Mosaic Locked Double Crochet

This is a quick photo tutorial on locking in those stitches when you have long stretches of double crochets in a mosaic crochet pattern. Most of my patterns are not created with long stretches – but as I grow and create more things I have introduced a few small pieces where this could help.

To prevent the small flaps on the back of your work, consider locking-in your stitch.

Begin like a dropped double crochet: skip the next stitch, and work into the Front Loop of the stitch in the row below; yarn over, insert hook into front loop below (see first image below), pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through two loops, insert hook into back loop of skipped stitch (see second image below), yarn over and pull through all three loops on your hook.

This extra step is optional but I like how the back stays smooth. You can lock in every other stitch if you prefer.