Stopping

★☆☆ - Beginner

Coming to the end of your row or round, or maybe you've come to the end of  your crochet and want to finish completely.  How do you stop exactly?

It's super easy to stop but I use a slightly different method, depending on whether I plan to keep crocheting in a new colour, or if I want to stop work entirely.

METHOD ONE: WHEN YOU WANT TO KEEP GOING

If I've come to the end of a section but I'm just planning to change colour then keep going, here's what I do when working rows.

 Work to the end of the row as usual, until you've completed the last stitch.

Then, cut the yarn so you've got a good 4-6 inches of length left.  (You'll need that to securely weave the ends in later).  Then simply pull up on the hook so that the end of the yarn pulls through the stitch.

Keep pulling until the cut end comes completely through the stitch like so.  Now you're ready to knot on a new colour.

And here's the same thing for working in rounds.

Once you've got the end of the round, the pattern will mostly likely end with a slip stitch, to close the beginning and end of the round together.  Once this stitch is made, you can end the round.

As we did with rows, cut the yarn then simply pull up on the hook so that the end of the yarn pulls through the stitch.

 Keep  pulling until the end of the yarn pops out of the stitch completely.

METHOD TWO: WHEN YOU WANT TO STOP COMPLETELY

Here's what I do when I want to finish the work off while working in rows.

First I get to the end of the row and have made the last stitch.  This time though I'm going to wrap the yarn over the hook once more.

 And pull the yarn through the loop already on the hook.  Then I cut the yarn, leaving about 4-6 inches so that I can  weave the ends in later.

 Then I lift the hook up so that the loop gets larger.

 And just keep going until the end has come right out through the last loop we made.

Give the end a little tug to secure that last loop nice and tightly and that's the end of your piece.

Here's how I'd do the same thing when working in the round.

 After the last slip stitch has been made, you can cut the yarn and pull through the end, just as we did for rounds 'when you want to keep going' above.

 To tidy the end away though, I like to pull it through the to back and I do this with my hook.  So insert the hook into the exact same place you just made your last slip stitch, except this time insert the hook from the back of the work so the end pokes out the front.

 Then grab the cut end of the yarn with the hook and pull it through to the back.

Keep pulling until the end has come all the way through and the cut end is now to the back of your work, nice and tidy.

Next Steps:

✽  For an almost seamless way to end your rounds have a look at making an invisible finish