How to crochet the heart stitch (video tutorial)

You'll swoon over this gorgeous heart stitch, but you may well be thinking it's too complicated to attempt. Well, the good news is that it's not nearly as tricky as it looks. It's made up of simple stitches that you'll soon be able to master. In fact, if you can throw together double crochet, single crochet, and a bobble stitch, you're well on the way to creating a beautiful row of love hearts.

This clear and simple video tutorial, from Lanas y Ovillos, walks you through the process. As you'll see, the heart itself is simply a puff or bobble stitch which, instead of adding bulk, is here spread out into two sections to form the 'wings' of the central heart motif. The heart or puff stitches are worked in a continuous line so that you don't need to keep fastening off between motifs - so there's a lot less tidying up to do when you've finished your project. The spaces between hearts are then filled in with stitches in your background color.

How to crochet the heart stitch video tutorial:

The trick with the heart stitch is to choose your colors wisely so that the heart motif pops out and really catches the eye. Many people choose a pale background colour, with a darker shade for the heart itself, to give plenty of contrast:

The heart stitch, as well as being ideal for baby blankets, sofa throws and cushion covers, also works really well for children's sweaters and even gloves, like this gorgeous chunky pair from Crochet Parfait:

One of the great things about this beautiful stitch is that it's a brilliant way of using up scraps of wool. While you'll need plenty of your background color (depending on the size of your project), you can swap heart colors every row if you like, injecting a bit of fun into the final result, as in this lovely example from Bear Loves Dove:
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The heart stitch also looks lovely when incorporated in a sampler-type design using other stitches as well.

Wondering which of these lovely projects to dive into first? Just follow your heart.
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