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
How to Half-Double Crochet Stitch
Probably my favorite crochet stitch, I know it's a little crochet nerdy for me to have a favorite stitch, but it is what it is, is half double crochet. I love it because it's firm and a good solid stitch, but it's not as sort of constricting and tight as a single crochet. So any time I need something that's got a nice body to it, but I don't want it to be super open-weavy, is that a word, open-weavy? It's a word now. (laughing) I go for half double crochet. So I'm gonna show you, so first of all, let's look at a swatch. I did a swatch, I crocheted a swatch out of it, and the swatch, in case I didn't mention this before, is just a small piece, it's a sample piece, where you can get an idea of how yarn works in that stitch, and also, you know, if your yarn and hook work together to create the gauge that you need for your project. So this is half double crochet. You can kind of tell. It's a wee might higher, taller of a stitch than single crochet, but it's still a good solid, it creates a...
good solid piece of fabric. So to get started, as always, you create a chain for however many that the pattern calls for, or however wide of piece that you'd like. I've done that ahead of time. And for this one, unlike with our single crochet, where we crocheted in the second hook from the chain, this one you're going to work in the third hook from the chain, because, as I just mentioned, it's a little bit taller of a stitch, so you need a little bit more chain to accommodate that. So, instead of just straight-up inserting the hook into the chain, you need to, for this stitch, yarn over, or wrap your yarn around the hook, before you even get started. So we've wrapped around the hook, and then we want to pinch, well, first of all, we want to count, so this is the first chain from the hook, second chain, third one. So this is where we're going, this little guy right here. So we're going to dive on through, and yarn over, and pull that that through. So now we're over in that position where we want to be. We've moved over tot hat next chain, right. Then we want to yarn over again, and then we want to pull it through all three of the loops on the hook. And that creates a half double crochet stitch. So it's really kind of like a meaty stitch. So we yarn over, insert in the next stitch, which is this one, again, because I've pulled on this one, I see that that loop is all movey, so it's got a stitch already in it, we're gonna insert. And if you saw, I had to work my way in a little bit. Sometimes that will happen if your chain's a wee bit, like, too small, you might have to muscle your way into it, it's totally fine, go with it. All right, so then we're yarning over again, and we're pulling through all three. Move to the next one, yarn over first, insert, yarn over, pull through just that first one, so we're established, we're over in that next stitch spot. Yarn over, pull through all three. And you'll just continue doing that until you run out of chains. And what will happen when you get to the end of the row, you will get a piece that looks like this. So this is one row of single, or of half double crochet, rather. So now, we are at the end, so we know we have to turn our work. So I've flipped the piece over, and as I mentioned before, this is just a little bit taller of stitch than single crochet, so I need to create that height. If you think about crochet as each row is like a different floor of a building, and so in some, depending on the stitch, some rooms have vaulted ceilings, some are like low storage closets. Depending on the height of the stitch is how many chains that you have to create at the beginning of each row. That creates your height. It's the ladder that gets you to where that rooftop is, for whatever height of room that you have. Total random analogy, but hopefully that makes sense. So, for a half double crochet, it's about the height of two chains. So we're gonna chain one, and then chain the second one. Okay, for a half double crochet, it almost always, unless the pattern calls, says otherwise, counts as the first half double crochet. The abbreviation for half double crochet is HDC. Again, abbreviations are available to you as bonus material for you to download, so you'll have that as reference. All right, so we've worked it on this one, and that's counting as the first one, so we are not going to work another stitch in that first stitch. We're gonna move onto the second one, which is right here. So we're yarn over, wrap the yarn around, and we're gonna insert, and again, because this is no longer a chain, we go through both, you can't really see that, but go through both loops of the stitch, yarn over, pull through, now we're established, we're where we need to be, yarn over again, pull through three loops. You'll notice that there's a little bit of a gap, because the chain isn't as girthy as the half double, it's just crochet life, man. It's just how it is, no worries. All right, so we're gonna yarn over, working the, oops, I went too low. See, I dove way down. You don't want to do that. You want to make sure you're just, you're only under these top two loops, so, around, we're where we need to be, pull through. I'm just gonna work a couple more for you to watch. Once again, I'm letting my hook do the work for me. I'm doing a lot of twisting and turning, and I'm pinching the fabric, so that everything is nice and taut. So that it all flows. And you just continue until you're at the end of your row. And that, my friends, is half double crochet. Let's see what we can do now.
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!