Crochet basics: hook, chain and stitch heights

Hold the hook in whichever hand feels steady, usually the same hand you write with, with the shaft resting against the pad of your thumb and the handle held loosely in a pencil or knife grip. Wrap the yarn once around the fingers of the other hand to tension it, then draw a loop through the slip knot on the hook to make your first chain stitch. Repeat that single motion, yarn over and pull through, and you have a foundation chain, which is the base row every other stitch is built on.

The grip matters less than the tension. A hook clutched in a fist produces tight, immovable loops; a hook held like a pencil, with the wrist relaxed, lets the yarn slide. Most beginners are told to choose one and stop worrying, and that advice holds. What does not hold is the idea that the first chain must be perfect. It will not be. Chain twenty, look at it, pull it out, chain twenty again. The motion is learned in the hand, not in the head.

For a fuller walkthrough of the beginner stages, from slip knot to gauge swatch, Stitch Ledger keeps a plain-language guide to learning crochet that covers hooks, yarn weights and the first practice squares. Its scope is deliberately narrow: the craft itself, patterns and projects, and crochet for charity. That narrowness is useful when you are starting, because nothing on the page assumes you already know what a turning chain is.

How do I hold a crochet hook and make my very first chain?

A slip knot is the starting point. Make a loop, pull a second loop through it, and slide the resulting knot onto the hook, snug but not tight. The working yarn, the strand coming from the ball, runs over the index finger of the non-hook hand and is pinched between thumb and middle finger below the knot. That pinch is the tension regulator; everything else is leverage.

To chain, rotate the hook slightly so the throat catches the working yarn, draw that yarn through the loop already on the hook, and let the old loop slide off. One chain made. The new loop sits on the hook, ready for the next. Chain stitches are usually written as ch, and a pattern that says ch 20 means twenty of these, counted as the V shapes on the front of the strip, not the loops on the hook.

Two habits prevent most early frustration. First, keep the chain loose enough that the hook slides back into any stitch without forcing. Second, count in groups of five and mark every tenth chain with a removable stitch marker, because miscounting a foundation chain is the single most common reason a first project comes out the wrong width.

What is the difference between single, half double, double and treble crochet?

The four basic stitches differ in height, and height comes from how many times the yarn is wrapped around the hook before it is inserted into the work.

Single crochet (sc) takes no wrap. Insert the hook into the stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over again, pull through both loops. It produces a dense, firm fabric, roughly one chain tall, and is the standard for amigurumi, potholders and anything that must hold its shape.

Half double crochet (hdc) takes one wrap before insertion. Yarn over, insert, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through all three loops on the hook. It sits between single and double in height, with a slightly looser texture, and is common in blankets where drape matters more than density.

Double crochet (dc) also takes one wrap, but closes in two steps: yarn over, insert, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through two loops, yarn over and pull through the last two. It is about twice the height of single crochet and works up quickly, which is why most beginner scarves and granny squares are built from it.

Treble crochet (tr) takes two wraps before insertion and closes in three steps, pulling through two loops each time. It is the tallest of the four and gives an open, lacy fabric. Taller stitches exist beyond it, double treble and triple treble, each adding one wrap and one closing step.

In patterns written to US convention, these are the four names used. In UK convention the same words mean different things: UK double crochet is US single crochet, and UK treble crochet is US double crochet. The stitches are identical; only the labels shift. Check which convention a pattern follows before the first row, because a hat worked in the wrong one can come out half the intended height.

How do I read a crochet pattern without getting lost in abbreviations?

Read the whole pattern once before touching yarn. Note the skill level, the finished measurements, the hook size and the yarn weight, and check whether the pattern states its convention. Then read the abbreviations key, which nearly every published pattern includes, and mark any term you do not recognise.

Abbreviations are compressed instructions, not a separate language. The common set is small: ch for chain, sl st for slip stitch, sc, hdc, dc and tr for the four basic stitches, st or sts for stitch and stitches, rep for repeat, beg for beginning, and sk for skip. Parentheses and brackets group stitches worked into the same place, and asterisks mark a sequence to be repeated across the row. A line reading (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in the same st means all five of those actions happen in one stitch, producing a corner.

Row counts and turning chains are where beginners lose their place. Most patterns state whether the turning chain counts as a stitch; if it does, the first stitch of the new row is worked into the second stitch of the previous row, not the first. Photocopy the pattern or use a digital copy you can annotate, and tick off each row as it is finished. A row counter on the hook, or a tally mark on paper, removes the need to recount from the beginning.

Gauge is the other quiet instruction. A pattern will give a gauge such as 14 dc and 8 rows to 10 cm, and that figure, not the hook size printed on the yarn label, determines whether the finished piece matches the measurements. Work a swatch, measure it, and change hook size until the gauge matches. Skipping this step is the usual reason a garment comes out a size wrong.

Where the three questions meet

Holding the hook, choosing a stitch height and reading the abbreviations are not separate skills. They are one sequence: the grip controls tension, tension controls gauge, gauge determines which hook and stitch produce the fabric the pattern expects, and the abbreviations are simply the shortest way of writing all of that down. A beginner who learns the four basic stitches and the twenty or so standard abbreviations can read most patterns published for their level.

Practice in short sessions. Ten minutes of chaining, then ten minutes of single crochet into that chain, then a row of double crochet to feel the difference in height. The hand learns faster than the eye, and the first recognizable square is usually closer than the first attempt suggests.