Left Hand Double Crochet Tutorial #14: DC in the Front Loop Only

Hi, it's Deja from CrochetEverAfter.com, and this tutorial is going to show you how to double crochet in the front loops only when you're working in rows. This stitch is really good to create an elongated double crochet, and it's going to create a thinner fabric. So if you're working garments, this is a good stitch for that. So let me show you how to do that now. I'm going to show you how to double crochet in the front loop only, but I wanted to show you, I've already worked a few rows of the double crochet in the front loop only, and I wanted to show you what kind of stitch pattern this gives you. So as you can see, right in the middle of this work is a horizontal line, and that is just the back loops that I didn't work on my second row. Now, when I turn my work, You're going to see two horizontal lines, and what it is, is remember I have them right in the middle. Every other row that I turn my work and I work in just the front loop only, I leave that back loop unworked. So every other row I'm going to have that horizontal line. And say if maybe you're working a garment and you're working it vertically, you can have these ridges as part of your design. So they can create a really nice interest for your project and also when you work in just the front loop only, it gives you a flat piece unlike back loop only where it'll give you a ribbing. It gives you a flat piece and it also gives you a thinner piece because you're not working to both loops, it's not as dense. So you have kind of a thinner fabric which is good for garments or anything that you You might want to wear and have drape nicely. So, to begin our double crochet in the front loop only, we of course need to chain 3 for height. And then I always count my chain 3s as the first stitch of my row, so I don't work into this first stitch. I go straight to the second stitch. Now you need to figure out which is your front loop and which is your back loop. It looks like I have my stitches right here, facing me, which we know is definitely not correct. This is just part of my double crochet. If you get confused, turn your work sideways and you'll see the loops of your stitches along the top. Remember we looked for our V's. So this is my first V that I'm going to skip because my chain 3 counted as my first stitch. And then my second one is right here. So to easily catch my front loop, I stick my hook right between those two loops and then I push up. And that ends up popping me right through the middle of the two loops. So you see my back loop here. I yarn over and pull up the loop, and then I finish off my double crochet. So again, yarn over, right through the middle of those two loops, then pop it up, and it'll catch just that front loop. Usually you're going to push straight back to catch both loops, but if you just kind of... you can also put one of your fingers on top of your back loop so that you don't accidentally grab it, which you'll see that I do as I work across. I kind of hold that I'm going to move that down so that when I am pushing through... I only catch that front loop, so I'm going to work all the way across, that's why I made this a short swatch so that you're not having to watch me work this front loop for many stitches. It's pretty easy to get the hang of, if you know how to double crochet and you know which is your front and back loop, or once you learn which is your front loop, all you do is work Just work a regular double crochet just through that loop. But I wanted to show you what happens with these loops and how the actual fabric looks once you finish a row. And also what to do in the last stitch of your row. Because the last stitch, at least in my designs, is going to be a chain 3. Even if it's not a chain 3, if they had you not count the chain 3 and your last stitch is a double crochet, what you can do, because if you work just the front loop on your very last stitch, sometimes it can leave a big hole like this, because it's pulling up so much, you can just work into both loops of your stitch or your chain 3. Oops, I forgot to yarn over. Work through both of those loops. And you won't have the big gap that you might have had if you only worked into the front loop. Because you're usually not, you know, the very first stitch was a chain 3, so that's not in any loop. And it doesn't really take anything away from your stitch pattern. It's most likely you're going to seam or edge your outline first and last stitch, so you're not going to see that anyways. So now you can see that this was that middle stitch that I had running before I did this row. It was like that. Now I have this new row. Now you see I have two, just like I had on this side. So now these have been moved down a little. When I work the next row, I'll have that. So that is how you're going to double crochet in the front loop only.