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How to make the Double Crochet Stitch

When you can make the single crochet stitch (sc) with your eyes closed (you can find the tutorial here), you can move on the the double crochet stitch.

Step 1: Yarn Over

You will start off with your chain. Make your chain as long as you need it to be and add two extra chains. These extra chains will act as your first double crochet. Yarn over.

Yarn Over

Step 2: Go through the Loop

Since this is your base (the chain is called the base), you will make your first double crochet using the two extra chains you have made. This means you will go through the 3rd stitch from your hook. You only need to do this on your chain; once you reach your first row, you can go into the first stitch.

Go through the third stitch from your chain to make your first double crochet.

Step 3: Pull Through

Yarn over and pull through. You will have three loops on your hook now.

Yarn over and pull through. You will now have three loops on your hook.

Step 4: Yarn over and Pull Through Two

Yarn over and pull through two of the loops. This will leave only two more loops on your hook.

Yarn over and pull through two of the loops.

Step 5: Final Step

I bet you can guess what comes next. Yarn over and pull through the last two loops. Now, you will be left with that solitary loop on your hook. This single, lonely loop tells you that you have done your job right, congratulations!

The lonesome loop after you successfully completed your first double crochet stitch.

Once you have completed a full row, it should look something like this.

A completed row of the double crochet stitch.

This stitch together with the single crochet stitch opens you up to even more projects. Remember this stitch alone can create really nice looking projects. Just continue making more rows. To make another row, you will simply turn your work and chain two. Continue as normal. Practice and practice some more until you can move on to the next stitch!

When the Slump Hits

I know I am completely guilty for neglecting to blog in a long time. I am working on a few things, but they are all taking a long time to complete and even longer now that I am in some type of slump. So I rather took this slump as inspiration for a blog post.

Artist, Janet Botes once sent me this link (click here) when we were discussing similar issues. This post has always been in the back of my mind, reminding me that it is okay to sometimes be "not be okay". Every once in a while, we all hit a slump and when that happens, allow it to work itself out.

Acceptance

Before anything can happen, you need to accept that something isn't quite right at the moment. You might find yourself working perfectly fine, but the quality is a little off. Others might find themselves unable to do any work at all. The effect of your slump will show its head in one way or another and once you notice it, you have one thing to do: accept it is there. After acceptance, you have a list of other things to do!

Action

You have accepted your fate, but surely it won't end there. How did this happen? How do I solve it? These two questions are both important.

The Why

How did this happen? For some people this question won't really help, as it just happened, but for others there was some type of trigger. It could have been from lack of sleep, a tragic event, an ongoing problem that seeps your energy, bad diet, unhappy situations or an unhealthy relationship.

The short way of putting this question is to ask yourself why. It is such a simple question, but it allows you to really think about the reason behind it, rather than just forcing yourself to do something when you don't feel up for it.

It is a good idea to take a walk, meditate or do some sort of quiet, calm activity by yourself. If you have a pet or a good listener by your side, that is fine too; as long as you get a chance to open up to yourself by being completely honest.

You know best on how to make yourself think. Do whatever it takes to find the reason behind your artistic block, slump or whatever you want to call it. Once you have the why or multiple of them, you can write it on a paper and put it up somewhere for you to recognise.

The How

How do I solve it? You understand what caused your slump, but you also need to take action to cure it. If you are able to change the situation, you should try to, unless of course it will end up in you being unlawful.

If you are unhappy where you live, but you are able to move to a better place, then move. If you really need a vacation, then save up for it (even if it means to make a few changes to get there). If you are in a position to take action, then you should.

For those who are unable to change the situation, things get a little more complicated. I also count people with addictions in this category, such as food addictions. With addictions, there is a lot more going on under the surface, so in that case you need professional help, especially if you have tried getting over it yourself a few times.

You will need to find your own happy place where you can be at peace even in the midst of chaos. If you can't find this happy place, and the situation continues, you will fall deeper into this sinkhole of a slump.

Sadly, I can't tell you how to find your happy place, as each person is different. Some people will find happiness in exercise, others will find it in playing games. It is all about your own personality. Find a healthy hobby that will make you feel good.

Sometimes your slump will get worse because of guilty feelings. You might feel that you could be doing more. If you start feeling guilty, you need to either start working (if you weren't) or find something else to occupy your mind, such as going for a jog. It also helps talking to a good friend who went through something similar, as they might have a few pointers.

