How to Make a Crochet Chain

In this video, crochet expert Mary Beth Temple demonstrates how to create a simple crochet chain. The first step to starting many crochet projects is creating a chain. A chain can also be used throughout the project, both in a stitch pattern and to create other details within the pattern, such as for an armhole for a sweater.

Mary Beth begins by making a slip knot, noting that the slip not does not count as a stitch. The chain is then created by working a yarn over (from back to front) and pulling the yarn through the loop – one chain is created. This process is repeated until the desired number of chains are achieved.

Once the chain is created, Mary Beth examines the structure of it. The front of the chain looks like the letter V, while the back of the chain has a bump. Each chain is made up of three “legs.” Two legs in the front, with the third leg in the back. When the crochet chain is being created for the purpose of starting a project, new stitches can be worked into either the front or the back of it.

Just as the slip knot does not count as chain, when adding chain stitches within an existing pattern, the loop on the hook does not count as a chain. The chain isn’t created until the yarn is worked over the hook and a new loop is pulled through.