When I returned to crochet I was very excited to learn new techniques. One of my favorites was learning to attach a new color with a standing stitch, rather than a slip stitch and chaining (I don’t remember where I first saw it). Except I didn’t love that the slip knot was there at the top of the stitch.
After playing around with it for a while, I came up with this way to start off with a standing stitch without a slip knot and chains.
This shows attaching with a dc, you can do it with other stitches too. Start by draping your yarn over your hook, so the short end is in the back.
Wrap the yarn twice over, and hold it on the hook with your finger. These are more loops than you need to make your stitch, but I find it easier to keep them on if there are extra. Keep your finger on top of them to keep them on the hook.
Insert hook where you want to attach, and draw up a loop (it’s a bit ackward until you get used to it).
Now, this part takes a bit of practice, with your yarn hand (the one holding your work, not the hook) hold the tail end of the yarn on the hook to the back of the fabric. That holds the loops on the hook so you can use it and not have to keep your finger on top of the loops. Yarn over the hook like normal…
and draw through 2 loops like a normal dc.
Yarn over again, and pull through 2 more loops. Remember there is extra, don’t pull through more than you need for doing the dc normally (as you get the hang of this, you may not need to do an extra yo).
Now here is how it looks when you add more stitches…
The first stitch looks a bit smaller at the top, but it doesn’t have a stitch on both sides to come out of. The yarn stays in place well enough without the slipknot once you do another stitch, and even better once you weave in the end.
Crochet Again 