Greetings folk
My neighbor back when I was younger tried to teach me how to crochet, and the only thing I remembered how to do was chaining. Now I'm trying to teach myself.

Only I've a problem. I'm making a really simple (though large) blanket with a triple stitch, but it looks like I'm dropping a stitch on every row. So now I'm annoyed, frustrated, and wondering what I did wrong before I most probably start it all over again. I think the problem is when I start a new row.

So,does one use that first stitch or not?