Left Hand Double Crochet Tutorial #7: DC Increasing When Working in Rows

Hi, this is Deja from CrochetEverAfter.com, and this tutorial is going to show you how to increase and double crochet when you're working in a row. So let's get started. Alright, I'm going to show you how to increase and double crochet when you're working in rows. This is just a little swatch that I made to show you kind of what it looks like when you increase on both sides of your project. Say if you're making like a shawl. I started with three double crochets down at the bottom and then the first row I just increased by one stitch in the middle and then as I went up the stitch next to my ending stitches were the stitches that I increased. So I did chain three and then I increased and I double crochet and I increased on the end. So I just kept doing that all the way up and I got this nice triangular shape. As you can see, I have some kind of big holes for my chain 3s that can be masked by edging or by doing a beefy chain 3. So here and here, I did the beefier chain 3, which you can see minimized the holes. And I'll show you how to do the beefy chain 3 so that these holes aren't as visible. So I'm going to go ahead and just start with the 3 double crochets down here, show you how to do that, and then we'll work from there and move that out of the way. So I'm going to do my funny slip knot. I wrap my yarn twice, and I pull through, then I wrap it again and pull through again. And that creates my funny slip knot that I usually use in my own private projects. It does pull all the way out. I'm not sure how I learned how to do that, but I like to show it on a couple of tutorials every now and again. In case somebody likes the idea of it and wants to use that instead of the twisting the yarn and pulling through method. So to begin increasing, what I want to do is create four chains. When I do this, I create three chains. My last three are going to count as my first double crochet, and then my fourth chain is is going to be the chain that I work into. Now I want to create two more double crochets into that chain. So I'm just going to put two double crochets in there. So right now I'm already increasing. By increasing, all you do is just add more stitches into a previous stitch you worked into. It's very easy to increase. Decreasing takes a little bit more brain power because you have to remember what you're doing. But to increase, all you do is just add stitches where the pattern tells you. So now I have three double crochets, I have my chain three, and then those two that I just made, and I'm going to turn my work and I'm going to increase again. I'm going to chain three, and I'm just going to do a normal chain three so you can see the skinny chain three versus the beefy chain three. And then that chain three counts as my first stitch, so I'm not going to work into that first stitch. So that means I have two more to work into. I'm just going to increase in this middle stitch to continue my triangle. You could increase into this first stitch and two into this last stitch and it would make kind of a wider triangle. It's completely up to you. There's no wrong or right way to make your triangle or to increase. I'm just doing this as a sample of how one particular way to increase to create a triangle. So I'm going to yarn over and I'm going to insert my hook into my next stitch and perform a double crochet. And then to increase it, I'm going to yarn over and I'm going to go back into that stitch. So if I pull on it, I can easily see where my hook needs to go. Right back under both of those loops. You will usually work under both loops unless the pattern tells you otherwise. It might tell you just the front loop only or the back loop only. Or it could be a front post stitch and you have to work around this post here. That's a whole other tutorial. So I'm going to yarn over and I'm going to do a double crochet in this chain 3. And now I have increased this second row by 1 stitch. I had 3 here and now I have 4 because I increased 1 stitch by 2 stitches. Now the next row I want to increase on both sides so that I can get my V or my triangle starting to go out. So I chain 3 and I'm going to do the beefy chain this time. So, to do a beefy chain, that I like to call the beefy chain, all you do is just pull out your chain a little bit, so it's a little longer than your actual shaft, and do all three that way. Just pull them out a little bit. And it makes them taller than a normal chain three, but because you're going to double Double crochet into this next stitch, it's going to squish that tall. Chain 3 down, so it squishes it down, which makes all of these loops kind of squeeze out a little, makes them look a little fatter, so they look more like that double crochet. So by doing the beefy chain, it minimizes this hole that you get right here. You can see this hole is much smaller than this one over here. Then I'm going to increase again in that same stitch that I just made a double crochet in, and easily, if you need to, pull it, and you can see the hole where it goes. A double crochet there, and then I'm going to double crochet in the next stitch that I come to, so that I can start making that even triangle that I showed you earlier. So I make two double crochets in that stitch, and then I'm going to just double crochet in my chain three. You can increase just about anywhere, and it's going to give you different outcomes. You can increase on your ending stitches instead of the one right next one stitch in. If you increase in the center of your triangle, it'll start. Folding out so it'll make almost like a granny square. So depending on where you put your increases you're going to have different effects But that's how that's all you need to do to increase is just add as many stitches That the pattern calls for in the stitch that you're working Because sometimes it might even say double crochet three times or four times in your next stitch. So just follow what the pattern says. However many times it tells you to work into your stitch, just keep going back into that same stitch and work and work and work. And that is how you increase in double crochet.