question for all crocheters...

[Yarn Angel]

For any basic crochet stitch, do you insert your hook down through the center of the stitch, up through the center of the stitch, or under both loops? I've been going up through the center of the stitch but I'm not sure this is right. Please help me! TIA!!!

[MommaChelle]

Insert hook under the two top loops.

[earthwhisper]

both.

 

Go to www.stitchguide.com and look up single crochet

 

Funny you asked this because when I first taught myself to crochet I thought you only work the back loop. Weird, huh? It wasn't until this last year when I read a pattern telling you to work the back loop that I realized I wasn't doing it right. funny.

[Ambersafghans]

I crocheted in the stitch for as long as I can remember crocheting. (4 years) Until a few months ago I found out you are supposed to do it under the two loops most of the time. It doesn't make a difference with sc though. You can do either, it just gives it a different look.

Amber

[Suebee42]

The last beginner class I taught at continuing education, one of the folks who runs the program came in to visit and see how we were doing, and after class, commented to me that she noticed I was teaching them to work under both loops, and she's been working only one of them all her life... as politely as possible, I let her know she has been doing it wrong, and that a pattern will tell you whether to work the back or front loop, and if it says nothing, you should work under both of them. Heh heh... she took it well... she was more like, "wow, I never knew that!" !

[Yarn Angel]

I am so glad I found this out now!!!! I know it doesn't really matter but I'm one of those people that like to at least know what the "proper" way is. At least if I do it differently I'm doing because I want to. Thank you Thank you Thank you everybody!!!! I'll bet I'm not the only one just finding this out!

[DesertCrocheter]

Amy, my mom always crocheted using only the front loop, because that's how her mother taught her, and that's how her mother had taught *her*... Using one loop gives it a nice ribbed look. I just made my nephew a scarf using only the back loop of sc for a nice ribbed look the pattern called tweedy. When I showed my mom a website that shows all the different stitches and how to do them, she was amazed. She had no idea there were that many stitches because she had never learned how to crochet from a book or from a pattern. It was always just in the women's heads and they just taught their daughters what they knew (back in the Old Country). I think there's probably a lot of crocheters out there who do things one way because that's how they were taught that might not be correct, strictly speaking, but hey, my mom's afghans are all gorgeous ripples with a rib that we love, so who cares? I just follow the directions myself, since I'm anal and had to learn all the stitches before I could do anything.

 

Patty

[PJ]

OK, now this has me wondering...when you say "top 2 loops" do you mean the 2 front loops (not the back ridge) or the top loop and the back ridge? I've seen somewhere saying you could do it through the back ridge.

 

 

....

 

ugh, sorry, I was thinking of just the beginning chain when I wrote that....nevermind, just ignore me, I'm a little space cadet today.

[MommaChelle]

I took a few pictures of sc of crocheting thru the top 2 loops. I hope this helps visualize it

 

I just did a sc row, ch 1, turn and am now looking at the back side of the sc's I just did

 

 

Insert hook under the two top loops

 

 

What it looks like after I do the sc

 

 

What it looks like from the other side

 

 

 

Now if you were doing rounds, that 4th picture shows the two top loops well, since you dont turn your work, you would sc through (under) those two loops.

 

I hope this helps a little

[Yarn Angel]

The reason I got the idea that it was supposed to be front loops only was because almost all the tutorials that show a sc show it on the chain which is through one loop only. I just assumed you continue it that way. It seems like the most normal assumption to make when you are teaching yourself if you are not told specifically to use both loops on a previous row. Just a little food for thought. Great pictures Chelle! You are very handy to have around! :)h

[memflag]

I have been wondering that myself!!

 

So glad I am not alone!!!!

 

Elizabeth