Hi friends, Toni here from TL Yarn Crafts and welcome to my studio. I’ve been crocheting for over 20 years and I’ve learned a few things along the way. In this video, I’m sharing over 25 of my favorite tips, tricks and pro level hacks that I use to make crocheting fun and ensure that my projects are picture perfect. I’m super excited to partner with my friends at WeCrochet for this video. WeCrochet provided most of the yarn and tools used in this video on all of which are linked in the description below. And you’ll also find links to several crochet patterns I’ve created in collaboration with wecrochet. Finally, stay tuned to the very end for a special announcement. Now let’s get to those tips. If you like to use metal tapestry needles like me, here’s a great way to store them.

Metal tapestry needles are magnetic, so grab a magnet from your local craft store and keep tapestry needles in their place. So I have a lot of crochet hooks. I mean, this is barely half of them. My favorite way to store hooks is in a makeup brush organizer. This one has nine compartments and I label each compartment with the hook size and a piece of washi tape so I know exactly where everything is. Whether I’m heading out to crochet with friends or just taking a project from my studio to the couch, which is most days I like to have a crochet essentials kit nearby.

I pack this cute pouch from WeCrochet with everything I need, including a small notebook, a pair of scissors, the crochet hook for my current project, my favorite tape measure, stitch markers as well as tapestry needles a of different sizes, and my favorite pen. If you don’t have the exact yarn you need in your stash for a project, consider doubling lighter yarns to get the gauge that you need. Two strands of lace equals fingering, two strands of fingering equals worsted, two strands of worsted equals bulky, and two strands of bulky equals super bulky. While these combinations are generally accepted, be sure to check your gauge in your project anyway. When it’s time to weave in your ends, don’t get frustrated with frayed yarn. Thread your tapestry needle the easy way.

Fold the yarn over the needle, tuck the yarn snugly between your fingers, slip out the needle and then shimmy the yarn into the eye of the needle. It works every time. For this tip, let’s make a slip knot the easy way. Grab the end of the yarn in your hand, wrap it twice around your first finger, bring the second loop over. The first. First loop over and off your finger. Grip the yarn in the palm and lift with your first finger. Your slip knot is done. And now it’s time to crochet. Like most crocheters, you probably learned to work in the front of your chain to start a project. But let’s try something different instead. Work your first row of stitches in the back bump of your chain.

This makes for a much neater bottom edge of your project, especially if you’re planning to seam pieces together. There are lots of benefits of starting your project with foundation stitches instead of a traditional chain. The most obvious advantage is how flexible foundation stitches are. You can do foundation stitches with any stitch. Here we’re going to make foundation single crochet. We’ll start with a slip knot and then chain 2, 1 and 2. Pull up a loop in the first chain that you made. Chain one and then yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook. Pull up a loop in both loops to the left of the stitch that you just made. Pull up a loop, chain one, yarn over, pull over two, and you’ll keep doing that. Pull up a loop.

Make sure it goes under both of those loops at the base of the stitch. Chain one, yarn over, pull through two. Check down in the description for a link to a more in depth look at foundation crochet stitches. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of gorgeous yarn bowls floating around, but if you’re in a pinch, you can make your own. Grab a binder clip and secure it to the side of a heavy bowl just like this. Then grab the outside edge of your yarn and thread it through the loops of the binder clip. And now you’re ready to start crocheting. Every now and then you’ll see a pattern that starts with a long chain and then it tells you to join to work in the round without twisting the chain. It’s basically impossible, but I found an easy way to do it.

So begin by making your chain and then once you have a few on there, drop your hook and insert it through the front of the first chain and then back into the working loop. Continue making chains until you have enough for your project. Then slip your working loop through your first loop and you’ve got a perfect chain in the round. Now you can start working and there won’t be any twists in sight. Hey, friends, Toni here and I have many more crochet tips to come. If you’re enjoying this video, please give it a like and hit that subscribe button. Now let’s get back to it. If you want to just skip the business of joining a chain in the round at all, try a foundation row.

Simply make your row, then bring the beginning of the row around to meet the current stitch and start crocheting. It seriously is easy. Easy as that. There are a lot of recommendations out there on how to prevent holes at the beginning of your crochet rows. I’m here to share mine. In this swatch of double crochet, the rows that start with a chain three have holes, but you can see that these top rows do not. To achieve this, I start my double crochet, single crochet and half double crochet rows off with just a chain one. When I turn my work, I place the first stitch at the base of that chain one, so I don’t skip any stitches at the beginning of my rows. A double crochet will go here and in each stitch across the row.

