Hi Friends! In this how to crochet tutorial, I will be teaching you how to make the crab stitch.
This stitch is also sometimes referred to as the “reverse single crochet.” This stitch gives a ridge effect along the top of your work, making it great for borders or edges.
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Follow along with the video or scroll down to see the written tutorial with step by step photos to crochet the crab stitch.
How to crochet the Crab Stitch
For the crab stitch we’re going to work in the opposite direction, so instead of working from right to left, we’re going to work left to right.
I’ll be showing two examples of how to work the crab stitch. One shows how you would work the stitch if you were crocheting on a flat piece. The other is going to show how to do the stitch when crocheting in the round. The crab stitch is worked exactly the same for both examples, and for the round piece I’ll show how to finish the round.
Let’s start with a flat piece. To start, ch 1. Then working to the right, skip the first single crochet, and go into the second single crochet. Insert your hook into the stitch, the working yarn will be to the left of the hook. Take the hook and place it on top of the yarn and pull through the stitch.
The loop on the right will be the loop that was on the hook before we inserted it into the stitch. The loop on the left will be the yarn we just pulled through the stitch.
Yarn over and pull through both loops on the hook to complete the single crochet.
After you’ve completed the row, you’ll notice that ridges have formed and these are going to be the crab stitch.
Now let’s move on to working the crab stitch in the round.
To start, ch 1. Then working to the right, skip the first single crochet, and go into the second single crochet. Insert your hook into the stitch, the working yarn will be to the left of the hook. Take the hook and place it on top of the yarn and pull through the stitch.
The loop on the right will be the loop that was on the hook before we inserted it into the stitch. The loop on the left will be the yarn we just pulled through the stitch.
Yarn over and pull through both loops on the hook to complete the single crochet.
On a round piece, once you get back to the start and you have the number of stitches for the round, you’ll be able to see this little gap here.
To eliminate this gap, make 1 extra crab stitch. To do this I’m going to insert my hook under that ch 1 from the beginning and make the extra crab stitch. Then fasten off and weave in the tail. I like to weave the needle right into the first crab stitch then down into the piece.
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And there you have it! How to Crochet the Crab Stitch. If you’d like to learn more about crocheting, here are my other crochet how to stitches and techniques!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
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Happy Crocheting!
Lauren
