How to Crochet a Slip Stitch (sl st)

If you're new to crochet, the slip stitch (sl st) will be one of the very first stitches you pick up — and one you'll keep coming back to. It's the smallest and most basic stitch in the whole craft.

Unlike the taller stitches, it barely adds any height at all. Instead, its real strengths lie elsewhere: connecting rounds or separate pieces, tidying up edges, and stitching decorative lines straight onto your fabric.

Below, we'll walk through two ways to put it to work — running it along the edge of a piece, and using it to add a design on top of your work.

Along the edge of an open piece

Start by sliding your hook into the next stitch. At this point you'll spot 3 loops sitting on the hook.

Now wrap the yarn over the hook and draw it through all 3 loops in one go, so you're left with a single loop behind. Think of it as a trimmed-down version of a single crochet — you're pulling the yarn directly through both the stitch on the piece and the loop already on the hook.

And just like that, your first slip stitch is done! Work a few of them in a row and you'll see how they stay nice and flat, simply giving the edge a cleaner, more refined finish.

Adding a design on top of a piece

To stitch a design onto your fabric, begin by getting a single loop onto your hook so you can anchor it into the main piece. (You can use the same chain method we cover [here].)

Once that one loop is ready, slip the hook in between two rows of the piece. The aim here is to build accent lines that travel from the bottom up to the top. Bring the yarn from that loop around to the back of the hook — this positions your working yarn more comfortably and lets you pin the short tail down with a finger, making it much easier to get going.

With the hook seated in the fabric and the yarn in working position, wrap the yarn over and pull it through both the piece and the loop on the hook at the same time.

That creates your first slip stitch worked into the fabric. You should now see what looks like 2 stitches on the piece — the first one being the loop you started with on the hook.