14 Essential Crochet Stitches and Skills for Beginners | Yarnalina (2024)

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Crocheting is a great hobby. Whether you want to pick it up to make the famous Tiktok bee or a patchwork cardigan for yourself, these 14 basic crochet stitches for beginners is all you need to get started. You only really need to know these 14 stitches / skills as other more complicated stitches such as the chevron or wattle stitch are ALL MADE UP of up to two or three basic stitches listed below.

As long as you know the basics of these stitches, you’ll be on your way to make a whole closet of your own sweaters and an army of crochet bees.

These 14 crochet stitches for beginners aren’t all exactly “stitches”, but some of them are more of the essential skills or basic knowledge that you have to know to start and end your crochet projects. This is the most basic guide to crocheting that I wish I could’ve had when I was getting started on crocheting.

Furthermore, you can also take a look at the video tutorial here to watch me do these crochet stitches / skills for beginners for a better understanding of them!

Let’s Get Started on 14 Basic Crochet Stitches for Beginners:

1. Slip Knot

1. Make a loop with your yarn
2. Insert your hook or fingers inside the loop
3. Grab the yarn tail
4. Pull the yarn tail through the loop
5. Hold the working yarn tail and beginner yarn tail
6. Pull (tighten) the loop you made in Step 4

2. Chain

1. Make a slip knot
2. Insert your hook into the slip knot
3. Wrap the yarn around the hook
4. Pull the yarn (you wrapped around the hook) through the loop
5. Repeat the process for more chains

3. Single Crochet

1. Insert your hook into the chain or stitch
2. Wrap the yarn around the hook
3. Pull the yarn (you wrapped through the hook) out and up from the chain or stitch
4. You now have two loops on your hook
5. Wrap your yarn around the hook
6. Use the yarn you just wrapped on your hook to pull it through the two loops you had on your hook

4. Half Double Crochet

1. Wrap the yarn around your hook
2. Insert your hook into the chain or stitch
3. Wrap the yarn around the hook
4. Pull the yarn (you wrapped through the hook) out and up from the chain or stitch
5. You now have three loops on your hook
6. Wrap your yarn around the hook
7. Use the yarn you just wrapped on your hook to pull it through the three loops you had on your hook

5. Double Crochet

1. Wrap the yarn around your hook
2. Insert your hook into the chain or stitch
3. Wrap the yarn around the hook
4. Pull the yarn (you wrapped through the hook) out and up from the chain or stitch
5. You now have three loops on your hook
6. Wrap your yarn around the hook
7. Use the yarn you just wrapped on your hook to pull through the first two loops you had on your hook
8. Wrap your yarn around the hook
9. Pull through the remaining two loops on your hook

6. Increase

Same goes for every stitch out there (sc, hdc, dc)

An increase is any two stitches in one stitch or chain.

Sc twice in the same stitch = sc increase. Dc twice in the same stitch = dc increase.

7. Decrease

1. Insert your hook into the chain or stitch
2. Wrap the yarn around the hook
3. Pull the yarn (you wrapped through the hook) out and up from the chain or stitch
4. You now have two loops on your hook
5. Insert your hook into the NEXT chain or stitch
6. Wrap your yarn around the hook
7. Pull the yarn (you wrapped through the hook) out and up from the chain or stitch
8. You now have three loops on your hook
9. Wrap the yarn around your hook
10. Use the yarn you just wrapped on your hook to pull it through the three loops you had on your hook

*Invisible decrease: skip a stitch and single crochet into the next stitch*

8. Front Loop

Same goes for every stitch out there (sc, hdc, dc)

A front loop is any stitch worked in the front loop only

Sc in the front loop = FLsc. Dc in the front loop = FLdc.

9. Back Loop

Same goes for every stitch out there (sc, hdc, dc)

A back loop is any stitch worked in the back loop only

Sc in the back loop = BLsc. Dc in the back loop = BLdc.

10. Slip Stitch

1. Insert your hook into the chain or stitch
2. Wrap the yarn around the hook
3. Pull the yarn (you wrapped through the hook) out and up from the chain or stitch
4. You now have two loops on your hook
5. Pull the first loop (the loop closest to the hook itself) through the second loop (the loop closest to your hook handle)

11. Magic Circle

1. Wrap and cross the yarn across three fingers (making an X)
2. Use your hook and insert it into the line with the working yarn (there should be two strands on the back of your hand)
3. Pull the working yarn strand past the first strand
4. Twist your hook to form a loop on your hook
5. Insert your hook back into the working yarn strand and wrap the yarn around the hook
6. Pull the yarn around your hook through the loop you made in Step Four
7. Remove your fingers and crochet however much stitches you want in your mgc
8. Pull on the beginning yarn tail to tighten the circle

12. Chain Loop Circle / Chain 2 method

1. Make a slip knot
2. Chain two
3. Insert your hook into the first chain
4. Make however much stitches you desire in sc, hdc, dc, etc
5. Pull on the beginning yarn tail and push the slip knot up to the circle

*You might not be able to tug the slip knot and tighten the chain loop circle every single time, so if that happens you just have to redo It and make the slip knot a bit looser. Or just use the magic circle way*

13. Tie it off

1. Cut your working yarn tail
2. Pull the working yarn tail through the loop on your hook
3. Tug and tighten the working yarn tail

14. Weave in the ends

1. Thread your yarn tail through a yarn needle
2. Sew the yarn tail into the project

There is no perfect way to do this or the right way to do this. The main idea for weaving in the ends is just to hide the yarn tail from sight and to avoid the project from unraveling. It can unravel if you left a small yarn tail and only a knot, so people usually leave a long tail to later weave in the ends.

Conclusion

And now you’ve learned 14 most basic crochet stitches for beginners! Lastly, remember to pin this for later and share the post to all your fiber-loving friends and whomever wants to learn to crochet!

Save this for later reference if you’re a beginner!