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This is a half double crochet. As you can see, it's a very simple stitch, but it can
make a very lovely pattern, espiecially when you use different yarns. I'm going to show
you how to make a half double crochet. We take our basic chain and because especially
for that blanket, we are going to be edging around it so we don't need to work through
the back loop to have the clean chain edge. I'm going to work through the top loop. We're
going to count three chains - one, two and three. The third chain from the hook, yarn
over. insert hook under top two loops, yarn over. I now have three loops on my hook. Yarn
over and pull through the three loops. That is a half double crochet. I'm going to do
another. Yarn over, insert hook under top two loops, yarn over and pull through. There
are three loops on the hook. Yarn over and pull through the three loops. Yarn over, insert
hook under top two loops, yarn over, pull it through. Three loops on hook. Yarn over
and pull through. I'm going to work down the chain making half double crochets. Yarn over,
insert hook under top two loops of chain, yarn over and pull it through. I have three
loops on hook. Yarn over and pull it through. I'm going to work down the chain. It is a
very simple stitch, but it can make a very pretty pattern as we see when we go through.
I'm working through the last one. Yarn over, insert hook into the last chain, yarn over
and pull it through. There are three loops on hook. Yarn over and pull it through. When
you're turning at the end of the row, you're going to chain two to bring the height up.
Turn the work. In this particular pattern I'm going to work in the first stitch. Sometimes
you will skip that first stitch saying the chain two is the same as the half double crochet.
I'm going into that first stitch. One thing you'll notice when you look at the half double
crochet it actually has three loops. When your looking at one side it has a chain on
top. When you look at it from the other side, it also has a double chain on top. So it has
three loops you could work through. There is the far loop, the one in the center and
the one in the front. Normally you would work through these top two loops, which is what
I'm going to do now. I'm going to yarn over, insert hook I'm going into the first stitch.
I'm not going to skip one. So it's yarn over, insert hook in to the top two loops. Yarn
over and pull through. Yarn over and pull the three loops on the hook. I'm going to
continue down the row. Yarn over, insert hook under top two loops, yarn over and pull through
so there are three loops on hook. Yarn over the pull through to make the half double crochet.
You'll notice there is a edge or line across the front, but there is none across the back.
I'll do one more. Yarn over, insert hook under the top two loops and pull the yarn through
so there are three loops on the hook. Yarn over and pull through the three loops on the
hook and we have the half double crochet. Now I'm going to do work only through that
center loop. I'm going to leave the back and front loops unworked. I'm working through
the center loop and making a half double crochet. I'll do one more. You'll see that line on
the front as we had before. But now there is also going to be a line across the back.
That could create an interesting pattern. Another way of doing it would to be to work
only in this front loop or only in the back loop. Of course, when you do that - yarn over
and I'm only going through this front loop and make a half double crochet. I'll do another
one. You'll see on the side I'm working on there is no line. But if you look at the back,
you now have a chain stitch across the back. If I had worked in the back loop, there would
be a chain across the front. Again, it is just some patterns you can create with a simple
stitch, depending on which loop you would work in. I'm going to finish by working through
the last front loop, making a half double crochet in it. If I wanted to change colors,
as I was working my last stitch, I would have the three loops on my hook. Then I would bring
in my new color, by pulling it through those three loops on the hook. Now I have changed
color. My row below would be the blue, but now I'm adding the green. I always tie a knot.
Not everyone does. You can leave it without the knot and weave them in later. I don't
like to so I will always tie a knot between the new color and old color. Then I will work
the ends of my new color through as I'm crocheting and starting my next row I will always work
the end through. I will take the ends of the previous color and carry it across the new
row. I would have cut the end if I was really going to work over it. I will crochet over
that previous color so I don't have to weave ends in later. Because especially if you are
going to do something that has a lot of color changes, that could be really difficult or
boring to go back and weave all the ends in. Let me show you that pattern again because
by using really interesting, different kinds of yarn, you can make a very pretty afghan,
scarf or baby blanket or whatever you want to make with this very simple half double
crochet stitch. You can find this pattern at www.SimpleAndSensational.com. Free patterns
at www.SimpleAndSensational.com.