Knotless Standing Stitches

Back in the dawn of blogging time - or, in my case, 2012 - I wrote a tutorial for the Knotless Standing Single Crochet, a free-standing single crochet worked with a new piece of yarn into an existing project. (Very handy for starting a new color when working multicolor crochet in the round, or at the edge of flat striped rows. No slipknot is used, hence the "knotless".)

At the end of that post, I hinted that the Knotless Standing technique could be applied to taller stitches, but that further research would be required - after which I apparently forgot all about the topic, until a few weeks ago when reader Jennifer contacted me to ask about a follow-up tutorial.

Thanks to Jennifer's question, I've taken a deeper (or do I mean taller?) look at Knotless Standing Stitches, and this post is the result. As you'll see, the basic technique remains the same through all applicable stitch heights, with an extra tail-weaving step added to the taller stitches.

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This technique works well with:

• US single crochet (sc), double crochet (dc), and taller standard crochet stitches
• Dc and taller clusters (not demonstrated in this post)

This technique does NOT work with:

• US half double crochet (hdc)
• Any single stitch that ends by pulling the yarn through 3 loops

Taller Knotless Standing Stitches Phototutorial (scroll down for videotutorial)

To start a Knotless Standing Stitch, wrap the new yarn across the front of the hook towards your hook hand, around the back away from your hook hand, then drop the tail in front, over the working yarn:

Holding the yarn tail in place (against the fabric for sc, against the hook for dc or taller), yarn over as many times as needed for your stitch (remember, this technique doesn't work with hdc).

Insert hook into desired stitch or space, and work the stitch as usual until you have 2 loops left on the hook (if the stitch has loosened up, pull gently on yarn tail to tighten stitch). Here I have a partially-worked Knotless Standing Dc:

Before you complete the stitch, move the yarn tail behind the hook, away from your hook hand, and over the working yarn:

Yarn over and pull through the 2 loops on the hook to complete the stitch:

On a dc or taller stitch, the yarn tail will be sticking out of the stitch post on the back. After working a few more stitches, or just before ending the round, weave the tail downwards (towards the base of the stitch), through the back bump(s) of the Standing Stitch below where the tail comes out. Always weave the tail through as many back bumps as there were yarnovers at the beginning of the stitch. (In other words, weave through 1 back bump for a dc, 2 back bumps for a treble, etc.) In this photo, I've woven through 1 back bump of my Knotless Standing Dc:

After weaving the tail down through the stitch post, weave the remainder through other stitches when and as desired.

What Size Knotless Standing Stitch Should You Use?

• If working flat, start with a Standing Stitch the same size as the remaining stitches in the row.
• If working in the round, you have two options: use a Standing Stitch the same size as all the other stitches in the round, OR one size shorter. If you start with a shorter Standing Stitch, you can close the round with a join (such as a slip stitch, slip loop join, long loop join, or invisible join) that passes over the Standing Stitch and connects to the stitch after it, thus preserving the stitch count.

Knotless Standing Cluster

To use this technique with a cluster stitch: wrap the starting yarn tail as for any Knotless Standing Stitch. Yarn over as appropriate, and work the cluster until you have 3 loops left on the hook (or until you are ready to "yarn over and pull through all loops on hook"). Move the tail behind the hook and over the working yarn, then complete the stitch. Weave the tail down through either side of the cluster as desired.

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Knotless Standing Stitches Videotutorial

This tutorial includes Knotless Standing Sc, Dc, and Tr, and shows how to start weaving in the tail for all three.

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If you have any questions about this technique, feel free to ask in the comment box below. You can also use the contact form at the upper right side of this page, or find me on Ravelry as MrsMicawber.

As always, thanks for viewing, and happy crocheting!

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