Left Hand Double Crochet Tutorial #13: DC in the Back Loop Only

Hi everyone, it's Deja Yadmir from crocheteverafter.com and this tutorial is going to show you how to double crochet in your back loop only. This can create a wide ribbing effect and it makes a stretchy fabric. So let me show you how to do that right now. So now we are going to double crochet in our back loop only and I've already made a few rows so you can see what the stitch pattern looks like in a small swatch and you can see if I turn it sideways it's almost like peaks and valleys because when you work in the back loop only in every single row you get a ribbing, a ribbing effect where your fabric is very stretchy and it creates This little peak and valley pattern. So you also get the front loop ridging on each peak depending on which side of your project is facing up. So you can create a nice little texture to your project or create a nice little ribbing. Say maybe you're making a beanie, you can do this for the brim to make like a little vertical ribbed brim. So I'm going to show you how to work this. It's fairly easy. If you know how to double crochet and you know how to tell your front loop from your back loop, you can easily do this stitch. So I always turn my work to start my next row. And I'm going to chain three and I always count my chain threes as my first double crochet. And now I need to figure out which is my front loop and which is my back loop. So if you look at the front of these On one of these stitches you see these two loops here. Don't be confused, these are not your loops that you need to choose your front or back loop from. Because if you chose your back loop here, you're actually working into your front loop, because you need to turn your work so that you see the top of your stitches. That's the loops that you're going to be working into. So you have your front loop, which is the loop that's closest to you, it's in the front. Then you have your back loop, the one that's further away, or in the back. So I need to work into my back loop. So I'm going to yarn over. Skipping this first stitch, this first V, because this chain 3 is taking the place of the stitch that I would work into this stitch, this previous stitch. And instead, I'm going to work into my second V, or my second stitch. So, to easily catch my back loop, what I do is I stick my hook right in the middle of my V, and I push down. And I easily catch that back loop. I'm going to yarn over. And I'll finish off my double crochet. Again, I just push right through the center of that stitch and push down, and I'll catch just that back loop. And once you get used to doing that, you'll end up working your back loop only stitches quite quickly. That's just the little trick to make it easy. Instead of trying to sit here and, you know, pull it forward and try to figure out how to get your hook in there, no matter how you're holding it, just stick it straight down into Come into your stitch and push backwards. You'll catch just that back loop. And I'm going to go ahead and work this short I'm going to pull out of the way. This short row across so you can see how my next row of peaks and valleys form. You can see by not working into that front loop I get that ridge. So you know that that's going, the ridge is what makes it bend. Which is quite different when you work in just the front loop only. Because it stays flat when you work in the front loop only. It just creates a thinner fabric. Now when I get to my last stitch of my row, for me it's going to be a chain 3, because that's how I design. I use the chain 3 as my first and last stitch. If the designer says that the chain 3s don't count as your stitch, and say that this was your last stitch, what I would do instead of working in just the back loop only, because you can see this big hole that you get, what you can do is just work through both loops. for that very last stitch. That way it won't pull up as high. And usually the first and last stitch you can't really tell the ribbing or the back or front loop. Same thing if it's a chain 3 and you're working into that, catch two loops. Catch this loop, this back loop here, and catch this bottom bump because it'll create less of a hole when you finish So see, this is the stitch that I get when I grab both of those loops. your stitch. I get, you know, a hole that's the same size as the rest of my stitch holes. If I grab just this back loop here, like I like to do in my foundation chain, I get a really big pull, almost as if I was doing just the back loop only. So grab both loops and you won't have those big holes on the edges. Most of the time it won't even matter because you will be edging or seaming whatever you're making with this stitch. But if it matters, if you're not going to be seaming it, grab those two loops. So you can see I just created another row of ridging. And this is a nice little stretchy fabric, good for lots of uses. So that's how you double crochet in the back loop only.