Decreasing is a little more involved than increasing in crochet. For increasing, we made two stitches in the same stitch -- easy peasy. For decreasing, we will essentially stitch two stitches together. You do this by making half of the first stitch, starting the second stitch, and combining them in the end. The videos will show you what to do. Just watch those.
I made a decrease video for each stitch I could have done them all into one, but I think having them separated will give you a quick reference later if you need to come back and just watch one of the stitches. The technique for each stitch is basically the same so by the time you watch all of the videos you should have a solid understanding of how decreases work.
Single Crochet Decrease
Half-Double Crochet Decrease
Double Crochet Decrease
Treble Crochet Decrease
Double-Treble Crochet Decrease
* Please excuse that I couldn't keep my hands away from the lens so I kept getting out of focus and at 57 secs I say to go through all 4 loops on the hook when clearly there are 3. I filmed this one at like three in the morning before we left for Denver. I had this crazy idea that I would have all this time to edit video on the plane so I HAD to be finished filming all of the upcoming classes. Clearly, filming at 3 am is not a good idea.
Again,decreases are usually written in the pattern. Sometimes they write out all the steps in the pattern and other times they just put dc dec and then give the directions in the back of the book. Vintage patterns could say something like "decrease in stitch until there are 5 stitches left." Usually I find that the older the pattern, the more vague the directions. This is usually the same with recipes. Anyone else notice that?
The next lesson will be about creating texture but don't forget how to make your increases and decreases because after that we'll move on to working in the round and granny squares and both of those will use what we've learned about increases and maybe a little about decreases. If you have any questions/frustrations leave them in the comment section.
Credits - Chalkboard backgrounds: Kitschy Digitals by Danielle Thompson Chalkboard Paper Kit. Fonts used: school script dashed, Rudiment and Homemade Apple.
