Author Archives: Kendall Waltz

An increase is an easy way to make your crochet piece bigger. It’s usually abbreviated with inc. To make an increase in single crochet, you place 2 single crochet stitches in the same stitch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piX1Z7wE3DU&list=PL-KEOQJ7DzrHydHzWyl8wHeKvfpCJ-8Pf&index=25

After you fasten off, you’re left with a tail that needs to go somewhere. You can’t just cut it off because your whole piece could come undone and you might have a big whole in your piece! If there is one skill that I would deem the most important in crochet, I would say properlyContinueContinue reading “How To: Weave in Tails”

Squares and rectangles in crochet usually start with a line of chains plus a turning chain. A turning chain is an extra chain or two at the end of the row that adds height to the row. For single crochet, if we want the first row to be 10 stitches, we are going to makeContinueContinue reading “How To: Crochet Squares and Turning Chain”

One method to closing your circle crochet pieces is with the cinch closure. After you’ve stuffed your piece and fastened off, keep your yarn tail on the tapestry needle. In your last stitches (usually 6 or 12 stitches), weave your needle in and out through the stitches. Once you’ve gone through all the stitches, pullContinueContinue reading “How To: Cinch Closure”

Once you’ve mastered the basic stitches, color changing in the middle of your piece is just as easy. This tutorial and instructions are shown using single crochet. First step is to single crochet all the way up to the last stitch is the round of row. Then: Insert hook into last stitchYarn overPull through (stepsContinueContinue reading “How To: Color Change”

To me, the most exciting part of crocheting a stuffed animal is using stuffing! One of the most common types of stuffing is polyester and is soft and easy to use! The trick to even stuffing is to pull it apart into smaller clumps and place them in your object one at a time. WhileContinueContinue reading “How To: Stuff”

When you finish crocheting your piece, what do you do when it’s still attached to the ball of yarn? The next step is called fastening off. The best part is, fastening off is super easy. All you have to do is cut the yarn attached to the ball of yarn, leaving a few inches ofContinueContinue reading “How To: Fasten Off”

You might have noticed in your crochet kit you’ve purchased from Lousy Llama Creations or in crochet hook supply sets, little plastic pieces. These are stitch markers! Most of them either look like spirals or plastic safety pins but there are a wide variety of styles. Stitch markers are great for keeping track of stitchesContinueContinue reading “How To: Use a Stitch Marker”

When starting out crocheting, the terminology and words and numbers looks like a foreign language. I mean, it is a different language! But once you learn how to understand the words, you’ll feel like a real master. Let’s start here: [inc, sc 2] repeat 6 times (18) Ahh! Don’t panic! The part in brackets, weContinueContinue reading “How To: Read Crochet Patterns”

While there are many ways to sew pieces together in crochet, the only thing that matters to me is making sure my pieces don’t fall apart. This is just one method to sew pieces together. Personally, I use this method for everything besides putting squares together (which you should check out the mattress stitch ifContinueContinue reading “How To: Sew Pieces Together”