How to Decrease and Increase in Afghan Stitch

Afghan crochet isn't the same thing as crocheting afghans, although you can certainly crochet afghans using Afghan crochet. Also called Tunisian crochet, it uses a long hook to pick up all the loops in a row, then you yarn over and take the loops off one by one.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Afghan crochet hook
• Yarn

1. Understand that while in regular crochet, each finished stitch has a loop (the horizontal part) and a post (the vertical part), in Afghan crochet, the vertical part is called the bar. Instead of inserting your hook into a loop, you only work in the bars.

2. Remember that to work each row of stitches, you yarn over and pull up a loop through each bar. At the end of the row, yarn over and pull through the first loop on the hook. Thereafter, yarn over and pull through 2 loops at a time until you have only one loop on the hook. This is like having a chain 1 loop on your hook to begin the next row with.

3. Increase by yarning over and inserting your hook between 2 bars, and then continuing as before for pulling up loops onto your hook. You can increase at the beginning or end of the row. Yarn over and complete the row as before. Work backwards to your starting point.

4. Decrease by yarning over and inserting your hook into 2 bars before pulling up a loop. Again, you can decrease at the beginning or end of the row. Yarn over and complete the row as before. Work backwards to your starting point.

Tips & Warnings

• When you are pulling up loops, increasing and decreasing is only done on the first half of the row. The second half of the row is always worked by yarning over and taking the loops off the hook.

Resources

• For a tutorial on Tunisian crochet, visit the Crochet Cabana.