Lessons
Class Introduction
00:48 2What You Need To Get Started
12:59 3The Yarn Label and What is Gauge?
08:01 4How To Chain Stitch
04:32 5How to Single Crochet Stitch
07:55 6How to Half-Double Crochet Stitch
06:17 7How to Double Crochet Stitch
06:01 8How to Triple Crochet Stitch
06:17Lesson Info
Fastening Off and Weaving in Ends
= Alright, you've done it, you've crocheted a solid piece. You're feeling good about it, you're ready to end it, but how do you do that? So you're gonna do what's called fastening off. You might also see it written in patterns as tie off, end off, I think and fasten off. I think those are really sort of the basic ways that you see, knitting and crochet are both oral traditions. So all of this information has been passed on from grandmother to grandmother or whomever to whomever. And so even though there are a bunch of standards within the industry, a lot of it is still sort of hearsay. So you might see a little bit of variance within pattern writing styles and sometimes with terms like that. And just for fasten off, that is just one of the examples where that happens. Tie off, end off, fasten off, it all means the same thing. You're just gonna finish your project right. So, for crochet, ending your project could not be simpler. You simply, you have one loop obviously. Your one loop on ...
your hook and you don't have anywhere else to go so you're just do basically a chain stitch. Actually first you're gonna cut your yarn leaving a long enough tail to weave in. And then you're gonna do a chain stitch, but instead of just leaving it there, you're gonna keep pulling until it comes all the way through that hole, that loop and you're fastened off. It's totally good to go, it's not going anywhere. You are done my friends, you have fastened off. But now, you've got these little guys to attend to. So how do you get rid of them? Well what you need to do is you need to weave them into the piece and you need to do this for two reasons. Kinda doesn't look that awesome to have them hanging about. But also, it'll help your piece not to unravel during, in the wash or during wear or whatever. So you're gonna flip your piece over to the wrong side with the wrong side showing, you wanna use a yarn needle. I'm using a super jumbo one, I found this one, this is a clover one, I like it because it has a better tip. It also has a really big eye to it and I'm using a chunkier yarn so that'll make things super simple. If you're using a really thin, fine yarn, I would not recommend using this particular needle because the eye's so big that it might stretch out your yarn. But for this, it's perfect, okay so this is where you take a little creative license. Depending on what stitch you're working in, the construction's gonna be different, you're gonna have to kind of just fish around and look for the most solid portion of the stitch. So this is a double crochet piece. So that means that there's kind of, you can see, there is a little bit of open weave. You don't wanna weave your yarn in and out of the open weave because everybody will see it. So, what you wanna try and do is you wanna work, I would either work at the base of stitch. Like at the base or at the very top. Some place where there's sort of more firm area to blend in those ends. So I think I'm gonna work on the base. I have to get back down there so I'm just gonna take my needle and I'm gonna kinda fish around a little, down the post. The stitch, when you have a long stitch like this, this portion of it is called the post of the stitch. So you're going to pull that all the way through and then give it a little tug so that it's not constricting the fabric so that it gets you down to this area right here. Where there's a little bit more to work with and not so much struggle with hiding it within the big open weave. And then you're gonna kind of just over under, you'll see the loops. You're gonna kinda just bury it a little bit. And I would do this for a good solid three, three inches or so, pull it through. And you're still gonna see it a little bit, it's just how it goes, but I would then rotate my piece and then I would go back the other way. Over and under and this will just help really bury it if it's something that you're gonna be pulling on and off over your head. Or if you're working with a yarn that you can throw in the washing machine, just any of those actions would pull just one straight even row out or could potentially. And this'll kinda be like a fail safe for that. So you pull it back through and I just took my needle off. And I give it a little stretch and what that does is it kinda settles it in to sit where it's comfortable for the piece. And then you just take your scissors and snap it off. Now I wanna show you this end. This end is actually a wee bit too short. You normally would leave a much longer tail. I suggest you usually about six inches if you can. That gives you a nice long piece that you can work with and then you can always cut down. You can't add on, but you can cut down. But you still can't leave this hanging out, so what do you do? So what I would do is I would, I don't have enough really to worry about going down the post, try to head on over, I'm just going to do the best that I can. And work through the top of the stitches. So I'm going to take the needle and without threading the yarn through it, I'm gonna just kinda zig zag, you know weave over and under as if I had already threaded the yarn through. For about the same amount of time, a few inches. There's not an exact science to it. Just find the areas where you think you can bury it the most. And then once you've done that for a bit, you're gonna have it all mushed up on your needle. And just take the yarn and feed it through the eye. Let it hang out and then just kinda slowly pull that through. And then give it a little bit of a tug so it settles. And that's pretty good, that's pretty buried. It's not idea because we can't go back and save it, but it's better than not weaving in at all. So that's a good little tip for you to not have to worry if you accidentally didn't leave a long enough tail. All is not lost, but you know what's totally a win? You've just finished a piece, all done, finished, donezo. Great job, now I've got one more thing to show you so let's take a look.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Corrine Radergraham
Excellent presentation by the instructor. Clear, concise and perfect for a beginning crocheter. Informative tips and tricks. Vickie is a sparkler! Check out her knitting course too, it's equally well done.
Shyma Shukri
I loved this course!! Everything is clearly explained. Thank you Vickie💕
Lindsey Little
I'm completely new to crocheting and this class was extremely helpful. It was concise and thorough at the same time. I feel confident that I can complete the sample projects included in the course and I can't wait to get started!