How to Crochet into the Foundation Chain - 3 different ways Sugar, Spice and Yarn

How do you crochet into your foundation chain? Do you stare at your new foundation chain and wonder what to do? Did you know that there are 3 different ways you can choose?

The good news is that there is no right or wrong way to crochet into a the foundation chain, as long as you are consistent across the chain! Let’s take a quick look at the different ways to work into a chain.

Let’s get started!

First, you need to start with a chain. I have a small one here for demonstration purposes. We will take a look at 3 different ways to crochet into the foundation chain: into the front of the chain, the back of the chain and into the back bump.

ball of gray yarn with a crochet hook and a foundation chain on a wooden background.

For the first method, you can work directly into the front of the chain, inserting the hook where the pin is in this picture. This works well for most projects, but some people find that it creates a bit of a gap along the foundation chain, especially when working something with a border.

ball of gray yarn with a crochet hook and a foundation chain with a pin inserted on a wooden background.

Or, you can turn the chain over and work into the back of the chain. This one also works well for a lot of projects. It can help with the gap when working a border. I find that it also works very well when working in the round using both sides of a foundation chain to get started.

The final way, and also my favorite, is to work into the back bump of the chain. This one is perfect when you are not using a border as it makes a nice, clean edge that mimics the top of a row of stitches.

All three methods of crocheting into the foundation chain yield different edges as you can seen in this photo. The purple chain is worked in the front, the dark gray is worked in the back and the light gray is worked in the back bump.

three crochet pieces in dark purple, dark gray and light gray showing the three techniques to crochet into the foundation chain on a wooden background.

There really is no right or wrong way (unless the pattern specifies which one to use). The most important part is that you are consistent throughout the project. It depends on your tension, so you need to experiment and see what works best for you.