5 Essential Crochet Tips & Tricks Every Beginner Should Learn

Are you a beginner crocheter? Check out these crochet tips and tricks that will help you along in your crochet journey.

Crocheting is a fun, relaxing hobby that allows you to create brand new things with your own two hands and have fun doing it.

But it’s also a continual learning process.

Whether you’ve been crocheting for two weeks or twenty years, there are always new things to learn to make crocheting easier and better.

Today, I have five tried-and-true tricks that have saved generations of crocheters from tangled yarn, knots, and frustrating mistakes.

If you’re brand new to crocheting, learning these tricks early will benefit you in the long run.

Happy crocheting!

5 Essential Crochet Tips & Tricks to Learn

1. Magic Ring

Nearly all, if not all crochet projects that are worked in a round start with a magic ring.

It’s an alternative to chaining and slip stitching into the first chain to create a ring.

With a magic ring the middle of the project is completely sealed, whereas, with a chain & slip stitch, there’s a hole in the center.

There are two ways to create a magic ring:

Way Number 1

Take the beginning of your yarn and make a loop with it, crossing the end under the yarn coming from the skein.

Hold the part where the yarns come together with your fingers.

Let the yarn from the skein go behind your loop, insert hook under that yarn and over, to grab the furthest side of the loop.

Pull the loop through to the top of the ring.

While continuing to hold the loop (with any finger other than the ones holding your hook). Let go of the part where the two yarns cross.

If you’re doing a project in single crochet, chain 1 and complete your stitch. If you’re doing your project in double crochet, chain 2.

Crochet the stitches in your ring according to your pattern.

Way Number 2

Wrap the yarn around two of your fingers twice, to where the yarn makes an “X” shape on your fingers.

Using your hook, go over the first string and under the second, twist, and pull through.

Do your first few chains in this ring.

2. Tying Yarn Together (when a skein is ending and you’re starting another one)

When you’re working on a longer project that requires multiple skeins (or balls) of yarn, it’s important to know how to correctly connect the two yarns together.

Tying it in a knot is an option, but there’s no guarantee that they will not come apart.

Also, it leaves two small tails out that are a bit difficult to work into your project.

Using what’s called a Magic Knot, you’re creating a more seamless transition.

Here’s how:

Continue crocheting until there are roughly three inches left of the yarn you’re currently using.

At that point, take your new yarn and hold it next to your old yarn, leaving a tail of about three inches of the new yarn.

Crochet one stitch holding both yarns together, then drop the old yarn and continue crocheting with the new one.

This method keeps your project from having bumps and knots everywhere and is a foolproof way to keep your yarns from separating.

3. Switching Colors

When you move on to more complicated crochet projects, you’ll probably start to switch colors while you’re working.

If you’re creating a stripe pattern with yarn that is not self-striping or you’re doing a color block project, you’ll want to seamlessly transition between the two colors for a clean, neat look to your project.

Here’s how:

Right before you stop crocheting, start doing a normal stitch with your current yarn. Insert the hook, yarn over, pull up a loop, then stop.

Finish the stitch with your new yarn by putting the new yarn on the hook and holding the tail with your fingers. Keep crocheting with your new yarn.

This is a simple but effective way to switch yarn colors.

4. Chainless Foundation Chain

A chainless foundation chain is a crochet term for combining the first row of chains and the first row of stitches into one.

This technique overall makes crocheting easier. It keeps the first row of regular stitches from twisting like it normally does.

It also prevents the frustration of realizing you miscounted the chains on your bottom row since you’re doing the base chains and first row of stitches together.

Here’s how to do a foundation chain (single crochet): 

Create a slip knot and chain 2.

Insert hook into the first chain so that it grabs the left of the first chain and the center of the stitch. 

Yarn over and pull up a loop. There should be two loops on your hook.

Yarn over and draw up another loop.

Yarn over and insert hook through both loops. You have created the first single crochet.

For the next stitch, insert the hook into the chain of the previous stitch, and repeat the same process from part one. (Insert, yarn over, draw loop, yarn over, draw loop, yarn over, draw through both loops.)

Continue to work your single crochets, but work them vertically. It will be easier than trying to do it horizontally.

You’ve now saved yourself some time and learned a new crochet skill!

5. Crocheting Over Ends

Weaving ends in is the bane of the crocheter’s existence.

It takes a long time and is tedious. But luckily, there’s another way to keep those ends in without weaving or cutting them.

After you’ve cut your yarn, hold the end of the yarn up to your current row to crochet over it until it disappears.

This gets them out of the way and saves you the pain of weaving them in.

I hope these crochet techniques help you to become a better crocheter and make this craft even more enjoyable!

Do you learn better with a physical book? Here are some crochet books we recommend:

• Modern Crochet: Patterns and Designs for the Minimalist Maker
• Modern Crochet Bible: Over 100 contemporary crochet techniques and stitches
• Complete Crochet Course: The Ultimate Reference Guide
• 7 of the Best Crochet Books You’ll Definitely Want to Own