Foundation rows are an amazing way to start your crochet projects without making a long chain. But what about color changes on that first row?

Never fear, it’s totally do-able, and really not that hard or different from regular color changes.

When you have a pattern that calls for a long foundation chain you can work the first row and the chain at the same time. And if that row is in different colors you may need to change in the middle of a row. I’ll show you how here.

Crochet hook with foundation double crochet row in reds and green. — The working yarn is leading up to the balls of yarn. The yarn tails are shorter and go down.

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Tip

Use your yarn tail to sew over the old yarn and clean up those transitions.

If you also need to change colors at the end of the row it’s the same as you would in any crochet stitch. You’ll work to the end of a row then you can yarn over and pull through like I do here, or cut the yarn and rejoin it with a slip stitch.

Either way you choose to do it you’ll have a new yarn color ready for the turning chain and a new row.

Stop before last stitch to change colors on the next row.

There are a lot of crochet techniques that use color changes: corner to corner crochet, tapestry crochet, mosaic crochet. And there are different ways to accomplish changing colors of yarn.

White crochet square with mint color changes. — You can see how clean the main color stays here even with white.

For this tutorial I’m using my Plaid Waffle Stitch Dishcloth pattern. So it’s worked in regular old double crochet. We’ll make the color changes on the right side and in the middle of the row. Since they’re blocks of color I carry it up so you can pick it up from the previous row.

Crochet waffle stitch sample in red and green plaid.

Video

You can watch the video tutorial on my YouTube channel.

Change Colors on Foundation Row

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Active Time: 5 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Intermediate

Estimated Cost: $1

Learn how to change colors on a foundation row in this step by step tutorial.

Materials

Any yarn, I'm using a #4 medium worsted weight yarn in two yarn colors: red (color a) and green (color b).

Tools

A crochet hook size to match your yarn. I'm using a 4.5mm hook here.

Instructions

First we need a few foundation double crochet stitches. In the first color, put a slip knot on your hook.

To start we actually do need a couple of chain stitches, but only 2! So I chain 2, yarn over, insert my hook into the second chain from my hook.

Yarn over again, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through 1, (hold on to this spot) yarn over, pull through 2 loops on my hook, yarn over and pull through the last 2 loops on my hook. First stitch made.

Now to make the next stitch you'll repeat that again, starting in the spot you held on to where you made the chain before the double crochet. If you need a full foundation double crochet tutorial check that out here.

Continue working foundation stitches until the last stitch in that same color (one stitch before your color change).

Begin this stitch as normal: yarn over, insert hook into the bottom chain,
yarn over, pull up a loop, (hold on to this spot), yarn over and pull through 2 loops on my hook, stop here. You should have a yarn over and pull through left to complete the stitch.

You can also use this basic idea to do color changes on foundation half double crochet and foundation single crochet stitches. You'll stop before the last yarn over on each of those stitches too.