Bullion Stitch

One of the keys to making a bullion stitch lies in the yarn. You don't want to practice with a yarn that frays easily. Red Heart Comfort, Red Heart Super Saver and Loops and Threads Impeccable work fairly well in making the stitch. There are probably many others, as well.

• Step 1: To begin your row or your round, make a series of chains. The number all depends on how many times you decide to wrap your yarn. In this case, 3 chains.
• Step 2: Wrap your yarn around the hook loosely. Depending on how high you want the stitch, you can wrap it anywhere from 4 to 10 times, or whatever the pattern calls for. In this case, 6 times, for a total of 7 loops on the hook.
• Step 3: Hold your finger down on the loops so they don't move as you insert your hook into the designated stitch or space. You want to keep them loose as pictured in Step 2.)

1. Chain a foundation

2. Wrap the hook

3.Insert hook into work.

• Step 4: Yarn over and pull a loop through. You now have 8 loops on your hook. And as you can see, all the loops are nice and loose.
• Step 5:Yarn over again and pull it through all the loops on the hook. This is the tricky part, but it doesn't have to be hard. My trick is to hold the hook so the point faces down and the hook is held at a downward angle.
• Step 6: I continue to hold the hook at a downward angle as I move the left thumb and middle finger around the loops to hold them. I then gently push the loops down to the end of the hook, BUT I don't push them off. I let the hook do the work. My trick is to twirl the hook in the direction of the yarn and gently tug and twirl until it's through. Most times 2-3 twists in the hook is all you need, but sometimes it can go up to 4-5 times. This is the image that was used in Step 2, but it best depicts the direction of the yarn. The trick is to twirl the hook so it travels back up in the same spiral direction of the yarn. And if the loops are loose and neatly on the hook, you'll have no problem pulling it through.

4. YO and pull a loop

5. YO and pull through all loops

6.Yarn direction indicated

• Step 7: This is what it looks like after you've pulled it through all loops. The only thing left now is to chain 1 to secure the stitch.
• Step 8: To join the bullion stitch in a round, you want to make the join at the top of the first bullion stitch, and not into the ch-3.
• Here the join is complete. I pulled the loop open a bit so you can see the join was made directly above the the stitch and all three chains are left untouched.

7. All hook loops pulled

8. Joining the round

9.Join Complete