Basic Crochet Stitches Used to Make Simple Hats

Hello, my name is Natalie O'Shea, and today I'm going to show you some simple crochet stitches that you can use to make a hat in the round. I'm going to start with the single crochet stitch. You're going to take your yarn, and today, I'm using a double knit size yarn. You can use any yarn size you want. It's very easy to calculate the correct size for the hat once you have created your gauge which is what I am going to show you how to do today. So you're gonna take your yarn and create a slip stitch. So I'm gonna repeat, I'm gonna show you again how to make that stitch. You're going to take the yarn from the bottom, over, through the loop, and catch it like this. Try again. Take this yarn, the end of the yarn, gonna push it through the loop, and pull. And now you have a slip stitch. A slip stitch is a stitch that runs and opens and closes very easily. To make your first chain, you're going to place the crochet hook under the yarn and pull it through your first loop. I always suggest that you hold the first stitch. It makes it easier to continue on to make the further stitches. You take the yarn and pull it through you. You place the crochet hook under the yarn and pull it through, under the yarn and pull it through. Move your finger up to hold the chain. It makes it much easier. Put your crochet hook under, pull it through, under again, and pull it through. I'm going to make 10 chains, so we're gonna count them. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Because we're doing single crochet, I'm going to add another chain and this is going to be your first stitch. You're going to come in and this time, when you're going on the first row, you're just going to go into the top of the stitch, under, you pull the thread through, and you've got two stitches on your hook. You place your hook under, you pull the yarn through, and pull it through your two stitches. And your first stitch has been formed. Now you're going to go into the next stitch which is right here, and you go into the first loop, pull your yarn through, under, and pull the yarn through both stitches. And the same thing again in the next stitch. And you continue right to the end of your chain. Now we are at the end. You have your first row of stitches, you can count them, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. Because we're doing single crochet, you will turn your work, and you are gonna chain one, and just flip your work over, and start this way. We're gonna go back here and form the second row. This time, you are going to go through both hoops, as you can see here, the little V. And you're gonna pull your thread through two hoops, two chains on the hook, pull your thread through, place your hook between the two stitches, or the two hoops rather, and go through like this. It's important to hold your work quite tightly. It makes it easier for you to go through all the stitches. And here you've come to the end of your row. So now we have two rows of crochet, your first row, and your second row. And so to continue on and make your gauge, that's all there is to it for single crochet. You keep going, remembering to chain one at the end, turn your work, and through both loops of your stitch in the previous row. And you continue like this until you have a full square and that will give you a perfect gauge swatch. However, instead of 10 stitches I would suggest that you add another 10 stitches so you have a bigger square. Ideally, four inches by four inches, which is 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters. And that will give you the perfect size for a swatch to check your stitch sizes in order to calculate the perfect number of stitches for your hat.