So far, we’ve half-double crocheted in rounds, rows, and stripes. Today, we’ll learn how to crochet in the back loops only. This technique creates ribbing that can be used in any project, with any stitch. Back loop ribbing is often seen along the bottoms of hats and the edges of garments.
I used this hdc blo ribbing to create a “faux knit” ribbing in the Beginner Ribbed Hat pattern.
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If you’re following along in the Newbie Series, welcome to Day 16! After today’s lesson, crocheters will be able to:
- Crochet in the back loops of their stitches
- Create a “faux knit” look with hdc ribbing
- Identify the back loops only abbreviation in patterns
NOTE: You can crochet into the back loops with any stitch, but this tutorial uses half-double crochet stitches.
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Identifying When to Crochet in the Back Loops
In written crochet patterns, “back loops only” is most often abbreviated as “blo,” but you may sometimes see it as “tbl,” which stands for “through back loop.”
These abbreviations are sometimes written into the row instructions, and sometimes attached to a specific stitch. For example, “ROW 2: ch 1 and turn, hdc-blo in first five st, hdc until end” means that only the first five half-double crochets are crocheted in the back loops.
However, if the row was written as, “ROW 2: (blo) ch 1 and turn, hdc across,” you would crochet into the back loops for the whole row.
Often, you’ll see ribbed patterns where the last stitch of each row is crocheted into both loops. This helps to create a straighter edge. This may be written as a note within the pattern, or it may have stitch-by-stitch instructions.
Tools / Materials
You just need a hook and yarn to get going crocheting your hdc blo ribbing!
For this tutorial, I used:
- Brava worsted in Cornflower
- J 6.0 mm hook from the WeCrochet Bright set
NOTE: My friends at WeCrochet provided the materials for the Newbie Series.
Crochet Ribbing Video Tutorial
How to Crochet in the Back Loops
- Prepare your stitch as you normally would (e.g. for hdc, I yarned over)
- Insert your hook into the back loop and complete the stitch
- Continue until you reach the last stitch in the row
- When you’ve reached the last stitch, crochet into both loops. This makes a cleaner, straighter edge than a blo stitch.
Now that you know how to crochet in the back loops, you can crochet a ribbing for any of your projects.