"No Hole" Beginning Row

 
I am going to show you how to begin a half double crochet or double crochet row WITHOUT leaving a gaping hole at the beginning of the row!

 

 


Do these first two photos look familiar to you? If you have ever worked a double crochet or half double crochet creating  a flat piece of fabric, then they must.  Between the beginning chains and the first stitch you see that all-too familiar ugly "hole".

I had decided I definitely did not like that amateurish look on my otherwise neat looking items I made. 

So, what did I do?

I realized to fill in that gap area, all I needed to do was dc or hdc 2 together at the beginning of the row, and that ugly gaping hole would be gone! 

No extra stitches on each row to contend with, no ugliness, and no flimspy edges!  

Don't know how to work a crochet 2 together? Have no fear-I will show you how to here!

We will work on a half-double crochet 2 together first:

 

 Chain 2.

See that first "hole" to the left of the chain? THAT is the hole you will begin your stitch in. The rules of crochet is that normally it is the next hole over that you begin stitching your HDC in, but not this time!

 Yarn over.

 Insert hook into that first space, grab the yarn, and pull it back through the space.

You should now have three loops on your hook.

 Now insert your hook into the next space, grab the yarn with the hook, and pull through the space.

 You should now have four loops on your hook.

 Yarn over, and pull through all four loops at once.

 This is what your hdc2together should look like.

              This photo shows the hdc2 together beginning a row.                       

This photo shows the traditional way of starting a new row with hdc.

  Can you notice the difference?

Its not that much of a difference with the half double crochet, but wait till you see it worked with a double crochet!

So, lets work on the double crochet 2 together now!

So, as with a double crochet, we begin by chaining 3.

 Yarn over.

 And just as we did with the hdc, insert the hook into the FIRST space, unlike traditional crochet methods.

 Grab the yarn, and pull it through the space.

 You should now have three loops on your hook.

 Just as working a double crochet, yarn over, and pull through the FIRST TWO loops.

 You should now have two loops remaining on your hook.

 Yarn over, insert hook into the NEXT space, yarn over again, and pull yarn through.

 You should now have four loops on your hook.

 Yarn over, and pull through two loops.

 You now have three loops on your hook.

Yarn over, and pull through all three loops on your hook.

 Your work should now look like this.

This photo shows the dc2 together beginning a row.

 This photo shows the traditional way of starting a new row with double crochet.

BIG DIFFERENCE!!!!

 So there you have it!

 A new and improved way to start your rows on most of your basic, flat pieced projects! Perfect! 

 

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Have a LOVEly day everyone!

Love all you do, and those you have, with all your heart!