For this week’s tutorial, I’d like to riff on my last tutorial, How to Crochet Over Single Crochets in Rows by taking the same idea and working it in a circle. For the purpose of practicing this skill, we’ll make a small swatch in this tutorial. Yarn and hook size don’t matter for this practice swatch.

You may mouse over images for left-handed views.

Round 1: Beginning with a magic ring, ch 1, 6 sc into ring, tighten loop, sl st in first sc: 6 sc

Round 2: ch 1, 2 sc in each sc around, sl st in first sc: 12 sc

Round 3: ch 1, working over the stitches of the last round, work 3 sc into each space below around: 18 sc

The photo below shows this in progress. The “i” symbol indicates round one, “ii” indicates round 2, and “iii” indicates round 3. The arrow is pointing to the space where the next stitches will be worked.

Note: In round 3, you are always working 3 sc over each set of 2 sc.
read more »

Have you ever noticed that while double crocheting in rows, you need to “chain 3” before starting the next row? Have you ever wondered what this is called and why you need to do this?

Well, the chains at the end of the rows are called “turning chains,” abbreviated tch. They exist because they allow your crochet room to grow evenly. Later we are going to see what it looks like and feels like if you try to work back and forth without turning chains. As you can imagine, it gets pretty cramped and a little wonky!

Photo below shows a double crochet swatch with no turning chains!

read more »