Crocheting in the bottom bump of the beginning chain creates an edge on the bottom of your work that matches the edge on the top of your work. This is a great technique for when you want to have a beautiful bottom edge. It also can be helpful for patterns where you will rejoin the yarn on the bottom edge again to work another part of the pattern such as in my Daphne Shawl pattern. This tutorial takes you step by step through how to crochet in the bottom bump of the chain.
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This technique can be a bit fiddly at first because you will need to insert your hook carefully into the bottom bump of the chain. Keeping a uniform and looser tension will help.
How to Crochet in the Bottom Bump of the Chain Step by Step Tutorial
STEP ONE
After completing a row of chain stitches, the top of the row will look like this. You will see the V shapes of the top of the stitches.
STEP TWO
When you turn the row of chain stitches over, you will see the bottom bumps. For every V on the top of the chain, there will be a single strand of the bottom bump on the bottom of the chain.
STEP THREE
To crochet in the bottom bumps of the chain, work with the bottom of the chain facing you. Then, insert your hook under the single strand of yarn at the bottom of each chain to make each stitch. In this photo the crocheter is starting to make a single crochet stitch by inserting the hook in the bottom bump of the chain.
STEP FOUR
This is a view of how the bottom of the work looks after completing five single crochet stitches in the bottom bumps of the chain. You can see that it makes the V shapes on the bottom in the same way that that V shapes appear on the top of the chain. The two edges will match.
STEP FIVE
Flipping the work over, here is a view of the top of the chain. You can see the V shapes on this edge as well.
STEP SIX
Finally here is a view of how the chain looks from the side.
For a project that uses this technique, check out the Daphne Shawl pattern. For other crochet tutorials, check out my crochet tutorials page.