QuestionFoundationsBy The Hook Desk29 Aug 2026
How many chains do I turn with, and do they count as a stitch?
The turning chain is the single most common source of a row that grows or shrinks by one stitch every time. It is worth understanding what it is before deciding whether to count it.
Step by step
Note 1What the turning chain replaces
A turning chain is a stand-in for the first stitch of the new row. A dc is roughly three chains tall, so ch 3 gives you a post the same height as the dc you would otherwise have worked, which keeps the row edge vertical.
Because it only imitates the height, it has no top two loops for the next row to work into. That is the whole problem: in the following row, the turning chain from the row below is a gap, not a stitch, and if you skip it your fabric narrows by one stitch per row.
R1The counting rule that removes the ambiguity
Work the last stitch of each row into the turning chain of the row below. Then the chain is a stitch for counting purposes, the row count stays constant, and the edge is a straight column of chain loops.
If you prefer not to count it, that is fine too, but then be consistent: never work into it, and accept that the first stitch of each row is worked into the first true stitch. What breaks a project is switching between the two halfway down.
Note 3When to skip the turning chain entirely
Standing stitches replace the turning chain when you want an invisible edge: pull up a loop, and instead of chaining, work the first stitch with that loop as its base. The row edge becomes a normal stitch and there is no chain column at all.
This matters at colour changes at the start of a row and on the outer edge of a blanket, where a chain column reads as a row of tiny holes in a photograph. It does not matter inside a piece where the edge will be seamed.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Counting a chain-1 turning chain as a stitch in sc. It is too short to be one; count it and the row grows.
- Working the first stitch into the same stitch the turning chain came out of, which adds a stitch every row.
- Using ch 3 for hdc. The edge will lean because 3 chains is taller than an hdc post.