Teach Yourself Visually Knitting

You don’t have be a crochet expert
to finish your knitting with simple
crochet edgings or chains. A crochet
edge can not only neaten and firm
up an unstable or curling edge, but
it also adds interest and color to a
plain-looking piece of knitting.
To crochet, you need yarn and a
crochet hook that is the correct size
for the yarn you’re using.

Chain stitch in crochet is the equivalent of casting on in knitting: It creates the
foundation row of stitches from which to work. When you’re working crochet
directly onto your knitting, you don’t necessarily need this foundation row.
However, knowing how to work a chain will enable you not only to make decora-
tive cords but also to incorporate button loops and picot trim into your crochet
edgings.

Crochet instructions generally indicate working chain stitch by using the abbre-
viation chfollowed by the number of chain stitches to make. For example, instruc-
tions to chain 3 read ch3.

1 Make a slipknot, leaving a 6-inchtail. Insert a crochet hook of an appropriate
size for the yarn into the slipknot.

2 Wrap the working yarn around the crochet hook from back to front
(creating a yarn over loop) so that the hook catches the yarn.

How to Crochet a Chain

Crochet Edgings.

3 Holding the working yarn in your left hand and the hook in your right, pull
the yarn over loop on the hook through the slipknot.
You have made 1 loop in a chain.

4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the chain is the desired length. Cut the yarn,
leaving a 6-inchtail, and pull it snugly through the last loop to finish
the chain.