Waistcoat Stitch.

Use a small amount of smooth yarn and a hook that lets you form relaxed, visible stitches. Fluffy yarn can conceal the opening you need. Have a removable marker ready for the first stitch of each round.

A hook that worked comfortably for ordinary single crochet may feel different here. Compare a small sample with a larger hook if necessary, but there is no fixed size increase that suits every yarn or hand. Aim for stitches you can enter without forcing the hook.

You’ll make a short open tube to practise finding the stitch centres. For a fitted project, make and measure the pattern’s gauge sample separately.

Chain twenty-four. Check that the chain is not twisted, then slip stitch into the first chain to close the ring. This slip stitch joins the ends; it is not an extra chain to crochet into during the next round.

Chain one. It does not count as a stitch. Make one ordinary single crochet into each of the twenty-four chain links, beginning in the same first chain that received the joining slip stitch.

Put the marker through the top of the first single crochet as soon as you make it. Stop after twenty-four single crochets. Do not work into the joining slip stitch or the chain one, and do not join or turn at the end of this round.

You now have an ordinary single crochet base with twenty-four tops. The active loop on the hook is separate from that count.

Keep the same fabric face towards you. Find the first single crochet using the marker, then look immediately below its top V. The stitch body has two front-facing legs that meet in another V-like shape.

Insert the hook through the centre between those legs, below the top loops. Do not put the hook into the gap between neighbouring stitches, and do not push through the fibres of a strand. This is also different from going around an entire post.

Remove the marker when you need access, keeping track of that first position. If the opening is difficult to find, tilt the fabric and follow the marked top down into its own body. Stop and identify the strands before applying more force.

With the hook through the centre of the selected stitch, yarn over and draw a loop through. You now have two working loops on the hook.

Yarn over and draw through both loops. One active loop remains. That completes one waistcoat stitch in the first position of round two.

Place the marker in this new stitch's top. The marker moves to the first new stitch of the round; it should not stay in the old round underneath your work.

Keep the drawn-up loop comfortable on the shaft. Clamping it down against the narrow throat makes the next round's insertion harder, even if this stitch can be finished by pulling firmly.

Work one waistcoat stitch through the centre of each remaining single crochet from the base round. Use each old body once. After twenty-four new tops, you have completed round two.

For round three, work directly into the centre of the first waistcoat stitch from round two. Move the marker to the new first top, then work around once more, keeping twenty-four stitches.

There is no slip-stitch join or chain one between these spiral rounds. Do not insert into the marked top in the ordinary top-loop way merely because it is easy to see. Use the marker to identify the stitch, then find its centre below.

An unturned spiral does not have a perfectly horizontal seam line between rounds. The marker tracks where your counted round begins; it does not change that construction.

Compare the ordinary base round with the waistcoat rounds. The hook enters a different place, but each stitch still makes one top V. You should have twenty-four stitches in each round.

Do not assume that a knit-like appearance guarantees the stretch, drape or gauge of knitted fabric. Yarn, hook, loop size and construction all matter. For a project, follow its specified method and measure the actual sample using the gauge guide.

Turned rows expose alternating fabric faces and require you to reassess the centre on each face. The spiral instructions here are not a complete method for working waistcoat stitch in turned rows.

If the hook keeps splitting yarn, withdraw it and separate the stitch's legs with your fingers. Make sure the tip enters between strands, not through them. A different hook shape may help with a particular yarn, but buying a sharper hook does not correct a misplaced insertion.

If the fabric becomes hard to enter, remake a short section with more relaxed loops or compare another hook size. If the count changes, check the round boundary and verify that you have not worked both a stitch's centre and its top as separate positions.

When you finish practising, leave a suitable tail and secure the end according to the finishing method you intend to use. Our finishing lesson explains why the last loop, joins and woven tails need their own attention.