These tips together with time, will hopefully help you get through your slump. Just remember that it is okay to relax and not work until you are ready. You need to learn what you need and not what someone else thinks you need (unless they are right and you are going into a worse direction than before).

I hope this helps you work through your slump or artistic block! Feel free to tell us about your own techniques.

Two Single Crochet Stitch Project Ideas

In the previous post (click here to read all about it) I told you that you can make many patterns by using only the single crochet (sc) stitch. I have two recent crochet projects that I made by using the single crochet stitch that I can show you. They're everything but boring, which proves that even the most basic stitch can make amazing crochet patterns.

Socks

What is better than warm socks in winter, especially when you made it yourself?

These socks were made by using purely the single crochet stitch.

These socks were made with a very soft yarn (Caricia Creative, Col 047, Lot 20150501). This is probably not the best yarn to use for socks, but I wanted my husband's feet to drown in warmth, as our floor is ridiculously cold. It succeeded in being cozy even on the coldest of days!

You can easily make socks using one stitch only, but these particular ones do have other stitches, but none you need to worry about just yet.

I started this project from the top and worked my way down. The top is thick (here I didn't use the single crochet stitch, but the puff stitch). Then I have around 5 rows of single crochet stitches before I change a few things to make the heel look like a heel.

To make the heel, I crochet twice into one stitch, twice, at the back (this is called "increase"). I also did this with a double crochet stitch to give some length differences, forming the heel nicely. Follow up this row with a normal sc row. Increase again, Sc the next row normally. It would be a good idea to slowly start decreasing the size until the sock is the right length and size to fit snug. Decrease by skipping a stitch wherever you feel it is necessary.

I closed up the front with a slip stitch and then slip stitched all around to create the impression of a sole.

Placemats

You have guests coming over and you want to impress them? Why not make your own placemats? This will not just look great and be exactly the colour you need, but it will also be an interesting conversation starter.

Placemats are always needed and welcome. Sometimes it's hard to find exactly what you want, but you can always crochet your own with a single crochet stitch.

I started with a chain of 10 and sc a full row. Sc three times around to the other side of the chain. This way your crochet an oval form. Now you will work in the back loops only. Continually crochet around, while crocheting twice into the corners (I usually go by look - see where it curves off too much for the stitch to handle and add another stitch to help it round it off). You will only need to slip stitch at the very end. It looks like it must have taken a long time to make, but it will be your secret of how quick and easy it actually was!

Do you have patterns you have tried to make with single crochet stitches?

How to Crochet: Making a Single Crochet Stitch

So, you want to know how to crochet by using one of the basic stitches. When you know how to make your chain (click here for the tutorial), you're ready for the next step in your journey - learning the basic stitches. The basic crochet stitches are the single crochet (sc), the half double crochet (hdc), the double crochet (dc) and the triple crochet (trc) or also called treble crochet.

Start with your Chain

The single crochet stitch is made by using your chain. Once you have made your chain as long as you need it, make one extra chain. This extra chain will be your first single crochet. You will skip the first chain from the hook, which will use that extra chain you just made. Thus, you will push your hook through the second chain.

To make your single crochet stitch, you need to skip the chain closest to your hook, and enter into the second chain.

How to make the Single Crochet Stitch in Three Steps

Step 1

Push the hook through the hoop of the second chain and grab the yarn.

To make a single crochet you will push the hook through the loop and grab the yarn by wrapping it around from the back.

Step 2

Pull the yarn through the loop to create two loops on your crochet hook.

Pull the yarn through the loop/

Step 3

Yarn over and pull through again.

Yarn over again and pull through the two loops you have created before.

Your single crochet stitch is complete!

Now that you have successfully made your first single crochet, you can continue through the chain and made more by doing exactly this in every chain loop.

The Completed Single Crochet Stitch

When you are done with your first row, you should have something like this:

Completed single crochet row.

To make a second row, you will chain one and turn your work around. This one chain will act as your first stitch every time you start a new row. You can now make as many rows as you want, creating your very first project in any size you want.

With practice you can make this stitch in your sleep. This might be a basic stitch, but with it you can make many great things. You can easily make socks or a beanie by purely using a single crochet stitch.

You can click here to see some ideas to try out. Feel free to share your single crochet creations with us all!