How to Crochet a Chain for Beginners

The chain is a crochet stitch that is just as fundamental and important as the slipknot. When I first learned crochet, a chain was the only way I knew to use when starting a new project. Over time, I realized that crocheters on the internet also share another way to start projects, which provides a foundation unlike a chain but taller. These are known as foundation single crochet, foundation double crochet, or foundation treble crochet.

What is the difference between a chain and a foundation chain?

The difference between a foundation chain and regular chain is that foundation chains are much stretchier than a regular chain, and also have clean edges on both the top and bottom of the piece you are working on. The stretchiness of using a foundation chain is useful for crocheting necklines, or anything that would need to stretch but then revert back to its original shape. Thus, there are two ways to crochet a chain that I have heard of: a regular chain (which I will be teaching in this blog post) and a foundation chain.

As you work stitches into a regular chain, you will realize that the chain forms a rope-like structure, unlike the foundation chain which has v-shaped stitches at the top and bottom edge of your work. This is advantageous if you plan on working more stitches in the bottom and top of the work, as it feels more even. You could still work stitches into a regular chain on the bottom side of it, but it feels more uneven to me.

In this blog post, I will provide easy to understand and beginner friendly instructions with annotated images on how to make a regular crochet chain, so that it becomes intuitive for you to create a chain to embark on your crochet journey. Unlike most other stitches in crochet, you can create chains using just your fingers with any size of yarn, which I have seen some people do on social media when making friendship bracelets.

Without further ado, let’s learn how to make a crochet chain together using your crochet hook and yarn.

Materials

You can see the chainette structure of this yarn in this close-up image.

For this tutorial, I decided to use a chainette yarn, which makes it easy to see your stitches as you crochet. This will allow you to see the different parts of a stitch and the v-structure that the chain stitch makes. Another advantage of using chainette yarn is that it won’t split because of the way it is knitted as a tube, unlike regular yarn, which is made of spun fibers (and can be un-spun if you accidentally split the yarn with your hook). If you’d like to get the same yarn and hook, I bought the materials above on Temu. If you don’t have access to yarn that is a chainette yarn, you can use a 4-weight yarn or thicker with the corresponding crochet hook needed to work stitches in your chosen yarn. You can find the corresponding hook size needed on a ball of yarn (usually) on its label. If you are a beginner crocheter who just wants to test the waters, I recommend steering clear of yarn that doesn’t specify which hook to use if you only want to buy one hook, since it would be a bit difficult to only buy one hook and get the right size that would work with your chosen yarn. I also chose to use a 5.5mm hook for this particular yarn that I am working with.

If this is your first time crocheting, I recommend you also view the blog post I wrote called “How to Crochet a Slipknot for Beginners (with Pictures)” before reading this blog post, as that blog post will teach you how to make a slipknot in depth.

How to Do A Chain Stitch in Crochet – Step by Step

Step 1: Make a Slipknot

In this step, you basically make a pretzel shaped knot, and you insert your hook in the resulting loop. It will look like the photo above. You can find detailed photos of how to make a slipknot in this blog post that I wrote a few days ago. Once you pull the loop over your hook, you can tug both ends of the yarn, or you can tug each end of the yarn individually, so that the loop shrinks on the hook. It will sit snug on the hook so that it is easier to make the next stitch without the loops falling off of your hook.

Step 2: Yarn Over

Now, you will have to yarn over the hook. Make sure that the yarn goes from the back to the front of your hook, and that the hook end grasps the yarn that is yarn-ed over it. You can pinch the slipknot between your thumb and middle finger of your non-dominant hand, while the yarn from the yarn ball goes over your index finger that is pointed at a 45 degree angle. In terms of hook holds, this is called the knife hold. This is how I usually hold my hook, but there is also the pencil hold, which many crocheters benefit from using. You can try both of these and see which method works best for you to maintain tension in your yarn.

