UK Term: Foundation Half Treble Crochet
UK Abbreviation: fhtr
USA Term: Foundation Half Double Crochet
USA Abbreviation: fhdc
Turning Chain: 2
Notes:
This is a great way to avoid having to work into the chain to make the first row of your crochet.
See 'Foundationless Crochet' for more information.
Tutorial:
Start by making a slip knot and 2 chains.
Then, wrap your yarn over your hook as you normally would to make a half-treble (half-double) crochet and insert your hook into the first chain.
Wrap the yarn around the hook and pull it through, again, as you normally would.
Now, here's where we depart from what we would normally do for a half-treble (half-double) crochet. We are now going to add in an extra step to making the stitch which is the part that makes this technique work.
We need to wrap the yarn around the hook and and pull the yarn through just the first loop of the three already on the hook.
What we've done by adding that extra step is create an extra loop. This is effectively our starting chain for this stitch.
Now we can go on and complete the rest of the stitch as normal, so wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through all 3 loops on the hook.
This is what we have so far. The chain of 3 we made at the beginning and a stitch. Doesn't that stitch look like it's coming out of a chain? That's the 'extra' loop that we added in.
We'll be working into this extra loop (marked with an arrow) to make the next stitch.
To make the next stitch, wrap your yarn around the hook, and insert the hook into the 'extra' loop show above, but then, tilt your work up so you can see underneath, the hook will need to also go through the smaller loop behind. I've indicated where your hook should go in the picture.
Wrap the yarn over your hook and insert under the two loops as shown above and pull through.
Now we're going to add the extra step again, so wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through just 1 of the loops on your hook to make the 'extra chain' we need for the bottom of this stitch.
Carry on and complete the rest of the stitch as normal, wrap yarn over and pull through all of the 3 remaining loops. Now we've made a second stitch, complete with it's own 'extra loop' at the bottom.
Carry on making stitches in the same way, remembering to work into 2 loops at the bottom of the row at the start of each new stitch (as shown) and don't forget to add in that extra loop step each time.
Here's how the row will look made with foundation half-treble (half-double) crochet stitches.
Next Steps:
