Hold the hook in whichever hand feels natural, resting it against the palm with the thumb and forefinger gripping just below the head, and tension the yarn in the other hand by passing it over the index finger and under the little finger. Make a slip knot, wrap the working yarn over the hook, and pull it through the loop on the hook: that is one chain. Repeat it and you have a foundation chain, which is the starting point for almost every piece of crochet.
How do I hold a crochet hook and make my very first chain?
There are two common grips. In the pencil grip the hook is held much as you would hold a pencil, with the shaft resting on the web between thumb and forefinger. In the knife grip the hook is held with the hand turned slightly over, the way you would hold a table knife. Neither is correct in any official sense. What matters is that the wrist stays relaxed and the hook can turn freely without the whole arm moving.
The yarn hand does the tensioning. Wind the yarn once around the little finger, bring it across the palm and over the index finger, so that the strand running to the hook stays lightly taut. If the yarn is loose the stitches will be uneven; if it is tight your hand will ache within a row.
To begin, make a slip knot: loop the yarn, pull a loop through the loop, and slide the knot onto the hook, not so tight that it will not slide along the shaft. Then wrap the working yarn over the hook from back to front and draw it through the loop already on the hook. You now have one chain. Each further chain is made the same way. Beginners usually find the first ten chains awkward and the next hundred automatic, so the useful advice is simply to make a long chain and pull it out again rather than trying to start a project straight away.
A companion magazine such as Stitch Ledger treats this stage, the stitches, the gauge and the reading of patterns, as one of its three main subjects, alongside patterns and charity work, which is a reasonable sign of how much there is to say about a craft that looks like one motion repeated.
What is the difference between single, half double, double and treble crochet?
The four basic stitches are distinguished by one thing: how many times the yarn is wrapped around the hook before it is drawn through, and therefore how many times the hook passes back through the loops to finish the stitch. The taller the stitch, the more wraps and the more finishing steps.
Single crochet is the shortest. Insert the hook into the next stitch, wrap the yarn over the hook, pull up a loop so that two loops sit on the hook, wrap again and pull through both loops. One loop remains. The fabric is dense and firm, which is why single crochet is common for amigurumi, for bags and for anything that must hold its shape.
Half double crochet adds one step at the beginning. Wrap the yarn over the hook before inserting it into the stitch, pull up a loop so that three loops sit on the hook, then wrap and pull through all three at once. The result is slightly taller than single crochet and a little softer.
Double crochet wraps the yarn over the hook before inserting it, pulls up a loop to give three loops, then wraps and pulls through two loops, wraps again and pulls through the last two. This is the workhorse stitch of most blankets and shawls, quick to work and open in texture.
Treble crochet, sometimes called triple crochet in older British patterns, wraps the yarn over the hook twice before inserting it. It then closes in three passes of two loops each. It is tall, airy and useful for lace edgings and for shaping.
British and American pattern writing use the same words for different stitches, which is a genuine trap. In UK terms, what is called a double crochet is what a US pattern calls a single crochet. Before starting any pattern, find the note that says which convention it uses. If there is no note, the publisher's country is usually the clue.
How do I read a crochet pattern without getting lost in abbreviations?
Read the whole pattern before making a stitch. That sounds like advice for a different craft, but it prevents most of the confusion that follows. Note the yarn weight, the hook size, the gauge and the finished measurements first, because those determine whether the object will come out the size the designer intended.
Then learn the abbreviations as a short vocabulary rather than a code. In UK terms the common ones are ch for chain, sl st for slip stitch, dc for double crochet, htr for half treble, tr for treble and dtr for double treble. Brackets and asterisks are instructions about repetition, not decoration. An asterisk marks the point to which you return at the end of a repeated section, and a number after it tells you how many times to repeat. Brackets group stitches that are worked into the same place or that form a set to be repeated.
Row counts and turning chains cause more abandoned projects than any other detail. A turning chain replaces the first stitch of the new row, and how many chains it needs depends on the stitch: one for double crochet in UK terms, two for half treble, three for treble. Count it as a stitch unless the pattern says otherwise.
If a pattern is written in a chart rather than words, the symbols are standardised and the chart is read in the direction the work is turned, which alternates row by row. Many people find charts easier once they have learned four or five symbols, because the shape of the finished fabric is visible on the page.
Where the older patterns come from
A good deal of the free material circulating online descends from print. Stitch Ledger draws on a twelve-issue craft-magazine heritage running from 2012 to 2014, and that period matters for anyone trying to follow an older pattern, because yarn weights and hook sizing were described differently then. A pattern written for a discontinued yarn can usually be substituted, but the gauge swatch has to be worked again rather than assumed.
Gauge is the number of stitches and rows in a given measurement, usually ten centimetres. Work a swatch larger than the stated area, lay it flat, measure the middle rather than the edges, and change hook size until it matches. This single step accounts for most of the difference between a garment that fits and one that does not.
Charity work and the beginner
Charity crochet is a common route into the craft because the projects are small and the purpose is clear. Warm Up America, Project Linus, chemotherapy caps, hats for premature babies and mats for animal shelters all take squares, strips and simple shapes that a beginner can produce. The advantage for a new crocheter is repetition: forty identical squares teach tension and stitch height far better than one complicated garment.
Requirements vary between organisations, and they are usually specific about fibre, because some hospitals and shelters accept only certain yarns. Check the current guidance before buying yarn rather than after.
Starting, and staying started
The first chain is the hardest part and it lasts about ten minutes. After that the craft is mostly a matter of tension, counting and reading carefully. Choose one stitch, work a square of it, and measure the square. When the measurement is consistent, the pattern will make sense, and the abbreviations will stop looking like a code and start looking like ordinary instructions.