Welcome to the hairpin crochet tutorial page! This method of crocheting was popular during the Victorian era. It's VERY EASY. You should know how to single crochet in order to do this technique. There is a video tutorial on how to start up the lace, and a few images. At the bottom are some links to related sites.

If you can't see the tutorial below, you can download the video clip here.

Yes, I dropped the stitches and ended the video there. But you get the basic idea!

Make a slipknot. Put loop on right pole, yarn behind left pole, knot right in the middle.


Flip the loom from right to left (towards you to the left). The loop is now on the LEFT hand side. Stick the crochet hook into the loop (front to back) and pull the yarn through. Pull yarn through the loop on the crochet hook. (single crochet). Move the crochet hook OVER the right hand side of the loom so it is now BEHIND the loom. Flip the loom (right to left, again). Repeat(there will now be two loops on the crochet needle to pull through).

Make sure to keep your work in the middle of the loom. You may need to hold onto the work to secure it the first few loops.

So here are the basic steps:

  1. Stick crochet hook into/under loop
  2. Pull yarn through loop, s/hdc/or dc crochet
  3. Move crochet hook to behind work
  4. Flip loom from right to left
  5. Rinse, lather, repeat


You may run out of room on your loom. Just slip off most of the work, and keep about 3-4 loops of each side on the loom. When you have finished the number of loops/length desired, snip the yarn and pull end through last loop.

The light purple swatch is if you crochet under the loop. The dark purple swatch on the right is if you crochet THROUGH the loop. One is a denser center, the other a lighter, airier center.

There are many other methods and techniques out there. Here are some links to other sites with hairpin crochet techniques that may work out better for you, as well as patterns and more information.

You can do some cool stuff - cut the loops to have a fringe, do nifty crochet joining techniques to loop them together, and whip up lots of unique looking stuff in one or two evenings. I highly recommend the book Crocheting School for some really cool techniques for hairpin crochet (and crocheting in general!).

Here is a scarf with two strips of hairpin crochet joined together, and crocheted on the sides:

Directions on joining strips to come later, and I'm hoping to submit the pattern to Crochetme.com.

Special thanks to crafster.org peeps for all the extra info!