Crochet Stitches: Chain

Video Transcript:

The chain is the foundation stitch of all crochet projects. Every crochet project that I’ve ever done utilizes this basic stitch.

To perform a chain stitch, it’s as simple as wrapping the yarn around the hook and pulling that yarn through the loop that’s currently on the hook. Wrapping yarn around the hook is called ‘yarn over’ which is abbreviated as ‘yo’ in crochet patterns. (insert text graphic of yo)

So again, the steps for creating a chain stitch are to wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through.

Let’s start at the beginning.  Here’s the slip knot.  Grab the knot, loosen it up a little bit as it can’t be too tight.

So the chain, wrap the yarn around the hook and while grasping tight and pinching this knot and pulling it down, use the hook to pull the yarn through the loop.  Again, yarn over and pull through the loop. Repeat.

That’s 4 chains. 1, 2, 3, 4. Let’s do 6 more to make 10. 

Here’s where stitch markers come in handy. You can mark off certain intervals especially if you have a lot of chains to count. So we know that’s 10 automatically. If you lose track further down we can easily count the groups of 10.

When making your chains you can use your finger that’s holding the working yarn to wrap around the hook. Again, using my finger to yarn over and pull through. Or you can use the hook to catch the yarn and pull it through.  So I’m turning the hook backward to grab the yarn and pull it through.  You need to hold on to your project with a little bit of tension and have a little bit of tension yet slack on the working yarn.  Yarn over, pull through.  Yarn over and pull through.

Now we have twenty stitches.

Ensure your tension is correct. It can’t be too tight or too loose.  Chains that are too tight or too loose can present problems.  Take care not to pull the loop on your hook too tight. See, don’t do this, the loop gets too small and hard to get your hook back through. See that, it’s difficult. So don’t pull too tight. Make sure there’s a little bit of slack on the loop so that you can get your hook back through the loop. Also, prevent the loop on the hook from ‘choking’ up at the throat. It makes your loop entirely too small and you can’t get through there, see that?  The loop on the hook should remain the size of the shaft with a tiny bit of slack. Chaining too tight makes it difficult to re-enter the stitch when working the next row.  Chaining too loose will leave you with a wonky edge.

With chaining and all of crochet comes counting. Make certain that you’re counting the correct number of chains especially if you’re doing complex stitches. An incorrect chain count will lead to an incorrect stitch count (although this can sometimes be fixed).  If you’re chaining lots of stitches, have your stitch markers handy to help you keep track of your count.

There you have your chain stitch with stitch markers.