Crochet - finishing off?

[Judyandherdreamofhorses]

How do I do a nice neat finish? The last thing I made (a basket) is sort of ruined by the awful job I made of finishing it off. Any examples of how to do it right? Thanks.

I slip stitch, cut off leaving a 6" tail, pull through and tighten. Thread tail onto darning needle and weave through 8-10 stitches then cut off close.

How did you do it last time?

I have a vague recollection of reading about finishing not with a slipstitch but cutting off a long tail before you'd do that slipstitch, thread a darning needle and finish it off like that.

I tend to stick a row of crab stitch around the edge of things that need to look neat.

Well, the pattern said to do an 'invisible finish' and linked to a description similar to Soupy's. It sounded easy but looked a mess. That was after it went on about the horrors of knots.

I'll try your method this time, Pidge.

But what is crab stitch?

It's also called "reverse single crochet" in the US. Basically, you DC round but go the opposite way - if you're right handed this means working round to the right rather than the left. It produces a finish like a twisted rope rather than he normal stitches.