Beginner's Guide to Crochet - UK (2019-10)

CROCHET WITH COLOUR

W

hether you’re changing colour

or your ball of yarn has run out,

you can use the same simple

technique to join in new yarn.

Some crocheters just knot the old yarn

to the new yarn and carry on crocheting.

Others like to fasten off the old yarn and

then knot a loop of the new yarn in place at

the fabric edge. Both of these can create a

bulky knot that might show on the right side

or be annoying when you’re sewing up.

The yarn-changing method we’ll show

you below is easy and neat. The idea behind

it is that you work the final yarn round hook

action of the last stitch of the old row with

the new yarn. This means you’ll instantly be

ready to work the next row with the new

colour, and it won’t cause you any issues if

you’re sewing any pieces of crochet fabric

together later on.

We’ve told you where to cut the old yarn,

but for the first few times, you might like to

wait until you’re sure you’ve done the

technique correctly before snipping it off!

COLOURFUL ROWS

How to switch to a different yarn for colourful effects

RIGHT-HAND

3

Pull the new yarn loop through the

remaining two loops on the hook to finish

the stitch. Pull the old and new yarn ends to

tighten the loop on the hook.

4

Now you can work the turning chain of the

new row in the new colour (3ch for treble).

Then work the stitches of the new row in the

new yarn colour.

1

Start the final stitch of the row, but stop

before working the final yarn round hook

action. For a treble stitch (above), you’d work

yrh, insert hook, yrh, pull loop through, yrh, pull

through first two loops, then stop.

2

Cut the old yarn, leaving a long tail (about

10cm long). Now loop your new yarn

colour around the hook, leaving a long tail of

yarn (about 10cm long).

If you’re right-handed, follow these steps to create colourful stripes...