Knitty Bitz

The foundation chain (or base chain)
Almost all crochet starts with a foundation (or base) chain. This is the equivalent of ‘casting on' in knitting. The base chain is a series of chain stitches, which normally begin with a loop secured by a slipknot.

Making a slip knot
Follow instructions given for ‘Making a Slip Knot'.

Chain stitch (ch)
1. Wrap the yarn over the hook in an anticlockwise direction (or hold the yarn still and manoeuvre the hook) (Fig.83).

2. Draw the yarn through to form a new loop without tightening up the previous one (Fig.84).

Note: Unless otherwise specified, always wrap the yarn this way round. To make a length of base chain, make as many chains as required. Keep shifting your left hand position up close to the hook every couple of stitches or so; this is easy, if you use a right hand finger tip to hold down the loop on the hook, while you do so. To count chains correctly as you make them, do not count the initial slip loop as a chain. To count them afterwards, first make sure that they are not twisted and that you are looking at the ‘front' (see Figs 85 and 86), then count back, but ignore the loop still on the hook.

Slip stitch (sl st)
1. Insert the hook into 2nd chain from hook, wrap the yarn over the hook, draw the yarn through the chain and the loop on the hook in one movement - 1 sl st made (Fig.87).

2. Repeat this last step (Fig.88).

Double crochet (dc)
1. Insert the hook into 2nd chain from hook, wrap the yarn over the hook and draw the yarn through the chain only (Fig.89).

2. Wrap the yarn again and draw the yarn through both loops on hook (Fig.90) - 1 dc made (Fig.91).

Half treble (htr)
1. Wrap the yarn over the hook and insert the hook into 3rd chain from the hook (Fig.92).

2. Wrap the yarn over the hook, draw through the chain only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.93).

3. Draw through all 3 loops on hook - 1 htr made (Fig.94).

Treble (tr)
1. Wrap the yarn over hook and insert hook into 4th chain from hook (Fig.95).

2. Wrap the yarn over the hook, draw through the chain only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.96).

3. Draw through the first 2 loops only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.97).

4. Draw through the last 2 loops on the hook - 1 tr made (Fig.98).

Double treble (dtr)
1. Wrap the yarn over the hook twice and insert hook into 5th chain from hook (Fig.99).

2. Wrap the yarn over the hook, draw through the chain only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.100).

3. Draw through the first 2 loops only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.101).

4. Draw through the next 2 loops only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.102).

5. Draw through the last 2 loops on hook - 1 dtr made (Fig.103).

Triple treble (ttr)
1. Wrap the yarn over hook 3 times and insert the hook into 6th chain from hook (Fig.104).

2. Wrap the yarn over the hook, draw through the chain only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.105).

3. Draw through the first 2 loops only and wrap the yarn again (Fig.106), then repeat this last step twice more (Fig.107).

4. Draw through the last 2 loops on hook - 1 ttr made (Fig.108).

Longer Basic Stitches
Longer basic stitches - usually called Quadruple Treble (quad tr), Quintuple Treble (quin tr), Sextuple Treble (sext tr), etc - are made by wrapping the yarn 4, 5, 6, etc, times over the hook at the beginning and by wrapping and drawing through 2 loops more times to complete the stitch.

"Our thanks to Thomas B Ramsden & Co (Bfd) Ltd for allowing us to use this information."