How to Crochet Double Crochet Stitches: Beginner Instructions

Double crochet stitches are one of the easiest crochet stitches and often one of the first stitches you will learn. Double crochet stitches create pretty striped patterns to your work. These stitches are versatile enough to be used to crochet anything from sweaters to wash clothes. The beginnner will find these instructions easy to follow, so you can begin crocheting immediately!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. We are going to make a sample swatch to get used to the double crochet stitch. Begin by chaining 15 stitches loosely. If you do not know how to make chain stitches, refer to the resource section below.

2. After you have your 15 chain stitches, you will begin working back across the chain. Right handed crocheters do this by spreading the chain out to your left and double crocheting back across each of the chain stitches. You are working from the right side of the chain to the left side. If you are left handed, you may want to reverse this.

3. The Double Crochet - To work a double crochet wrap the yarn around the crochet hook. This is called a "yarn over." Insert the hook into the top loop of the forth chain stitch. You are skipping the first three chain stitches. When you are finding the forth chain stitch, do not count the stitch your crochet hook is in. Bring the yarn over the crochet hook again and pull the yarn up through the chain stitch. This is called a "yarn over" but is actually simply hooking the yarn to pull a loop and then pushing the loop onto the crochet hook after it is pulled up through the chain stitch. You should now have 3 loops on the crochet hook. Yarn over again (hook the yarn) and draw this yarn through the first two of the three loops. You should now have two loops on the crochet hook. Yarn over one last time (hook the yarn) and pull this yarn through the remaining two loops. This is your first double crochet.

4. Continue working double crochets until you reach end of the chain. The skipping of the first three stitches is done only on the first double crochet of your work. You will not skip stitches on any other double crochets in this row, unless otherwise instructed in your pattern. This is often confusing for beginners.

5. Turning the work - At the end of each row of double crochets, chain 3 and then turn the work. Continue double crocheting rows until you are comfortable with the double crochet stitch. For more information on turning the work, consult the resource section below.

Tips & Warnings

• I prefer a variation of turning the work during a double crochet stitch in which you chain only 2 and begin in the 1st stitch. Feel free to experiment with your swatch until you develop your own style!

Resources

• How to Crochet a Chain Stitch
• How to Turn a Crochet Chain

[heatherschulte]

on 2/12/2009 Good how to for someone just learning to crochet!