In UK terminology this is called the double crochet, in US terminology it’s single crochet. Either way, learn to do this and you will officially be able to say that you know how to crochet. And even better, all crochet stitches are built on from a double crochet so it’s pretty easy to progress from here.
You need to start with some chains. For the purposes of this tutorial, I have made 11 chains but if you’re following a pattern, do the number of chains stated. If you don’t know how to do this here is my tutorial.
You need to start by inserting your hook into the second chain from your hook. This does not include the loop on your hook.
Then you need to wrap your yarn around your hook.
And, using your hook, pull the loop through. This means catching the wrapped yarn with the hook and taking the hook back out of your work bringing the wrapped yarn with it. You should have 2 loops on your hook.
Now, wrap the yarn around your hook and pull the loop through the other 2 loops on the hook.
You’ve completed your first double crochet! Now you want to repeat the same steps but in the next chain. So, insert your hook, yarn around the hook, pull the loop through, wrap the yarn around again, and pull through the other loops.
And then you keep going along every chain in the row. In this example, this means 10 double crochets.
When you get to the end you need to crochet one chain (this is called a turning chain) and then turn your work. This literally means flip the whole thing over to start crocheting in the other direction.
Now you need to crochet into the stitches you just crocheted. This is important and something I got wrong when I first began crocheting: you need to insert your hook under BOTH loops. This may be gibberish to you so let me explain. If you look at your work from the top – from a birdseye view – you’ll notice that the stitches look like small Vs.
When you insert your hook to begin your stitch, the hook needs to go under the whole V. Not just the front loop, not just the back loop, but the whole V. Hopefully you can see what I mean below.
Some patterns may call for you to crochet into the back loops only or the front loops only, but unless the pattern specifically tells you this, you should go into both loops. I hope I don’t sound condescending but it’s something I did for a long time and couldn’t work out why my crochet didn’t look right.
Anyway you want to crochet one double crochet into each of the stitches from the row below (10 in my example) then chain one and turn your work. And you want to keep doing this until you’ve completed your desired number of rows. Here’s a picture of 5 rows of double crochet.
If I were to write down in a pattern how to crochet a double crochet this is what I’d write: insert hook, yrh (yarn round hook), pull up a loop, yrh, pull through 2 loops.
Double crochet is the stitch used to make amigurumi toys which is great fun and normally a good quick project for relative beginners, although to do that you need to work in the round. I will write and entire post about working in the round vs working in rows. Bet you’re looking forward to that 😅
Hope this is helpful and if not or if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to answer the best I can.
Love,
Hannah x
Looped On Life 