How to see the Crochet Stitch that will make you use more Yarn

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The secret of which basic crochet stitch is considered a yarn eater is finally revealed. There is one basic crochet stitch – single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet and treble crochet – that uses the most yarn when crocheting. That best basic crochet will make you save money and yarn.

I can finally sleep well. It has bothered me for years that I did not know which basic crochet stitch is considered a yarn eater.

Every time you looked at your yarn stash and know you needed to create a quick, but yarn preserving crochet project, didn’t you wish you would know exactly which basic crochet stitch to use? Especially as a crochet beginner you wanted to know which stitch allows you to have the fastest crochet item.

At least, I thought that way. Please, tell me I am not the only one who wanted to know which basic crochet stitch is considered a yarn eater. I mean, seriously, did we all come to the point where we crocheted a project an lost at yarn chicken?

I am furious every time, I lose at yarn chicken. In case you do not know, yarn chicken is imaginary game between you and the yarn where you will see which/who will win while finishing a project. If you win you had yarn left over after your project and if you ran out of yarn before finishing the project, you lost at yarn chicken.

Every time I loose at yarn chicken, I think about “I wished, I would have known, before starting a project, which stitch is a yarn eater!”

Well, as I started getting more upset with myself that I did not know the answer to that question, I finally said “Enough is enough, let’s do the experiment.”

How to figure out which Basic Crochet Stitch is a Yarn Eater

I came up with a logical experiment that would allow me to figure how which stitch is a yarn eater and which one is not. So, before, I tell you the answer to the so wanted question, let me tell and show you first how I designed the experiment to make it the most successful. You know, like an actual science experiment works (did I tell you that I have a science degree? 😀 ).

Materials:

• worsted weighted yarn (same skein for all swatches)
• same 5.0mm hook
• same scissors
• gauge ruler
• same crocheter to make tension the same
• scale (measure weight of swatches)

Experimental design

1. collect all the materials and have a quiet, un-disturbed space and time
2. figure out how many stitches per row make 4 inches
3. crochet all 4 swatches (sc, hdc, dc, tr) to make a 4 x 4 inch square
4. cut off yarn ends of each swatch to make length of yarn used for swatch equal
5. weigh swatches and see if one can tell the difference
6. if scale did not help, frog the swatches and compare lengths of yarn between swatches
7. determine the winner and loser, which basic stitch is a yarn eater

Now, that explained to show what I used and how I designed the experiment to determine the yarn eater of 4 basic crochet stitches, let’s finally get started with the experiment.

I crocheted all 4 swatches by having a beginning chain of 13 plus 1 for single crochet and half double crochet, plus 2 for double crochet and plus 3 for treble crochet. Then I ignored the additional chains after the 13 chains and started crocheted the stitches – one swatch per basic crochet stitch – until I had swatches that were 4 x 4 inches in size. I also did not use turning chains, but rather pulled the last loop a bit longer to start the next row (to prevent added yarn for turning chains and make the swatches comparable).

I, then, tried to weigh all the swatches, but because my scale did not have any decimal digits I was not able to see the difference between the weight of the swatches. So I had to frog them all and add a colored stitch marker to them to determine which frogged pile was for which basic crochet stitch.

As you can see, I determined that pink is for single crochet, red for half double crochet, blue for double crochet and purple for treble crochet.

Next, I held the stitch markers together and started pulling the yarn strands equally to see which strand is the shortest and which ones would come next. That was very exciting, as I had no idea which would be the yearn eater. Finally, I reached the first yarn end, then the next, then the next and finally the last one. I taped them together such that I would not loose the spot where the strands ended.

Finally, I went the other direction again to figure out which one is the shortest. It was the yarn strand for the treble crochet swatch. That one was followed by double crochet, half double crochet and single crochet. Which means the basic crochet stitch ” single crochet” is the yarn eater whereas the treble crochet stitch uses the least amount of yarn. Now, you know which basic stitch to use the next time you have to make a project where you do not know which yarn to use.

You should really watch my video below though. It shows the entire process of me making the swatches and testing the weight and showing you live how I determined the winner. Nothing was edited when it came to showing the results. It was such an exciting process to show it live on camera. I am sure you will love it as much as I do.

Which Basic Crochet Stitch is a Yarn Eater – Video Reveal

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