How to turn at the end of 2nd row? (Newbie)

[Luvyna]

Hi everyone, I just started crocheting for the first time today and I am trying to learn the single crochet stitch. I know this is really dumb, but I can't figure out how to start the third row I've watched several YouTube videos and tried poking the hook through various loops but after a few stitches the pattern starts to look like a knot of of yarn and gets so tight that I can't even continue. I must be doing something wrong but I'm not sure what.

This is as far as I can get before everything gets messed up (or possibly I have already made a mistake without realizing it). I do one row of chains, another row of single crochet stitches, another chain, and I turn the work over, but I don't know where to put the hook to start the next stitch. When I watch videos of other people crocheting somehow when they turn over their work the hole that the hook needs to go through seems much more obvious. I'm not sure where to find it on mine or if maybe I did something wrong before so that it doesn't exist. Any help would be much appreciated!

[Granny Square]

This is what 1 row of SC looks like; I scanned it in the same orientation as your sample - this is showing the Back side of the stitches.  It now dawns on me that you are not making SC stitches at all, I think you are slip stitching.  (I need more coffee, only on my second cup this morning).  Also, re-reading your post, you said third row, not second row - so yes, you are not making a single crochet stitch.

There's a whole different world of slip stitch crochet fabric, also called shepherd's knitting, or Bosnian knitting (it can sort of looks like sideways knit stockinette; I do real knitting but I find straight slip stitch crochet to be...not more difficult, but annoying,  you have to keep it looser than I'm used to working.  And you probably won't find many patterns in straight slip stitch.

Slip stitch:  stick the hook into a stitch, yarn over, pull thru the stitch and the 1 loop on the hook.

Single crochet:  stick the hook into a stitch, yarn over, pull thru the stitch, yarn over and pull thru the 2 loops on the hook. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Granny Square

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

I think you may have stitched into your knot never mind, looking closer I don't think that's it.

For single crochet, you make a foundation chain 1 more chains than the number of stitches you want; if you want 10 stitches, chain 11, sc into the second chain from the hook (leaving 1 unused chain as the 'turning chain', to turn the corner at the end of the row and give enough height to reach the stitch in the next row).

Then at the end of the first row, after chaining into the last chain, you chain 1, turn, and sc back across all the stitches this time - not into the turning chain, for SC that does not get used as a stitch, it just sits there at the end of the row.

I think you just chained 1 for a turning chain sort of loosely at the end of the first row, and pulled it sideways; it should be a little tighter and pointing up.  Try pulling out that last chain and try again.

[Luvyna]

Thank you so much for the help and the explanation! You are exactly right, it turns out I was slip stitching instead of single crocheting because I was pulling through the stitch and the loop on the hook. That's why nothing was looking the same as it was on all the videos I was watching and everything was insanely tight!

I think I sort of have the right idea now, I managed to make a misshapen square (there were definitely some other issues because it looks like the number of stitches in the row changed at one point and the edges are really uneven, but it's a start I guess lol). I also went up a hook size because I felt like I was always pulling the stitches too tight but the result was giant holes in the pattern so I'm going to go back to the proper needle size now. 

Thank you again for your help and for even crocheting an example to show me how it should look, I really appreciate it!

[Granny Square]

You are welcome!  Hey, you are a beginner, early swatches will be wonky.  Better to get the wonky over with in practice swatches rather than early projects.

There are a couple of beginner 'things' to be aware of. (1), that I was guilty of way back in the last century (ha!), is crocheting tightly; this was way before the internet and I realized, using tapered hooks (like Boye brand hooks), that I was forming the stitch too close to the tip of the hook, not back on the shank above the taper, which is the 'sizer' part.  If you use in-line hooks, like Susan Bates' brand, that is in-line/not tapered, I guess just focus on loosening your your 'death grip'.

(2), is recognizing where the start & end of your row is.  It might be a good idea to put a stitch marker in the first and last stitch, and move it up each row as you get to it.  Bobby pins make great markers, they are much cheaper than craft store stitch markers and stay put. 

https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards  This site has a lot of good info for US knit and crochet yarn, pattern reading, and other good stuff--look at the menu on the right side.  

https://crochetcabanablog.wordpress.com/  another good site for beginner info; Pay attention to how to deal with turning chains, it is 1 way for SC, and another for most all other stitches, and not dealing with the turning chain correctly is the cause of most 'my stitch count is off' issues.