How to Slip Stitch in Crochet

You need something to slip stitch into - a foundation chain, a row of single crochet, or whatever your pattern tells you to work into. Rachel uses a row of foundation single crochets in teal worsted yarn for this demo.

The slip stitch (you'll see it written as slst in patterns) doesn't make sense on its own; it always builds on top of an existing row or joins one section to another. If you haven't done a chain yet, work through the foundation chain tutorial first.

Yarn over and pull through to make a single chain stitch, then flip your work so the back becomes the front. That chain-1 gives you the tiny bit of height the slip stitch needs.

Slip stitch is short, so a chain-1 is all the turning chain you need. You wouldn't do a chain-3 like you would for double crochet here - it would leave a gap.

Push your hook down into the very first stitch of the row, going under both top loops. On a row of single crochets, those two loops look like a little V across the top of each stitch.

Going under both loops is the default. Some patterns will tell you to go through the back loop only for a ribbed look, but for standard slip stitch you take both.

Yarn over by coming up from below and catching the working yarn on your hook. Pull that loop of yarn back through the stitch you just inserted into.

You'll have two loops sitting on the hook now - the loop that was already there from the chain-1, plus the new loop you just brought through. This is the same yarn-over motion you use for every other crochet stitch.

Here's the part that makes slip stitch different from every other stitch: pull the new loop straight through the loop already on your hook in one motion. No second yarn over.

You're left with one loop on the hook and a finished slip stitch sitting on the row. The whole stitch is just two motions - one yarn over, one pull through both. That's why it barely adds any height.

Move to the next stitch and do the same thing: hook in, yarn over, pull through the space and the loop on the hook. Keep going across the entire row.

You'll fly through this once the rhythm clicks. The two biggest beginner mistakes are pulling the loops too tight (so the next hook insert is a fight) and forgetting that it's only one pull-through, not two. If you find yourself with two loops still on the hook, you stopped halfway.

Lay your row out and look at it. Slip stitches show up as a column of small V's on the front, with a thicker, almost knotted ridge along the top. The fabric feels dense and barely adds any height compared to single crochet.

That density is why slip stitches are great for ribbing on a hat brim, edging on a blanket, or joining the end of a round back to the start. It's also why you wouldn't use slip stitch for an entire blanket - it would be bulletproof.

If your pattern asks you to slip stitch into a previous slip stitch row, the V's sit at a slight angle. Chain 1, turn, and look for the two top loops of the first slip stitch.

Pick up both of those loops with your hook, yarn over, pull through both. Same move as before. Stack a few rows of slip stitches and you'll see why this technique builds such tight, low-profile fabric - perfect for a hat band or a clean blanket edge. Pair what you just learned with how to fasten off to finish a project cleanly.