Twisted Single Crochet (Cheat Crab Stitch)
If you love the look of the Crab Stitch, but working backward hurts your brain, then this tutorial is for you!
The Twisted Single Crochet is a clever cheat. Instead of working in the opposite direction to what you normally do, you will twist the working yarn around your hook to create the iconic Crab Stitch look.
Twisted Single Crochet is a beautiful way to finish beanies, gloves, blankets, etc. We have used it in a few of our patterns as it tends to be more beginner-friendly than the traditional Crab Stitch.
We’re going to teach you how to crochet the Twisted Single Crochet in 3 easy steps!
Step 1
The Twisted Single Crochet starts just like a standard US single crochet stitch:
Insert your hook into the next stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop
Step 2
Now this is where things get a bit weird…
We’re going to twist the working yarn down and around the hook:
Twist the yarn to the left and around the bottom of the hook
Step 3
In the final step, we are going to finish like a normal single crochet:
yarn over, pull through 2 loops on the hook
Repeat
That’s it! You’ve finished your first Twisted Single Crochet.
Now repeat the above steps around your piece.
We love this stitch around the brim of beanies and to accept the top of fingerless gloves. It’s also a simple and eye-catching finish for blankets and loveys.
Tip: Did you know that there are different crochet terms for US and UK stitches? We have seen this confuse many new crafters! The basic rule to tell one from the other is this: if there is a Single Crochet (sc), then the pattern is written in US terminology. A Single Crochet in UK terms is a Double Crochet. All our patterns (including the one below) are written in US terms.