TUTORIAL: Crochet Puff Stitch, two ways

Crochet Puff Stitch Tutorial by Emmy + LIEN | stacked or offset puff stitch

Puff stitches are one of my very favourite things about crochet; the rhythm of working them, the texture they produce. In this step-by-step tutorial I will show you how to work a basic crochet puff stitch, and use it to create two different stitch patterns.

If you've never tried one of this stitch before, here are a few tips for puffy success:

1. Crochet loosely, perhaps by going up half a hook size if you are naturally a tight crocheter.
2. Use a smooth, non-splitty yarn (details of recommended yarn below). You will be pulling your hook through many loops at a time, and a splitty yarn will drive you bonkers.
3. Get a nice rhytm going to ensure your puffs are all even.

Puff stitches work with most types and weights of yarn, but avoid very fluffy yarns such as mohair as the puffs will lack definition. For the samples below I've used a 100% cotton by Nurturing Fibres. As you can see, it has a rope-like twist so it doesn't split at all. I love it!

Eco-cotton DK by Nurturing Fibres in Sunkissed Coral

Materials
3.5mm (4/E US size) crochet hook
DK yarn (for this sample, I’ve used Eco-Cotton DK in "sunkissed coral" by Nurturing Fibres)

Stitches + Abbreviations
Chain - ch
Double Crochet - DC
Half Treble Crochet - HTC
Puff Stitch - Puff st

Difficulty
Beginner

Note this tutorial uses UK crochet terms

Crochet Puff Stitch - Basic Technique

When you come to a point in the work at which you want a puff st, YO and pull up a total of three times in the same st.

Yo again and pull through ALL loops on the hook.

Ch 1 to complete the stitch.

And that is all there is to it! It might take a little practice to pull the loops up to even heights and to get the hook through so many loops at the same time - if this is hard for you, don't worry as this is normal - but with time this becomes a real go-to stitch.

There are two ways in which you can use it as part of a crochet piece: stacked or offset.

Stacked and Offset Crochet Puff Stitches | Photo tutorial by Emmy + LIEN

Stacked Puff Stitches

Make an even-numbered chain. Turn.

R1:
In the second chain for the hook, DC 1. *Skip 1 st, ch 1, DC 1; Repeat from * to end. Turn.

R2:
Ch 2, *skip 1, then work a puff st in the ch 1 space; Repeat from * until 1 st remains. Work a HTC in the last DC of the previous row. Turn.

R3:
Ch 1, work a DC in the first ch 1 space. *Skip 1 st, ch 1, DC 1; Repeat from * to end. Turn.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until the work has the desired length.

Offset puff stitches

Make an even-numbered chain. Turn.

R1:
In the fourth chain from the hook, work a puff st. *Skip 1, puff st 1; Repeat from * to end. Turn.

R2:
Ch 2, work a puff st in between the first and second sts of the previous row. Continue working puff sts in the gaps to end. Turn.

Repeat row 2 until the work has the desired length.

Disclosure: I was sent a ball of Nurturing Fibres Eco-Cotton by Scaapi.nl to test. The decision to use it in this tutorial, however, was completely my own, as are all opinions.