When I make it to the end of my row, my last stitch goes into the last stitch of the row, not into the chain. So I’m going to go under both loops of the last stitch and leave the chain untouched. And that’s how I make sure the beginnings and ends of my rows don’t have any holes. Now, this tip is really great if you need to do shaping when you’re working in the round, like if you’re making crochet toys. Now, when you normally do a single crochet decrease, you pull up a loop in each of the next two stitches, yarn over and pull through all three. But if we work a couple more stitches, you’ll notice that our decrease is very obvious. It’s got an extra bar on it, and it doesn’t look like the stitches around it. Instead, let’s do an invisible decrease.

Now, to do that, you’re going to insert your hook in just the front loop of each of the next two stitches. So here’s one in the front loop and go directly to the second, and then we’ll yarn over and pull through those two loops. Yarn over, pull through the last two loops. And if we put a couple of stitches after that, you’ll notice that this decrease looks exactly like a normal single crochet stitch. And you can barely see it. Now, I heard somewhere that stitch markers are like the hair ties of the crochet world. They’re just never there when you need them. But I bet you have some other items around your home that you can use. In place of a stitch marker, a bobby pin works. Just open it up, insert it into the stitch, and that’s definitely going nowhere.

You can also use a paper clip. Just be extra careful when you’re inserting this into delicate stitches because it can split the yarn. You can also just use a scrap piece of yarn. Cut it to a length that works. Insert your hook into the stitch, pull the yarn through, and then pull the tails through the loop in the yarn. Tighten that down, and then when you’re ready to crochet again, you can pull it right out. If you’re starting a really big project, like a sweater or maybe even a blanket, you might have to begin with a long row of chains. Getting the count right on this amount of chains can be tedious, but stitch markers can help. Place markers on your chain at even intervals, maybe at every 10th or 25th chain.

Then when you count your chain, you can count the markers instead of the individual chains. These split ring markers from Wecrochet are my favorites for doing this because they slip into stitches so easily, and you can easily slip them right back out when you’re ready to start crocheting. This next hack is especially useful if you’re storing your project for a while and don’t want little hands ripping out your work. Lift your loop up nice and high, and you could leave it like this, but let’s secure it with a stitch marker. Tighten down that loop, and no matter how hard they tug, that stitch is going nowhere. I’ve heard a thousand stories about new crocheters who get weird shapes in their work because they’re missing or adding stitches to the beginning or the end of rows.

Here’s an easy way to keep stitch counts consistent, row by row. When you reach the end of your row, complete that row chain 1. Turn your work. Make your first stitch in that marked stitch and move your stitch marker up to the stitch you just completed. Now you’ve marked the beginning of your row and can work across to the end of your row again. Once you reach the end of this row, do it all over again. Work that last stitch. Work the first stitch of the next row, place your marker, and continue moving those markers up as you go. This hack shows the easiest and most seamless way to change color while working in crochet. Simply work your stitch until you get to the last step, a double crochet. That’s when you have two loops left on your hook.

Drop the old color, grab the new color, making sure you leave a nice long tail. Yarn over and pull through those last two loops with your new color. Now you can continue working with the new Color. If you’ve ever seen a pattern that says to carry your yarn up the side of your work when doing stripes, this is how you do it. So work your color until you get to the last stitch and complete that stitch to the last step. Drop the old color, grab the new color yarn over and pull through. Make sure you don’t pull that new color too tight so your stitches and stripes stay the correct height. Now you can continue to work in that new color across until you make it back to the other side.

You will have some floats along the side of your work, but just keep them even and consistent and they shouldn’t interrupt the pattern. I am a sucker for a good granny square, but I really hate seaming all those squares together. So here I’m going to show you how to join as you go with a traditional granny square. When joining granny squares as we go, we want to pay special attention to the chain spaces in the corners and between our sets of three double crochets. Now, I’m going to join this end of this unworked granny square with this end of this finished granny square. So I’m going to continue working to my corner, place my three double crochets. And each of my corners has two chains, so I’ll complete the first chain. And the next chain is where I’ll join.

I’ll simply place a slip stitch in the corner chain 2 space of the completed granny square, and that takes the place of the second chain for my uncompleted granny square. I’ll put three more double crochets into that corner space. And then before my next set of three double crochets is a chain, instead of working that chain, I’m going to slip stitch into the next chain space on my completed granny square. So that takes the place of the chain that’s between my three double crochet groups. Place a three double crochet group into the next chain space on the motif that I’m working on. Slip stitch into the next chain space on my finished granny square. 3 double crochet group into the corner. And remember that there’s a chain two space between three double crochet groups in the corner.

