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Chainless Foundation
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Chainless Foundation
©2010 Sandra Petit,
http://www.crochetcabana.com
I have put this in with the How to Crochet for Beginners because it has to do with foundation chain, but I probably would not suggest this as one of the first lessons for a beginner. I suggest learning the "regular" methods first and the special methods later.
A lot of people have trouble with chainless foundation - myself included. If you're one who turns and runs when you see ch 235 at the beginning of your pattern, then sc into each chain, this is the foundation for you. You create both the chain and the first row at the same time. If you can get the hang of it, you can save yourself a lot of grief with a long foundation chain.
The chainless foundation is also more stretchy than a regular foundation chain according to Connie at EasyVideoCrochet.com. Her videos can be found there at the blog site or at YouTube and at AllFreeCrochet. They are very thorough and you can easily see the stitches. She does one for each - sc, hdc, and dc. Teresa at the Art of Crochet also has videos on this method and they are good as well.
Below you will find the HDC first because I find it the easiest one to do. It takes a long time to do these tutorials as each step is important in understanding. Once you get the idea though, you can adapt to other stitches.
Basics of the foundationless stitch - All start off with the chain you would normally use for that stitch. When you make a foundation chain you go into the nth chain from hook - 2 for sc, 3 for hdc, 4 for dc, 5 for triple, etc. That is the number you will chain to make your foundationless stitch. Then you will always go under the top two loops of your first chain, yo, draw through, yo, draw through ONE loop. From there, it changes with each stitch, but you never go into the stitch where you see your working yarn strand. Move that strand back and forth and you will see the stitch it sits in. You will never insert your hook there or you will undo what you've just done.
Foundation HDC
In my opinion, this is the easiest one to see exactly where to place your hook. Here is Connie's video if you want to actually see this worked (and I do recommend that).
note: I just discovered a tutorial at futuregirl and she goes into the top and bottom loop of the chain in step 1.
 1) chain 3, you will yo (as in all hdc), then insert hook under the top two loops of the first chain, just as in all chainless foundations |
 2) yo, and pull through |
 3) yo and pull through one chain loosely This is your chain that would be your foundation chain if you were making one. You are making both the chain and the stitch. Notice where your working loop is, the one coming from the skein, move it back and forth and you will see the loop below that sort of "grabs" it. A loop goes around the hook so there are two "sides" to each loop. You are moving your working yarn back and forth within the loop. Those two loops are your chain. You will never go back through the loop where your working yarn is as that would undo what you've just done. So if you can find that loop, you know where NOT to insert hook. |
 4) Here I put a small strand of contrasting yarn to mark where the chain is. That is where you will place the hook to complete your hdc. |
5) yo and pull through all three loops on hook to complete your first hdc note where the arrow points, right where your contrasting yarn is.
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  6) yo and insert hook right where the contrasting yarn is - this is two views of the same thing - be sure to get TWO loops
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 7) yo, and pull through
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 8) yo, pull through ONE - you will do this for every chainless foundation. The pull through one is your chain stitch. |
 9) If you need to, you can move your contrasting yarn up to the new chain |
10) yo, pull through all three loops to make another hdc (sorry that picture got lost) |
 11) continue in same manner to make more chainless foundation hdc As you go along it will be easier to see the stitches and where to place your hook I changed to a larger hook here. I have yo, inserted hook into the chain, yo, and pulled through. You can easily see the chains here. Just make sure to grab TWO loops. |
 12) yo, pull through one - see how you've made another chain loop there? |
 13) yo, pull through all three loops for your next hdc |
 14) Here is what the top stitches look like. |
 15) Here is the view of the bottom. Very similar, don't you think? |
Foundation Single Crochet
1) ch 2, note where the arrow points. That is where you will insert
hook for the next step |
 2) insert hook under top two loops of first chain. |
 3) yo and pull through |
 4) yo and pull through one - this is your "chain" |
 5) yo, pull through two remaining loops - this is your first sc. |
 6) insert hk into the two loops of the chain, yo and pull through |
 7) yo and pull through1 loop |
 8) yo and pull through remaining two loops to complete a single crochet |
 9) insert hk into two loops of chain |
 10) yo and pull through |
 11) yo, pull through one loop |
 12) yo and pull through both remaining loops to make another single crochet |
| Continue in this manner - going into the two loops of chain, you and pull through, yo and pull through 1 lp, yo and pull through 2 lps. I made a chainless foundation (or foundation sc if you prefer) of 10 |
 If you want to do a second row you will do just as you with a single crochet row made with a foundation chain, ch 1, turn |
 work a sc in each sc from previous row |
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Foundation Double Crochet
Haven't gotten around to photos on this one yet, but you can watch Connie's excellent video
Foundation Double crochet video from Connie.
Foundation DC by Teresa at Art of Crochet
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Text instructions Foundation double crochet is
making both your beginning foundation chain and your first row of
double crochet at the same time. |
02/03/11
