How to Crochet Chain Stitch Like a Pro (for Beginners)
A well-made chain stitch forms the base for your crochet project. This guide breaks down the technique to crochet chain stitch for beginners, ensuring your crochet journey begins on the right foot
Ever get a few rows into your project and it looks a bit bumpy or has gaps, even when you follow a tutorial perfectly? The secret culprit might be hiding right at the beginning – your chain stitch!
Think of your chain stitch crochet as the foundation of your project, just like the first row of bricks in a house. Uneven chain stitches, like an uneven foundation, can cause your project to look wavy or even have little holes. This can affect how your later stitches, like single crochet or double crochet, lay on top.
But the good news is, a perfect chain stitch makes everything easier down the line! This very tutorial will teach you how to crochet a chain stitch perfectly as a beginner. We’ll walk you through everything step-by-step.
How to Crochrt Chain Stitch Perfectly
List of Supplies
Materials
- Yarn – milk cotton/ 4 ply
Tools
- Crochet hook 3.5mm
- A pair of scissors
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Crochet Abbreviations for Today’s Project
- Chain – CH
- Stitch – St (singular)
- Stitches – Sts (plural)
- Yarn Over – Yo
- Slip Stitch – Sl St
In a crochet diagram, chain stitch is represented with an oval shape or circle – o or 0
Step by Step Instructions
Ready to learn chain stitch? Make sure you have your yarn and hook as listed above. Let’s hop in and learn how to crochet chain stitch!
Creating Slip Knot
Most crochet projects require a slip knot to get started, although there are other techniques (we will cove them very soon). You can start crochet without a slip knot but if you ask any crochet expert, creating a slip knot when starting a crochet project comes naturally.
Creating Slip Knot with Hand
Creating a slip knot is a widely used starting step for crochet projects. We’ll share the 2 popular ways of creating a slip knot for a crochet project.
Step 1: Forming a Loop
To make a slip knot by hand, hold the yarn’s open end from the bundle. Leaving 2 inches of the open end, wrap the yarn around your index finger (of your non-dominant hand), and form a cross while wrapping. Hold the overlapped strands firmly and carefully pull the yarn loop from the finger.
Step 2: Pulling through the Loop
Insert the index finger of the dominant hand through the loop. Hold the long/ closed end of the yarn and pull it through the loop.
Step 3: Adjusting the Size
Holding the loop firmly, pull the closed end of the yarn slowly to adjust the size of the loop. And our slip knot by hand is ready.
Creating Slip Knot with Hook
Step 1: Forming a Loop
Wrap the yarn around the index finger of the non-dominant hand like we did previously. Instead of pulling out the loop, we will keep the yarn wrapped around the finger. Take the crochet hook and insert it through the loop (between the bottom strand to the front and the index finger).
Step 2: Pulling through the Loop
You can take the wrapped yarn off the finger and yarn over the hook once. Pull the yarn through the loop. Pull the open end of the yarn and the hook in opposite directions to tighten the knot.
Step 3: Adjusting the Size
Adjusting the loop size is the same as the previous one (slip knot by hand).
How to Manage the Yarn while Crocheting
Hold the yarn tail (the end not attached to the yarn ball) in your non-dominant hand. For most people, this will be your left hand if you’re right-handed and vice versa. The reason for using your non-dominant hand is that your other hand will be busy managing the hook for crocheting. Leave a tail of about 4 inches at the open end of the yarn when starting a project.
Method 1: Wrapping around a finger
This is the most popular method for managing yarn while crocheting. Leave a 4 inches tail at the open end of the yarn and wrap it around the index finger of your non-dominant hand twice.
Keep the wrapping nice and loose. Wrapping more than twice will make it difficult to manage yarn and so will wrapping tightly.
Method 2: Holding between 2 fingers
This method isn’t as popular as the first one but is also used by many (and I’m one of them!). Leaving 4 inches of yarn tail at the open end, place the yarn between the index finger and middle finger. Hold the yarn firmly between the 2 fingers by bringing them adjacent.
How to Crochet Chain Stitch
Step 1: Getting Started
Hold the yarn tail (closed end, attached to the bundle) using any of the methods shown above and hold the crochet hook with your dominant hand. Insert the hook through the slip knot loop.
Step 2: Yarn Over and Pull Through
Yarn over the hook once and then pull the hook through the loop. And we have our first chain stitch.
Step 3: Continue the Process
Hold the firmly and repeat the process. Yarn over and pull through. Keep the stitches nice and loose. But make sure that the stitches aren’t too loose or too tight. Practice the crochet chain stitch several times. It’s okay if the stitches aren’t perfect on your first few attempts; you’ll get good at it in no time!
Forming a Chain Stitch Ring/ Loop
Step 4: Starting a Chain Ring
Work several chains, around 8 to 10 chain stitches should do. Hold the first chain firmly and keeping the hook in the current/ last stitch, insert the hook through the first chain stitch.
Step 5: Making the Chain Ring
Yarn over and pull through the first chain and the last chain (current chain on hook). And we have our chain ring. The chain ring is used as a base round for many crochet projects.
Working on Second Round of Chain Stitch
Step 6: Second Round of Chain Stitch
To work on the second round/ row of chain stitch you’ll need to skip the chain next to the current chain (on the hook). Then, insert the hook through the 2nd chain from the hook.
Step 7: Second Round of Chain Stitch
Yarn over and pull through the 2nd chain as well as the current chain on hook. Repeat the process (insert hook through next CH, Yo, pull through 2 loops) to complete the row. This is known as a slip stitch.
Step 8: Ending a Chain Stitch in Crochet
Done with the chain stitch and want to end it securely? Pull out the last chain stitch by a few inches. Cut the yarn from the bundle keeping the extra inches attached to the stitches. Pull out the loose end of the yarn and done!
Beginner Tips: Common Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
Here are some common mistakes you might encounter while crocheting chain stitches and some tips to avoid them.
Tension Troubles
Tension is one of the most common mistakes at the beginner level. As a beginner, you are likely to struggle with tensions. Tension means tightness or looseness of your crochet stitches. If you practice more and more, your stitches will not be too tight or loose. Practice until you find a comfortable and consistent grip.
Tight tension is the main cause of twisting. If your stitches are not too tight, you can avoid twisting.
Selecting Yarn and Hook
Also, you have to make sure that you are holding your hook in the right way. Another important tip is to use the right hook for yarn type. For example:
- Yarn weight 4 ply + Hook size 2.5 mm – 3.5 mm
- Yarn weight 2 ply + Hook size 2.25 mm – 3 mm
- Yarn weight 5 ply + Hook size 3.5 mm – 4.5 mm
Miscounting
Start your count with the first chain stitch you make and end with the chain before the hook. But don’t count the slip knot, cause the slip knot is the foundation stitch. Another way to avoid counting problems is to double-check.
And if you want to identify stitches and avoid mistakes, you can use a stitch marker.
And that’s pretty much all you need to know to learn chain stitch and start your crochet learning journey. You can practice crochet stitches and use the chain stitches for tying or wrapping. If you want to try out some crochet projects, you can check out some of our tutorials,
We hope that you enjoyed the tutorial! Keep in touch for more fun craft projects, beginner guides, and downloadable patterns/ DIY projects!
