Textured Stitches Made Easy: The Crab Stitch
When making amigurumi you might not typically think of border stitches, but they can be an excellent way to finish off your project. One of the most common (and possibly most hated) border stitches is the Crab stitch. While it looks amazing, it is a bit tricky and sometimes frustrating. However, with a few tips and tricks this stitch doesn’t have to be the bane of your project. Let’s get into this edition of Textured Stitches Made Easy: The Crab Stitch!
Textured Stitches Made Easy: The Crab Stitch
The Crab Stitch is a border stitch, meaning you’ll work it as the last round or row of your project. It looks especially good on things like the edge of a wide-brim hat or the rim of a basket. It’s characterized by it’s slanted stitches and slightly ridged appearance.
I’ve used the Crab Stitch in several of my patterns including Cassandra the Cat, Sammie the Turtle’s Cauldron Shell and one of the mini patterns inside my ebook, A Witchy Mystery.
How to Do the Crab Stitch
If you’d like to practice this stitch, you can do so on any swatch/sample with a simple edge. For my example, I crocheted a flat circle in the round. However, you can also work this stitch on a flat piece.
To start the Crab stitch, you’ll need to work in the opposite direction that you normally crochet in. As a right-handed crocheter, I normally crochet counter-clockwise, so for this stitch I’ll be working clockwise. If you’re left-handed and normally crochet clockwise, you’ll instead work counter-clockwise for this stitch.
NOTE: If you’re working this stitch on a flat sample, just don’t turn your work.
- Working backward, insert your hook into the next stitch.
- Yarn over and pull up a loop. Make sure to pull the loop up a little taller so it’s easier to work into.
- Yarn over and pull through.
Continue working backwards along the edge of your piece until you reach the end.
Make sure to keep your tension a little looser so that you can work into each stitch easier. Since you’re working in the opposite direction that you normally do, you might notice that you’ll crochet a lot slower when doing this stitch. It does take a bit of practice and patience, but the finished look is definitely worth it.
Want to see this stitch (and the following one) in action? Check out the video tutorial below:
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A Different Approach
When I posted on social media about using the Crab Stitch, it quickly became apparent how completely annoying many people found it. And honestly, I totally get it. The problem isn’t that the stitch is too hard. It’s that it feels awkward, slows you down and can be very tedious to do.
So what if we could get the same look without the awkwardness of working backwards?
That’s where the Reverse Single Crochet comes in!
How to Do the Reverse Single Crochet
Instead of working backwards, with this stitch, you’ll work in the same direction that you normally do. For right-handed crocheters, that’s counter-clockwise and for left-handed crocheters, that’s clockwise.
NOTE: If you’re working on a flat sample, this time you will turn your work.
- Insert your hook into the next stitch.
- Yarn over and pull up a loop. Make sure to pull the loops up a little taller than normal.
- Twist your hook in the same direction that you crochet in (right-handed: counter-clockwise and left-handed: clockwise).
- Yarn over and pull through.
Continue the steps for each stitch all the way around.
If you’ve never done this stitch before, it’ll probably feel weird to twist your hook around, but after a few stitches you should fall into a rhythm. The biggest key is to pull your loops up taller so the twist doesn’t make the loops too tight to work into.
The Crab Stitch vs The Reverse Single Crochet
Can you tell which is which in the image above?
These stitches look identical except for the direction in which the stitches slant. The Crab Stitch will always slant in the opposite direction that you normally work in while the Reverse Single Crochet will always slant in the same direction that you normally work in.
While these two stitches are technically two totally separate techniques, they look so similar that I’ve often seen them used interchangeably. Plus, since they are border stitches and you’re not going to work any rounds/rows afterwards, you can really use either one depending on your preference.
So the next time you come across the Crab stitch in a pattern, if you want to use the Reverse Single Crochet instead, you definitely can! And vise versa.
Wrap Up
Have you ever tried these stitches? Which of these two do you like better: the Crab Stitch or the Reverse Single Crochet? Do you think there are situations where one would be better than the other? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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Til next time, have a wonderful day!