Tips for working into chainless foundation crochet rows

A few weeks ago, I had a question from someone who was working one of my patterns. In the pattern I use a chainless foundation row to start off and had instructed the crocheter to turn at the end of the row.

In my mind, this was natural instruction after completing a row. Only it turns out that you don’t actually turn. You flip!

I’ll explain this in detail below, but the conversation reminded me that I had another great tip I’ve been wanting to share about working into chainless foundation rows.

So I thought I’d take some time to make a video and write a tutorial explaining the various different ways you can work into a foundation chain. A two birds with one stone kind moment!

What is a chainless foundation row in crochet?

Chainless foundation crochet rows are a great way to start a project without working into a long chain.

With this technique, you are essentially creating the chain and the stitch at the same time. The resulting row is a bit stretchier, less likely to be twisted and gives a neat edge.

You may find that the first row is a little curved or a little longer than a traditional starting chain, but as you work into it, everything pulls into shape nicely.

You can use it with any of the basic crochet stitches and it’s a game changing technique.

If you are new to chainless foundation rows, I highly recommend giving it a try. You can find a tutorial here.

This covers (US) single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet foundation rows, but once you ‘get’ the principle behind it, you can use it with any stitch.

Do you turn at the end of a crochet foundation row?

This is the question that triggered this tutorial, so I want to take a moment to answer it properly.

When you work a chainless foundation row (as when you make a chain), you are working in the opposite direction to when you crochet rows within the pattern.

So I am a left hander and work rows from left to right and rounds clockwise. Right handed crocheters do the reverse; working rows from right to left and rounds anti-clockwise.

When working a starting chain or foundation row, this is reversed, so my foundation row is worked right to left and a right hander’s from left to right.

This means that when you get to the end of the row, you do work in the opposite direction when you start the next row. But you don’t need to turn to do it.

With a stitch such as the foundation single crochet however, you will need to flip the work over.

That’s because as well as working in the opposite direction, a foundation row is also worked upsidedown. That is, the tops of the stitches you create are actually on the bottom of the row.

In the image below of a row of foundation single crochet, you can see that the stitches created have the tops at the underneath of the row. So to work into it, you need to flip them to the top.

Essentially, my experiments with bending my mind around this has made me realise that the foundation rows are worked almost in mirror image of the way one would normally work.

I’m not sure how I never realised this before now!

The videos at the end of the post may help you visualise this better. I have a left and right handed version.

How to crochet into a chainless foundation row

Now to the other tip I wanted to share. A twist on how you work into a foundation row.

It’s important to realise here that your foundation row consists of a chain on one side, and the stitch on the other. So on the top of the row, your work looks like a typical stitch, and on the bottom it looks similar to a chain that has been worked into

The most common way of crocheting into a foundation row.

As highlighted by the need to flip your work, the traditional way to work into a foundation row is to insert your hook into the top V of the stitches you created.

The image below shows where to insert your hook. It is like working into a normal row of crochet – this is part of the beauty of a foundation row.

An alternative way to work into a chainless foundation row

Then I learned, thanks to my friend Joanne a the Crochet Project, that it was possible to turn that on it’s head and actually work into the chain side of the foundation row.

You chain 1 to turn, as you would the traditional way, but instead of flipping it and working into the tops of the stitches, you work into the ‘chains’ instead.

Essentially this is like working into the back of a chain.

Here’s the result:

Why work into the chain-side of the foundation row?

There are several advantages to working into the chain side of a foundation row.

From the image above, you can immediately see that there are smaller gaps in this row. This in itself gives a nicer look.

You will also notice that the bottom of your work will look like a typical row of stitches rather than a row of chains.

Here’s what the bottom of your work will look like with the two techniques

As well as giving a neater finish, this has other implications which make it easier to work into if your joining motifs for example, or if you are seaming your work together.

But honestly. I just like the way it looks!

Here’s a comparison of the two techniques after 4 rows to give you a side by side comparison. Can you see the difference? Which do you prefer?