So I’ll make one of my chains and then join with a slip stitch into the corner of the finished motif and place three more double crochets into the corner of the granny square that is unfinished. So there’s 1, 2 and 3, and I can finish this granny square as normal. And these are joined together beautifully. When finishing up motifs that were worked in the round like A granny square. We usually finish our stitches and slip stitch in the top of the chain. 3. Now that’s fine, but it does leave kind of a knot. It doesn’t look super pretty. We can do it better. What we’ll do is an invisible join in the round. So I’ve got my three double crochet group. I’ll complete my chain one.

And now I’m going to pull my loop up nice and high and cut my yarn, leaving a pretty long tail. I’m going to pull that loop up and out of my work and put that end on a tapestry needle. I’ll then find the next stitch and then the stitch after that, which is right here. Insert from front to back through both loops of that stitch, and then insert from front to back just through the back loop of the last stitch that I created. Pull that nice and taut. And now I have a seamless and beautiful join between those stitches. When working motifs with different colored rounds, an easy way to add a new color is with a standing stitch. Here’s how to do it.

Typically in a pattern, when adding new colors for a round, you’ll insert your hook into the stitch, yarn over with the new color, pull through, and do a series of chains. And again. That’s fine, but that does not look like a double crochet. Instead, do a standing stitch by placing a slip knot on your hook. Tighten it down. And for a double crochet, we’ll start by yarning over. Hold that loop nice and tight. Insert your hook into the stitch. Yarn over and pull up the loop. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. You can now continue with your stitch pattern as normal. And that very first stitch looks exactly like. Like a double crochet. Sometimes in a pattern, after working your regular rows, you might be instructed to work evenly down the side of your rows.

This might be a little bit tricky if you don’t know what to do, but here’s an easy guide to figure that out. You’ll work one stitch in the end of each single crochet row. Work three stitches over two rows of half double crochet. Work two. Two stitches in the end of each double crochet row. And work three stitches in the end of each treble crochet row. This should give you a nice, even edge. Make sure that you’re working around the stitch and not into the stitch to make sure your edges stay nice and neat. I have had the unfortunate experience of my ends coming unwoven out of my project. I switched up how I weave in my ends and now I’m going to show you how to do it securely.

First I’m going to find five stitches to weave my end under and I’m going to work my tapestry needle under both legs of those stitches of all five of those stitches and then I’m going to pull my yarn through. Then I like to stretch the fabric a little bit to make sure that end isn’t too tight. And instead of zigzagging through my project, I’m going to skip the first leg and go to the second leg of that last stitch and weave it back through the same way that I came. This way the end is secure and it’ll never come out. Now that I run TL Yarn Crafts full time, I wear a lot of hats and I need to get a lot done in just one day. I like to use the Pomodoro method for productivity on those really busy days.

Simply set an alarm for 25 minutes and do focused work. Don’t check your phone, don’t take a break. Just keep working. When the timer goes off, then set it for five minutes and take a short break. Take that time to stretch your hands, drink some water or even get up and move around. When that 5 minutes is over, set the timer for 25 minutes and do it all over again. This type of disciplined schedule helps you get more done in less time with less distractions. As a new Crocheter books were one of my favorite resources. If you’re looking to beef up your crochet library, here are the top five books I recommend. Every which Way Crochet Borders by edie Ekman has 139 patterns for custom edgings. Crochet Stitch Dictionary by Sarah Hazel has 200 essential stitches with step by step photos.

Crochet Everyway Stitch Dictionary by Dora Orenstein helps you master shaping and in over 125 crochet stitches, also by Edie Ekman is Connect the Shapes, a book full of unique crochet motifs and how to join them. And last but not least, my most prized book, Melissa Leapman’s Indispensable Stitch Collection for Crocheters is chock full of stitches, borders and instruction that you’ll need. Thanks so much for watching this video. You are the real MVP and I get I can’t wait to see your crochet improve. To celebrate reaching 100,000 subscribers on my channel, WeCrochet and I are giving away a Beginner Crochet prize pack. One winner will receive all of the prizes you see here plus five beginner patterns from the TL Yarn Crafts Library. To enter, follow these three steps. First, like this video. Second, subscribe to my channel.

And third, comment below letting me know your favorite tip from this video. Or give me a useful tip that I didn’t mention. I’ll pick a winner on Sunday, April 5, 2020, and this giveaway is open to US residents only. Good luck.