly explain the way I hold my hook.

Pinch the hook between the index finger and thumb of your right hand. Most hooks come with an indent on them. This is a good place to pinch. Make sure the hooked part is facing down.

You can use your middle finger to help keep control of the hook by placing it on top of the hook.

Holding the yarn

As I already said, there are different ways to hold the yarn. I use this one because it’s comfortable and easy. It’s never let me down! Here’s what I do:

Lay the yarn between the pinky and ring fingers of your left hand. The working end (WE) should be on the palm side of your hand.

Pull WE down around your pinky and up behind the pinky, ring, middle, and index fingers. Then bring it in front of your palm between the index finger and thumb.

Hold onto your work with your thumb and middle finger while keeping your index finger out. This holds the yarn out for you to grab easily while you crochet.

You can control the tension of the yarn with your pinky and ring fingers. The tighter you hold your pinky and ring fingers together, the tighter the yarn will be. The looser you hold them, the looser the yarn will be.

All of it should be pretty tight. If it’s too loose, crocheting will be much more difficult and awkward. A good way to judge if your hold is tight enough is to see how far your index finger is from your work. If it’s only an inch or two away, you should be good. Much farther than that and you’ll probably run into problems.

If your hold is too loose, just start again. It might help you if in Step 1 you keep WE close to the palm of your hand.

You most likely will find this all a little awkward at first. That’s normal. But I promise that the more you use it, it will become second nature! You won’t even think about it.

Foundations

Before starting crochet, you’ll need a foundation into which you start doing all your single, half double, and double crochets or whatever other kinds of crocheting you want to do!

There are two main ways to create this foundation, and it all depends on what kind of crocheting you’ll be doing: rows or rounds.

If you are crocheting in rows, you’ll need to start with a chain. You crochet in rows when you’re creating something flat. Think scarves, blankets, etc.

If you are crocheting in rounds, you will most likely want a magic ring. You’ll often see it referred to as “crocheting in the round”. This creates, you guessed it, round items. Things like stuffed animals.

There are other foundations used in crochet. There are different kinds of chains that occasionally a pattern might call for. And not all crocheting in the round starts with a magic ring. But if you know how to create a basic chain and magic ring, you’ll be able to follow most patterns out there.

Chain

Before you can start a chain, you must begin with a slip knot.
1. Pinch the yarn between your left-hand thumb and index finger with WE facing down.
2. Use SE to wrap the yarn around the index finger. Cross SE over WE at the top.
3. Pinch yarn where SE and WE meet and pull off your finger forming a loop. Pinch loop together with your left hand, and let SE hang behind it.
4. Now grab your crochet hook. Insert hook into the loop, use it to grab SE, and pull it through the loop.
5. With the yarn around the hook and pulled through the loop, grab WE and SE with your left hand. Pull them down to tighten the loop into a knot.
6. Pull WE and SE away from each other to tighten the yarn around the hook.

With the slip knot around your hook, you’re ready to begin chaining. Get your hold on the yarn as outlined in the previous section or however you’re most comfortable.
To start the chain, yarn over.
1. A yarn over is done by placing the hook across the front of the yarn that is being held up by the index finger of your left hand.
2. Next, wrap the yarn around the hook. You have now created an extra loop around the hook.

Complete the chain by pulling the extra loop you created with the yarnover through the loop that was already on the hook.

Voila! You just created your first chain! Now repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have as many chains as you need. This creates a beginning chain that you can start working rows into, but often patterns call for chains in the middle of your work. To do this, simply repeat steps 3 and 4.

Magic ring

When I started crocheting, this was the first thing I learned. I’m not going to lie, I almost quit right then and there! I had such a hard time figuring out how to make it and work into it correctly. So if you find this difficult, don’t be discouraged! It is, but you can do it just like I did!

I’ve seen other methods of creating a magic ring, but this is the method I learned and used. If you’re having a hard time figuring this method out, you might want to try another.

With WE hanging down in front of the fingers, wrap the yarn around the index, middle, and ring fingers of your left hand. Cross SE over WE at the top.

Pinch the yarn where the yarn crosses and pull off your fingers. You now have a loop. Let SE fall behind the loop.

Insert hook into the loop, grab SE, and pull through.

You should still be pinching the top of the loop where the yarn crosses. Add SE to this to create a tighter loop around the hook.

While making sure the loop remains pinched that the top, get your left hand in the right yarn-holding position.

Now, using your hook, yarn over and pull it through the loop around the crochet hook. This creates a knot at the top of the loop which will hold it all together. You no longer need to pinch the top.

Pull SE to tighten the loop around your hook.

You now have a magic ring! You can make the ring bigger by pulling on the yarn in the loop, or smaller by pulling on the very end of the WE.

Conclusion

You should now know the foundations necessary when starting crochet! Good job! If you’re feeling comfortable with this information, move on to Lesson Two: Basic Crochet Stitches where I go over all the most basic crochet stitches and how to work into the chain and the magic ring.

If you’re struggling with any of this, keep practicing! I promise it gets easier! If any of this was unclear or if you have any questions, feel free to comment below or shoot me an email! It would be my absolute pleasure to help you learn how to crochet.