How to Crochet a Single Stitch
Learn the core mechanics of crochet in one minute flat by mastering the essential slip knot, foundation chain, and your very first single crochet stitch.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Size H-8 (5.0 mm) aluminum crochet hook
- ✓ Yarn snips or craft scissors
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Worsted weight yarn (size 4, light color for high stitch visibility)
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Maintain a relaxed grip on the hook to prevent repetitive wrist and finger strain.
- • Keep scissor tips directed away from fingers and working yarn when trimming ends.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Create the Starter Slip Knot
Cross the yarn tail over the working yarn to form an open loop on your table or fingers. Reach through the center of the loop, grab the working yarn strand, and pull it partially through to make a second loop. Insert your 5.0 mm hook into this new loop and pull the working yarn until the loop rests loosely against the hook neck.
- • A tidy knot sits beneath the hook with the loop sliding freely along the hook shaft without binding.
- • Pulling the slip knot too tight against the metal, making it impossible to slide or yarn over.
Establish Hand Position and Tension
Hold the crochet hook in your dominant hand using either a pencil or knife grip. Drape the working yarn over the index finger of your non-dominant hand while pinching the base of the slip knot with your thumb and middle finger. Keep your index finger extended slightly upwards to maintain smooth, even yarn tension.
- • Yarn flows continuously over the index finger with the knot held firmly in place beneath the hook tip.
- • Letting go of the knot base, causing the loop to twist wildly around the hook.
Work the Foundation Chain
Rotate the hook beneath the working yarn from back to front to catch the strand in the hook's groove (yarn over). Rotate the hook slightly downward and draw the caught yarn directly through the loop already on your hook. Repeat this motion three to four times to create a short, clean foundation braid.
- • A neat vertical sequence of V-shaped chain stitches visible just below the hook.
- • Yarning over from front to back, which causes the working strand to slip out of the hook throat.
Insert Hook into the Second Chain
Skip the chain loop directly adjacent to your hook. Push the tip of the hook straight through the top loop of the second chain stitch away from the hook. You should now see two distinct yarn loops sitting on the shaft of your hook.
- • Hook tip protrudes through the upper strand of the target chain stitch.
- • Entering the first chain directly beside the hook, which unravels the last chain made.
Draw Up a Loop
Bring the working yarn over the hook from back to front again. Carefully rotate the hook beak downward and pull the strand only through the chain stitch wall. Slide the pulled loop up onto the wider shaft so that exactly two loops sit evenly on your hook.
- • Two parallel, equal-sized loops resting comfortably on the hook barrel.
- • Pulling the yarn all the way through both loops on the hook in a single motion.
Complete the Single Crochet Stitch
Perform one final yarn over by catching the working strand in the hook groove. Pull this newly caught yarn smoothly through both loops remaining on your hook in one fluid motion. You have officially completed a standard single crochet stitch, leaving one active loop ready for the next stitch.
- • A compact, square-like stitch anchored to the chain base with exactly one working loop on the hook.
- • Splitting the plies of the yarn with the hook tip while pulling through the double loops.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by Holly Auna — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No 5.0 mm crochet hook? Any 4.5 mm to 6.0 mm hook paired with matching medium weight yarn
- No Worsted weight yarn? Light bulky yarn or two strands of lightweight yarn held together