Technique Tuesday Crochet Tutorial – the Knotless Starting Chain

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How To Make the Crochet Knotless Starting Chain

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Technique
The Knotless Starting Chain

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What is it?

The Knotless Starting Chain is an alternate technique for starting that first stitch off your crochet hook. As the name indicates, the Knotless Starting Chain eliminates the slipknot usually made around the crochet hook before pulling through the first loop.

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Why Use It?

In our quest to create perfect finishes on our crochet designs, that little bump at the beginning of every project has been a nuisance that just won't go away. Sure, we could hide it when we woven in the starting tail, but it was still there… taunting us… the evil little bump.

Click the "Read More" link for the full tutorial.

This photo clearly shows the origins of the evil little bump. That slipknot we all make to start off our first crochet stitch.

Here, we've chained 6 then worked 5 single crochet stitches back into that starting chain. Look at the bump. Just sitting there… taunting us… 

And here is the spiteful little bump at the beginning of a row of 5 Foundation Single Crochet stitches. Nasty little thing… 

So, in order to banish the bump from the get go, we started playing around with different ways to start that first stitch. Thus was born the Knotless Starting Chain.

The Knotless Starting Chain is offered as an alternative to the usual slipknot and leaves virtually no trace there was ever anything other than a regular stitch on your hook that magically materialized there when you began stitching.

Why use it? Because you can.

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To Work Today's Tutorial

Here's a list of materials we used to make today's Knotless Starting Chain tutorial. While you can, of course, use any materials you have on hand, these materials listed are what we recommend you use while you are learning.

Yarn Used
CYCA 4
Worsted Weight, 100% Pure Wool

Hook Used
H-8/5.00mm Crochet Hook

Skillz Used
Foundation Single Crochet (Fsc) – See our crochet tutorial here: How To Make The Foundation Single Crochet Stitch

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Break It Down

Here we demonstrate the Knotless Starting Chain with a traditional crochet starting chain. 

1. To begin, pass the tail of the yarn from back to front over your hook.

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2. Now cross the tail behind your working yarn (the yarn coming from your ball of yarn).

3. Firmly hold the crossing point where the tail and working yarn cross.


I tension my yarn with my index finger so I am holding the yarn here between my thumb and my middle finger.

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4. Still holding firmly to the crossing point, yarn over…

5. …and draw up a loop for your first chain.

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6. Here, I have worked a starting chain of 6 chains then worked 4 Single Crochet stitches back into those starting chain stitches. I am ready to make the fifth Single Crochet in the Knotless Starting Chain. 

7. Insert your hook into the Knotless Starting Chain so the crossing point we were holding securely before is on the top of the hook as pictured here.

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8. And make the Single Crochet stitch into the Knotless Starting Chain.

NOTE: The loop of the Knotless Starting Chain is still pretty loose and is very obvious here in this photo. That's okay… we're going to make it disappear!

9. Firmly grasp the starting tail with one hand while holding your work with the other hand.

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10. Gently pull the tail until the loop from the Knotless Starting Chain just melts away into the rest of the row.

Be sure to do this gently so as to not make this first loop too tight. You just want it to be tight enough to look like the rest of the chain stitches in the starting chain row.

11. And there you have it! Look carefully… blow up the photo if you like! There is NO KNOT SHOWING!

Yes, we were probably a little unreasonably happy about this little technique. But, hey, it's just one more way to make our stitches flawless. So… yeah… happy dance!

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Now we will apply the Knotless Starting Chain technique to a row of Foundation Single Crochet stitches. Again, if you aren't up on your Crochet Foundation Stitches, check out our tutorial here: How To Make the Foundation Single Crochet Stitch

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1. To begin, pass the tail of the yarn from back to front over your hook.

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2. Now cross the tail behind your working yarn (the yarn coming from your ball of yarn).

3. Firmly hold the crossing point where the tail and working yarn cross.

Again, I tension my yarn with my index finger so I am holding the yarn here between my thumb and my middle finger.

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4. Chain 2 being careful to hold that crossing point securely.

5. I wouldn't normally do this but I let go of the crossing point so you can see more clearly. Yes, it looks a little gnarly when you see it laid out like this but that's okay.

You can clearly see the crossing point and the opening made by the loop of the Knotless Starting Chain. That opening you see there is where we are going to insert our hook next for starting our first Foundation Single Crochet stitch.

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6. And here we've inserted the hook into the loop with the crossing point on top of the hook. This is important in order to secure that tail.

7. This is the completed row of five Foundation Single Crochet stitches.

You can clearly see the loop of the Knotless Starting Chain at the beginning of the row.

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8. Just like with our other demo, firmly grasp the starting tail with one hand while holding your work with the other hand.

9. Gently pull the tail until the loop from the Knotless Starting Chain just melts away into the rest of the row.

Again, it is important that you pull the tail gently to snug the loop of the Knotless Starting Chain closed. You just want the Knotless Starting Chain to be just tight enough to look like the rest of the base loops in the bottom of the Foundation Single Crochet row.

TAADAA!!

A Final Word… or two…

Now those are some pretty stitches! Y'all know we love clean lines and beautiful finishes. And, if we can accomplish that with a technique that is as quick and easy as the Knotless Starting Chain, we are happy designers.

As with any new technique, it takes a few times to get the muscles to coordinate so the result is flawless. That's okay… As always… experment! Play! SWATCH! That's how we get better at what we do and how we make our already good crochet skills FAB!

And… hey… if you aren't happy with your experiment rip it out and go again! You'll get it!
 

Thanks for dropping by for another Technique Tuesday! Our aim is to build the skillz of our FAB fiber community here on the web and it's always FAB to hear from you all that what we are doing is helping you and your fiber friends.

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Stitch On!
S&J

Oh hey… before you go… Here are a few more pages we thought you might be interested in. Click on any of the photos below… enjoy!

Learn To Make FLAWLESS Crochet Seams

No Ends To Weave In With This Easy Technique

The PERFECT Crochet Project For Spring

You'll Enjoy Making It And He Will Look GREAT In It

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