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These are two of the simplest yet most important pieces of crochet knowledge you will need. You will begin a majority of your projects with a slip knot and you are guaranteed to need to chain at some point. 

Even though these are easy, the slip knot is sort of hard for me to explain in words. I’m sure someone out there has done a better job but here’s my attempt. 

Some quick explanations of terms and abbreviations that you might come across. They are basically self explanatory but for the purposes of the tutorial more information is always better.

Yarn Over- Abbreviated YO, Wrap the yarn over the hook. There, easy. I’ve noticed that people do this a little differently. I even find myself yarning over or hooking the yarn from different directions based on the stitch I’m using. You are essentially adding one more loop over the hook.

Pull Through- Not sure that I’ve ever seen this abbreviated but I’m sure it has been. This step is when you will take the hook and pull the last yarn over through either the stitch or the other loops on the hook. The stitch explanation should tell you which.

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Slip Knot

Hold the yarn near the end, make a loop around 2 fingers, insert your thumb into the loop and pull it back (you should have 2 fingers and your thumb through the loop-fingers pointing forward, thumb pointing back- and the end of the yarn between your thumb and first finger and behind the yarn loop). Pull the end of the yarn down between your 2 fingers and hold. Pull the yarn loop over your fingers and the yarn end. Pull end to tighten. Your loop will then be able to adjust. If you are ready to start crocheting, insert your hook into the loop and tighten. (Video is at the end!)

Chain

Once you have a slip knot loop over your hook, you are ready to begin your chain! You’ll also use a chain stitch at the beginning of rows (sometimes counting as a first stitch, sometimes just to build up) and throughout works as part of spacing and special stitches. Each pattern should explain when and why to chain.

Now that you have your hook through a slip stitch loop you will yarn over (hook the yarn) and pull through. Each pull through will count as one chain. That’s it. Patterns will tell you how many to make for the project. Be careful not to pull too tightly after making each chain as you will have to go back through these stitches to start your next row. Trust me, I learned that the hard way. It’s one of the reasons I prefer to use Foundation stitches so that I don’t have to worry about the tightness of my chain and if it measures the right length. Foundation tutorials are coming soon! 🙂

Watch the video below to see how it’s done! 

Enjoy!

(VIDEO)