The Important Difference Between Yarn Over and Yarn Under

Yarning over and yarning under are two different things. When you yarn over, the yarn goes from the back of the hook, over the hook, and to the front of the hook. Whereas when you yarn under, the yarn goes from the front of the hook, over the hook, and to the back of the hook.

Step 3: Pull the Yarn Through The Loop

Using your dominant hand to hold the hook, twist it towards the inside of the loop while the hook end grasps the yarn. In other words, if you imagine a loop as being the shape of a teardrop, where it tapers off into the slipknot, orient the hook as you turn it inwards towards the slipknot (while the yarn is grasped by the hook end) so that the hook has an easier time moving through the current loop while pulling the next loop through. This means that you will rotate the hook, while simultaneously moving the hook through the loop.

To repeat the process, we just redo Steps 2 and 3, like so:

Step 2 and 3 Repeated: Yarn Over and Pull Yarn Through

Once you have pulled the yarn through the loop that was originally on your hook, you have successfully made a chain stitch! Well done! If you want to create another chain stitch to create a longer chain so that the foundation of your project is larger, then you have to repeat step 2. To complete your second chain stitch, you have to repeat step 3.

Repeat as Many Times Needed

Hooray! If you made it this far, you have made your second chain stitch and possibly many more. Hopefully, you have a better understanding of what it involves to create a chain stitch, so from now on you just have to repeat steps 2 and 3 to create more chain stitches. Just remember that step 2 starts the chain stitch, and step 3 completes it.

Commonly Asked Questions

1) How tight should a slipknot be?

A slipknot should be just tight enough so that you can pull your hook through, but not too loose that the loop falls off of your hook on its own. You can adjust the size of the slipknot by removing your hook and pulling the loop so that it expands. On the other hand, you can tighten the slipknot by inserting your hook into the loop and pulling on the yarn ends to make it shrink. In short, make sure that it is possible for your hook to slide through. If you tend to crochet stitches very tightly or loosely, I recommend using the pencil hold or knife hold with the corresponding way to hold your yarn in your non-dominant hand. You can find more information about these hook holds from other crocheters on the internet. Another tip to adjust the tightness of your stitches in the chain stitch is to make the chain stitch using a hook that is one size larger (whether that be 0.5mm or 1.00mm larger) and switching to the hook you plan on using for the rest of the project after finishing the chain stitch. This is also a good solution in case you crochet the chain too tightly and have a hard time inserting the hook into the chain to make stitches in the next row.

2) What is tension in crochet? Is it important?

Tension is how tightly or loosely stitches are constructed and may depend on how you maintain the tightness/looseness of the stitches by holding your yarn a specific way with your non-dominant hand.

I think tension is quite important in getting your stitches to have the right height and width relative to other crocheters. For beginners, it is fine if they don’t pay much attention to maintaining an even tension when crocheting, since they may be trying to memorize and learn the way to make fundamental crochet stitches. Nevertheless, the reason I mention that maintaining tension is an important skill is because when creating a garment or large project, crocheters usually share a gauge or a square that they crocheted with specific measurements. When you try to match the gauge by crocheting a square before starting a large project, you may have to tweak your hook size to match the gauge size. But the tension of the yarn may also dictate how tall or short your stitches are, which may make it harder to match the gauge. As such, I think tension can be a concept that is overlooked sometimes, but it is one that may be important to keep at the forefront of your mind when becoming more experienced in crochet or starting a complex or large project.

Why Should I Learn to Make a Chain Stitch?

Chain stitches are an important skill to have in your toolset, since it is one of the fundamental stitches that are used to begin projects. If you learn how to yarn over and pull through a loop, you have learned most of crochet, since many stitches you will learn in the future have the same mechanics. The only major difference between each stitch is the number of times you yarn over, or the number of loops you pull your hook through. A slip stitch is also another useful stitch that can be used to surface crochet, and to create a super short row on your crochet. It shares a resemblance with the chain stitch, but is different because it is the type of stitch you use after the chain at the beginning of your project has been established already.

I hope this post gave some helpful pointers as to how you can make a chain stitch and serves as a springboard for your crochet journey! Happy crocheting!