Slip stitch (sl st)
sl st in US and UK patterns. German: Kettmasche.
To make a slip stitch, insert the hook into the next stitch, yarn over, and pull the yarn through the stitch and through the loop on your hook in one movement. It is the shortest crochet stitch and adds almost no height.
Step by step
Scroll through the steps and the model follows. Tap a step to jump to it.
- Start with one loop on your hook.
- Find the next stitch: the two loops lying on top of it (glowing).
- Insert the hook under both loops, front to back.
- Yarn over: catch the working yarn behind the work.
- Pull the loop through the stitch and straight through the loop on the hook, in one go.
- Slip stitch made. It adds almost no height. One loop stays on the hook.
Names and turning chain
- US
- slip stitch (sl st)
- UK
- slip stitch (ss)
- German
- Kettmasche (Km)
- Turning chain
- –
When you use it
You will mostly use slip stitches to join the end of a round to its beginning, to move the yarn along a few stitches without adding height, and to make a neat edge.
Because the slip stitch has no height, a row of them makes a firm, flat line. That is why patterns use one slip stitch to close a round in the round, then a chain to climb up for the next round.
How to count it
One slip stitch is one small V lying on top of the stitch you worked into, with almost no post below it.
Practice piece
Practice the two jobs a slip stitch does most often: closing a round and moving the yarn without adding height.
- Chain 12 and slip stitch into the first chain to make a ring. This is how many older patterns start a round.
- Chain 1 and work 12 single crochet into the ring, then slip stitch into the top of the first single crochet to close the round.
- Now slip stitch into the next 3 stitches and watch the yarn travel along the top without the work getting taller.
Your slip stitches should be loose enough that you could still work into them on the next round. If they look like a tight cord, pull the new loop up to the width of the shaft before you draw it through.
No yarn yet? For your first stitches, use a smooth, light-colored worsted-weight yarn and a 5.5 mm (I-9) hook. What yarn and hook to buy.
How it looks in a pattern
Rnd 1: 6 sc in MR, sl st to first sc to join.
Work six single crochets into a magic ring, then insert the hook into the top of the very first single crochet of the round and make one slip stitch. That closes the round without adding a seventh stitch, so the stitch count stays at six.
Common mistakes
- Pulling them too tightSlip stitches tighten easily and are then hard to work into. Keep the loop on the hook as big as your other stitches.
- Making two movesIf you pull through the stitch, stop, then pull through the loop, you have made a single crochet without the second yarn over. The slip stitch goes through both in one pull.
- Joining into the wrong stitchWhen you close a round, slip stitch into the top of the first stitch of that round, not into the turning chain.
Questions
- What is the difference between a slip stitch and a single crochet?
- A single crochet pulls up a loop (two loops on the hook), then yarns over and pulls through both. A slip stitch pulls straight through the stitch and the loop in one go, so it has no height.
- Is a slip stitch the same in UK patterns?
- Yes. It is written sl st in US patterns and usually ss in UK patterns.
- What is a slip knot?
- A different thing: the adjustable knot that puts the first loop on your hook before your first chain.