By ShowMeStepByStepPublished Updated
Based on a video by HappyBerry Crochet.
Every crochet project starts with a slip knot. It is the first loop that goes on your hook, and it is the one that lets you tighten the whole thing down afterwards by pulling the tail.
Jane from HappyBerry Crochet teaches it as lesson one of her absolute-beginner series, and her method is the one worth learning. You wrap the yarn over two fingers, cross it, and let the hook do the work. No fiddling with a loop you made in mid-air.
It takes about thirty seconds once your hands know it. Give it a few tries before you move on, because you will make one at the start of every project from here.
Take the loop off your hook and pull the yarn. A real slip knot pops straight open. That is the whole point of it: it holds while you work, then releases when you want it to. If yours locks up instead, the hook went under the wrong strand of the cross.
With the slip knot on your hook you are ready to chain, which is the foundation row for almost every pattern. See how to crochet a foundation chain for the next step.
8 steps · about 12 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
DK or light worsted yarn in weight 3 with a 4mm (G) hook is the easiest pairing to learn on. The yarn is thick enough to see what your hands are doing and thin enough to move smoothly. Pick a light colour if you can. Dark yarn hides the loops just when you need to see them.
Tip
Avoid fuzzy or novelty yarn for your first attempts. It snags on the hook and hides the shape of the knot.
Lay the tail end of the yarn across your four fingers with the short end in front, and hold it there with your thumb. The tail is the loose end coming off the ball. Leave yourself about six inches of it so there is something to pull on later.
Take the yarn still attached to the ball and wrap it once around your top two fingers. Keep the wrap loose. You want to be able to slide a hook underneath it without fighting the tension.
Turn your hand over and cross the working yarn over the tail so you can see a clear X. Pinch the crossing point between two fingers to hold it. This X is the whole knot. If you let it collapse into a tangle of small crossings you will lose track of which strand is which.
Tip
Spread the X out before you go any further. A big obvious cross makes the next two steps easy.
Bring your hook in and slide it underneath the first strand of the cross, the one lying closest to you. The hook goes under one strand only at this stage. The second strand stays sitting over the top where you can reach it.
Twist the hook down, catch the strand running over the top, and draw it back underneath the first one. You now have a loop of the working yarn sitting on your hook with the tail still wrapped around your fingers.
Hold the loop against the hook with your thumb so it cannot slide off, then let everything else go and slide your fingers free. Pull the tail end and watch the loose wraps collapse into a small neat knot underneath your hook.
Tip
If the loop falls off the hook, do not start over. Push the hook back through the open loop and carry on.
Pull the working yarn, the strand going back to the ball, to slide the knot up to the hook. Aim for a loop that moves freely along the shaft without falling off. Too tight and you will not get the hook through it on the first chain. Too loose and your starting edge ends up floppy.
Tip
Test it by sliding the loop up and down the hook once. That is the tension you want for every stitch that follows.
Keep going
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Clover
Clover Amour Crochet Hook Set (10 sizes)
Soft, easy-grip handles that warm to the touch and a full size range in one case. The set most crocheters upgrade to and never look back.
Lion Brand
Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton Yarn
Mercerized cotton with crisp stitch definition and a subtle sheen. Machine washable, and the go-to for amigurumi, bags, and dishcloths.
Clover
Clover Locking Stitch Markers (20-pack)
Lock onto stitches so they never slip while you mark rounds, increases, and repeats. A dollar-store fix that actually holds.
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Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.What job does the slip knot do in crochet?
Answer: It is the first loop that goes on your hook
Every crochet project opens by putting a slip knot on the hook.
2.How do you check that you really made a slip knot?
Answer: Slide it off the hook and pull the yarn to see it open
A real slip knot pops straight open when you pull the yarn.
3.Which strand do you pull to cinch the loop down?
Answer: The tail
Pulling the tail is what tightens the slip knot onto the hook.
4.Your knot locks up instead of releasing. What went wrong?
Answer: The hook went under the wrong strand of the cross
Catching the wrong strand of the cross makes a fixed knot, not a slip knot.
5.What comes right after the slip knot in almost every pattern?
Answer: A foundation chain
The chain is the foundation row nearly every pattern builds on.
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