Modification of Basic Crochet Stitches and Continued Pattern Reading

This will be my third post on how to crochet. This third post has been in the works for about a week or so now. A sudden surprise at my job occurred,one of my coworkers had to go on leave. I have been trying to balance my regular work, the additional work load and extra long hours at my normal 9-5 on top of caring for my son. Sometimes I wish there was more time in the day to do fun things, with that being said I want to discuss my third topic of modification.

Modification in crochet is the changing of normal stitches into something better and quite possible easier/faster for the crochet user.

In my last post, I discussed the chain stitch (Ch) and how there is another way to start your crochet projects. This type of modification is called the Foundation Crochet Stitch (Fcs).

Foundation Crochet (Fcs):

Chain (Ch) 3, insert hook into the front loop (Fl) of second and third chain from the hook,yarn over (Yo), pull through third front loop (Fl), yarn over (Yo), pull through two loops, yarn over (Yo) and pull through two loops, repeat till destination is reached.

Besides the normal one loop (Ol)/two loop (Tl) stitch starter after a chain stitch (Ch) or a  Foundation Crochet Stitch (Fcs) there are two other stitch modifications that I mentioned previously. Front loop (Flo) or back loop (blo) are used when starting out with two loops (Tl) facing you and can not be used when using the one loop (Ol) scenario (in other words two loop (Tl) must be present for this modification to work).

Front loop (Flo)

Back loop (Blo)

Note: Front loop and back loop can be used in conjunction with Single Crochet (Flsc & Blsc), Half Double Crochet (Flhdc & Blhdc), Double Crochet (Fldc & Bldc), Triple Crochet (Fltr & Bltc), etc.

On top of those two modifications, there are two more modifications that can used after the Foundation (either a Chain stitch or Foundation Crochet Stitch) and the second row (either Single Crochet, Double Crochet, etc).These are called Front Post (Fp) or Back Post (Bp).

Front Post (Fp)

Back Post (Bp)

 Note: Front Post and Back Post can be used in conjunction with Single Crochet (Fpsc & Bpsc), Half Double Crochet (Fphdc & Bphdc), Double Crochet (Fpdc & Bpdc), Triple Crochet (Fptc & Bptc), etc.

You can also add additional yarn overs to all basic stitches (St(s)) to create different patterns with the yarn, it is really all preference.

Here is an example of additional yarn overs:

Normal single crochet:

To complete a single crochet stitch (Sc), Insert hook into Chain (Ch) or stitch (St) and Yarn over (Yo), pull through chain (Ch) or stitch (St), Yarn over (Yo), pull through both loops leaving on one loop on the hook, repeat till destination is reached.

Modification Single crochet:

To complete a single crochet stitch (Sc), Insert hook into Chain (Ch) or stitch (St) and Yarn over (Yo), pull through chain (Ch) or stitch (St), Yarn over (Yo), pull through one loop leaving two loops on the hook, Yarn over (Yo), pull through both loops leaving on one loop on the hook, repeat till destination is reached.

One more modification I wanted to go over is the Reverse Crochet (Rc) stitches (St(s).I have only ever used the Reverse Single Crochet (Rsc) stitch but, you can use this modification with the other basic stitches as well (Half Double Crochet, Double Crochet and Triple Crochet). Reverse Crochet (Rc) stitches (St(s))are usually used when creating some type of border on a project.

Reverse Single Crochet:

To complete a Reverse Single Crochet Stitch, Chain 1 at the end of a row but do not turn, working backward insert hook into stitch, Yarn over (Yo), pull through stitch, Yarn over (Yo), pull through both loops leaving on one loop on the hook, repeat till destination is reached.

Reverse Single Crochet border 

My next post will be going over how to work in rounds instead of rows. I will also be working on a set of video tutorials of all the basic stitches, modification stitches and additional need to know knowledge. I believe a video can be worth more than a thousand pictures. I recently got the equipment to start filming and editing videos so, will see how it goes. I hope to get the hang of it so, I can provide better learning tools on my blog.