The mistake is starting a small heart with a slip knot and a chain. A chain is a row with two ragged edges, and when you join it into a ring and work your first round, you get a hole in the middle and a lumpy seam where the join sits. On a blanket that hole disappears into the fabric. On a heart that finishes at a couple of inches across, that hole is a visible puncture right where the point of the heart should be, and the seam runs up the center of the piece like a scar. It seems right because every beginner tutorial opens the same way — chain four, join with a slip stitch, work into the ring — and because the chain method is genuinely the standard way to start almost everything else. It is the wrong start for this shape.
Start with a magic ring, not a chain, and the center of the heart closes itself
A magic ring is a loop of yarn you work your first round into and then pull shut, which means the hole in the center is adjustable rather than fixed at the width of your foundation chain. You wrap the yarn around your fingers, work your stitches into the loop alongside the working yarn rather than into the loop itself, and then tug the tail. The center cinches closed. For a heart, that matters more than it does for a granny square or a simple blanket, because the bottom point of a heart is a single tight convergence — if there's a gap there, the shape reads as a blob with a tail rather than a heart.
The cost is that a magic ring is fiddly for the first few tries and it can loosen if you don't weave the tail in securely. Work the tail through the back of several stitches with a tapestry needle rather than just trimming it, or the ring will open up again after a wash. If you're making hearts to attach to something that gets handled — a baby hat, a gift tag, a bookmark — secure that tail properly. If you're making a heart you'll never wash, a chain-two start and working into the first chain is an acceptable shortcut, though the hole will be there.
Work the heart as two lobes joined into one point, not as a flat circle
A heart is not a circle with a dent pressed into it afterward. It's two rounded lobes sitting side by side that share a bottom, and the way you get that is by working a round or two of increases to make each lobe, joining them, then decreasing steadily down to a point. Think of it as two circles that overlap at their lower third, with the overlap worked as a single fabric.
The most common small-heart construction in worsted-weight yarn: a magic ring, then a first round of single crochet or half double crochet worked into the ring to establish the body, then a second round where you build up one side with increases, work across the top of the first lobe, build the second lobe, and come back down the other side. The exact stitch counts depend on the pattern, but the shape logic is always the same — the widest point is the top of the two lobes, and everything below it narrows.
Half double crochet is a good stitch for a heart that should look plump rather than lacy. It's taller than single crochet, so it builds height faster and gives you a softer, rounder surface, but it doesn't leave the big gaps that double crochet does. If you're new to it: yarn over, insert the hook into the stitch, pull up a loop, yarn over again, and pull through all three loops on the hook at once. That last pull-through of three is the whole difference between half double and double crochet, and it's where beginners usually lose a loop.
Hook size decides whether your heart looks like a heart or a lump
For worsted-weight yarn, a G-6 hook — 4.00 mm in the Craft Yarn Council standard system — gives you a firm, defined heart where the lobes and the point hold their shape. That's the size most often recommended for learning to crochet with medium-weight yarn, and it's the one I'd hand a beginner for this project. An H-8, at 5.00 mm, is the other very common choice; it's frequently suggested for granny squares and simple blankets, and on a heart it produces a slightly looser fabric that's easier to work but floppier at the point. An I-9, at 5.50 mm, is often used with medium to light bulky yarns to create a looser fabric, and if you use it with worsted you'll get a heart that sags and loses its definition — the point won't stay pointed.
Go the other way and the heart gets stiff and small. That's not always bad. If you want a heart that holds a crisp edge as an appliqué, size down one step from the hook your yarn label recommends. If you want a soft, squishy heart, size up, and accept that it will need a light press or a bit of stuffing to look right.
Thread hearts are a different animal. Steel crochet hook size 1 is 2.75 mm and is used primarily with crochet thread, suitable for detailed work like lace edgings and doilies. A heart worked in thread on a size 1 steel hook comes out tiny and precise — good for jewelry, edging, or a card — but it demands much finer motor control than worsted on a G-6, and the first one you make will probably look uneven.
Colour changes are easiest at the point where the lobes meet
If you're making a two-colour heart — a pink body, say, with a white tip, or a heart with a contrasting outline — change colours at the end of a stitch rather than the middle of one. Work the stitch until two loops remain on the hook, drop the old colour, pick up the new one, and pull it through to finish the stitch. That leaves the colour transition flush instead of showing a sliver of the old yarn across the top of the stitch.
The natural place to do it on a heart is the junction between the two lobes, or the row where the body starts narrowing toward the point. A colour change at a curve is forgiving. A colour change in the middle of a straight run of stitches is not — you'll see a stepped edge. Weave both ends in as you go rather than leaving them for the end, because a small heart has very little interior to hide tails in, and a tail that works loose on a piece this size is immediately visible.
Count your stitches every round, because a small heart has no room to hide an error
An off-by-one stitch on a blanket is invisible. On a heart that's a few inches across, one missing stitch flattens a lobe and one extra stitch makes the whole thing lopsided, and you won't notice until you're three rounds past it. Count at the end of every round. If you're consistently losing a stitch, it's almost always the first stitch of the round — the one worked into the same place as the join — being skipped.
Three things are worth having next to you:
- A stitch marker in the first stitch of each round, moved as you go. On a heart, the round join drifts if you don't anchor it.
- A tapestry needle for weaving ends, since a small heart has no room for loose tails.
- The same hook you started with. Switching hook sizes mid-project changes your tension and the heart will show it at the transition.
If the heart comes out cupped instead of flat, you've over-increased — too many stitches packed into the round. If it ruffles at the edges, same problem. If it curls inward at the lobes, you've under-increased, and the fix is to rip back to where the shape was right rather than trying to block it flat. Blocking a small worsted heart can help the point lie straight, but it won't correct a stitch count that's wrong.
The one thing worth deciding before you start is what the heart is for. A stuffed heart needs a tighter gauge and a smaller hook so the stuffing doesn't show through, and it needs to be worked in two pieces or with a gap left for turning. A flat appliqué heart can be worked looser and pressed flat. A heart meant to be strung on a chain should be worked in thread or fine yarn so it doesn't look like a coaster. Those are three different projects that all start from the same magic ring, and picking the wrong one for your yarn is how you end up with a heart that's the right shape and the wrong object.