A ball of burnt orange yarn, a wooden crochet hook, a 4" white ruler and pair of filigreed embroidery scissors lay on a white background with an opaque white box on top of it containing blue text that reads "Crochet 101 Photo and Video Tutorial Series" and the website "www.hooksbookswanderlust.com" appears in blue text at the bottom of the image.
Crochet,  Crochet 101,  Crochet Tutorials

Crochet 101: Finishing Touches

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Happy Tutorial Tuesday, friends!

I’m sad to say that this is the last (at least, I THINK it’s going to be the last…but I’ve said that before) installment in my Crochet 101 series.

ICYMI, originally I only planned to have the first four tutorials (see below), but I felt it was remiss of me not to include a few other tutorials to round things out. Soooo three more tutorials LOL.

Most of the patterns and tutorials here on my blog use stitches that build on the basics, so we are walking it back a few steps to the beginning just in case you or someone you know wants to learn crochet from the beginning.

Every tutorial I’m going to post features a beginner-friendly video tutorial, so whether you learn best from photos or watching someone do it live, I’ve got you covered.

Below is the complete list of Crochet 101 tutorials. If you missed any, you can click on any of the links you need!

In each of these videos, I take a deep dive into common crochet terms, how to work a particular stitch or technique, and the structure, or anatomy as I like to call it, of those stitches.

Finishing Touches

In this tutorial, I am going to show you two methods for tying off your work once you’re done stitching AND how to weave in those ends so that they stay put!

Crochet Speak

Aside from all the stitch names, it is essential to familiarize yourself with the basic terms associated with crocheting. You will see these terms in the photos that follow as well as defined for you below. They are also covered in the videos. I’ll be adding to this list of terms each week as we cover additional material.

Yarn Tail or Yarn End: the literal end of your yarn
Working Yarn: the part of the yarn that feeds directly from the skein (pronounced skane), ball, or cake
Working Loop(s): generally refers to the single loop on a crochet hook between stitches, but can also mean the loops on your hook as you are in the middle of working a stitch
Yarn Over (abbreviated as ‘yo’): the act of wrapping the working yarn over your hook from the back to the front
Top ‘V’: references the top view of a stitch, which looks like a ‘V’
Back Bump: the bottom loop of yarn in a chain stitch, opposite the Top ‘V’
Tension: how tightly or how loosely you work your stitches.
Chain Stitch (abbreviated as ‘ch’): yarn over, pull through working loop
Pull Up a Loop: the act of pulling a yarn-over of working yarn through a stitch and up to add an additional working loop to your hook.
Single Crochet (abbreviated as ‘sc’): insert hook into the indicated stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop so that you have two working loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook.
Double Crochet (abbreviated as ‘dc’): yarn over, insert hook into the indicated stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop so that you have three working loops on your hook; yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook; yarn over and pull through both remaining loops on your hook.
Post: the vertical aspect of a stitch.
Half Double Crochet (abbreviated as ‘hdc’): yarn over, insert hook into the indicated stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop so that you have three working loops on your hook; yarn over and pull through all three loops on your hook.
Treble Crochet (abbreviated as ‘tr’): yarn over two times, insert hook into the indicated stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop so that you have 4 working loops on your hook; yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook, three loops remain on your hook; yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook, two loops remain; yarn over and pull through both remaining loops on your hook.
Slip Stitch (abbreviated as ‘sl st’): Insert your hook into the indicated stitch and pull up a loop, pull that loop through the working loop on your hook.

Video Tutorial

A full video tutorial can be watched on YouTube here.

Photo Tutorial

While much of what I talk about is really best shown to you in a video, I thought it might be beneficial to supplement the video with some photos as well.

Tying Off Your Work

There are two ways of tying off your work, and they each have their pros and cons. Method 1 looks nicer, but always makes me nervous that it might come out if snagged just right, but there’s no arguing it has the more polished look compared to Method 2. Method 2 uses a chain stitch that lends a bit more strength to the finish, but it leaves an unsightly knot. I’m going to show you both, but generally, I tend to opt more for Method 2, mostly because I usually work a border around my work, which hides that unsightly knot.

PRO TIP: Regardless of which method you choose, make sure that you leave yourself with a nice, long tail, approximately 6-8 inches / 15-20 cm, for weaving in your ends.

Image shows a swatch of double crochet with the last stitch just completed, working loop still open, working yarn uncut. Arrows point to and label each of the working loop, yarn tail, and working yarn. Text reads: "When you are ready to tie off your work, then you will need to cut your working yarn at least 6" (15 cm) long to allow for proper weaving."

Method 1

Method 2

Weaving in Ends

You’ve finished your project and tied off, now what? You don’t want to snip the yarn tail at the knot you tied out, because that would risk unraveling your work. Instead, you need to weave the tails into the fabric of your work. Grab a blunt-tipped yarn needle and thread your yarn tail onto it.

PRO TIP: Want to know the trick to weaving in ends and making them stick? Weave them multiple directions! I am going to call them passes, working a pass to the left, a pass back to the right, then one last pass to the left.

How’d You Do?

You did it! Woohoo! You now have everything you need to get you started on your crochet journey! If you are looking for some beginner projects to practice what you’ve learned, check out my Beginner-Friendly Crochet Projects board on Pinterest! Or if you’re looking for more on the basics, check out my Crochet 101 board. It has tons of resources like essential books, tools, stitch tutorials, and more!

Got the basics down and ready to try something new? Awesome!! I’ve got a whole range of Pinterest boards chock-full of patterns and tutorials based on skill level!

Beyond that, there is so much crochet-related content (and non-crochet content like books and travel 😉 ) on my Pinterest boards, I hope you consider following me!

That does it for this series, but I hope you follow along with me because there are always more stitch tutorials, patterns, and so much more! Until then, keep practicing and learning!

xx,

Pin Image: "Crochet 101: Finishing Touches Photo + Video Series; www.hooksbookswanderlust.com"

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