crochet 101 :: slip knot

Crochet 101 is a series of crochet tutorials where I will teach you how to complete the basic stitches needed to crochet.


Hi :)

Welcome to our first lesson of Crochet 101!

Before we start with the tutorial, I thought I would mention a couple of things about how to hold your crochet hook and yarn.

 There are 2 main ways of holding the hook for crochet:

 The "like a pencil" way

and

the "like a knife" way.

I prefer to hold my hook 'like a knife', but you do whatever feels most comfortable for you.

This is how I tension/hold my yarn:

I hold the yarn tail with my right hand, and lay the working yarn (the yarn that is connected to the yarn skein) over my pinkie, ring finger, and middle finger of my left hand.

 I gently hold the working yarn with these fingers to tension the yarn as I work my stitches.

 This leaves my pointer finger and thumb free to hold the crochet 'fabric' as it is being worked.

Again, this is all just preference. You do whatever feels natural and comfortable for you.

Okay, moving right along...

Today we will be learning:

This is an important key to crochet because you can not start a project without first making a slip knot.

Now, let's get started!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You will need:

*Yarn

*Hook

If you are not sure what size hook to use, look at your yarn label:

The blue square is showing you where to look on your label for this information.
The purple squares are showing you where you will find the weight of the yarn you are using (labeled 1 in the picture above) and what hook size you will need (labeled 2 in the picture above) to obtain the right gauge (labeled 3 in the picture above).

  **We will get more into detail on what everything in the blue square means at a later time. For practicing these basic stitches, all that is important is what is in the purple squares.**


Step 1:

Lay the yarn in your hand with the tail facing you. Hold in place with your thumb and wrap the working yarn end up and over your pointer finger. (See the purple arrow in the picture above.)

Step 2:

(The blue arrow in the above picture shows what we did in step 1.) Next, fold your pinkie and ring finger, leaving the middle and pointer fingers pointing straight. Continue to wrap the working yarn under your middle finger and up and over your pointer finger, making sure to cross over the yarn tail. (See the purple arrow in the picture above.)

Step 3:

Turn your hand over so as to see the top side of your fingers. (The blue arrow in the picture above shows step 1.) Continue with wrapping the working yarn over your pointer and middle fingers (shown with the purple arrow in the picture above) and hold the yarn with either your ring or pinkie finger while you complete the next step.

Step 4:

Now take your other hand, and bring your pointer finger and thumb under the first yarn wrap.

Using your thumb and pointer finger, grab the second yarn wrap...

...and pull the yarn under and through the first yarn wrap.

Step 5:

Remove your pointer and middle finger from the yarn wraps, and continue to pull on the second yarn wrap.

Be sure to hold on to the yarn tail and keep pulling on the loop...

...until it is tight, but not too tight

Step 6:

Now insert your hook through the loop. Make sure that the yarn tail is to the right, and the working yarn is to the left.

Now pull the working yarn towards you, while pulling your hook away from you. You might have to hold on to the yarn tail to help the knot slide up toward your hook. Make sure your slip knot is snug, but not too tight. You should be able to slide the knot up and down your hook easily.

You have now completed a slip knot.

YAY!!

Below is a video I made to show these steps in action. I have slowed the video down so that every step is seen. I have also added music to the video because I filmed this video with my phone and I have no idea how to mute the background while recording. Feel free to mute if piano is not your thing lol
Enjoy!

Keep practicing your slip knot! I'll see you back here tomorrow for the next tutorial :)