Reference / Techniques
The slip knot
The adjustable loop that puts the yarn on the hook before anything else happens. Every pattern assumes it silently: "Ch 20" means a slip knot is already sitting on the hook and you chain from there. It is not a stitch, it is never counted, and patterns almost never mention it.
How
- Lay the tail over the working yarn to make a loop, tail hanging behind.
- Reach the hook (or your fingers) through the loop and catch the strand that leads to the ball.
- Pull it through into a new loop and snug the knot up to the hook. Not tight: the loop should slide freely along the shaft.
Pulling the tail adjusts the loop; pulling the working yarn tightens the knot itself. If your first chain is always a fight, the slip knot is probably strangling the hook.
Counting
The loop on the hook never counts as a chain. "Ch 10" makes 10 chains after the slip knot; when a pattern later says "sc in 2nd ch from hook," it is counting those chains only, not the loop or the knot.