In need of a good DYI project or want to brush up on you crochet knowledge, well my dears, you have come to the right place.
Don't be a square!
Not all patterns, of course, will just be squares or rectangles. Not to fret...getting a different shape and size is an easy fix, it's called increasing and decreasing.
Increasing...going on up!
Using an increase stitch INCREASES the number of stitches in your row/round by however many stitches you need. An increase can occur anywhere along the row or round when crocheting two stitches in one and the pattern you choose will indicate where you need to increase as you follow it. There are a couple different ways an increase is indicated in a pattern. It will be shown as (2SC, 2HDC, or 2DC) or as (inc) meaning whatever stitch you're using, increase it.
In these pictures it illiterates how to do an increase with single crochet (SC), a half double crochet (HDC), and a double crochet (DC).
You crochet up to the stitch you need to make the increase in and as the drawn illustration shows, you crochet your (SC, HDC, DC) as normal except you add a second stitch in the same place.
That's it...and you can also add as many increases in row/round that you need. For example, if you have a row/round of 10 stitches and you need to add 2 stitches, you would do an increase 2x and the row/round would now have 12 stitches.
Increase with single crochet (SC)
Increase with half double crochet (HDC)
Increase with double crochet (DC)
Decreasing...going down!
Everything has an opposite and the opposite of increase is, DECREASE. Using a decrease stitch subtracts the number of stitches in your row/round by however many stitches you need. An decrease can occur anywhere along the row or round as long as you have 2 stitches to work in and just like increasing, your pattern will indicate where you need to decrease. There are a couple different ways a decrease is indicated in a pattern. It will be shown as (2sctog, 2hdctog, or 2dctog) the (tog) means together referring to the act of crocheting 2 stitches together to make one. OR it can be shown as (dec) meaning whatever stitch you're using, decrease it.
Decrease is slightly different than increasing, but just slightly. Increasing is the action of putting 2 stitches together in one place and decreasing is using 2 separate stitches to make one. Once you've done this several times, you won't even have to think about what you're doing, it'll just be second nature.
Single Crochet (SC) decrease
Video was posted in 2016 by HopfullHoney and I like the simple, to the point, way she describes how to do the decrease.
Half double crochet (HDC) decrease
Video by HopefullyHoney, 2016.
Double crochet (DC) decrease
Video posted by CreatiKnit in 2016.
Now you can confidently make any shape or style your heart desires!