Crochet star stitch
Five drawn-up loops plus the working loop close into each star, with a chain-one eye for the next star.
Counted practice swatch
Chain 24. This sample creates 10 stars across.
Work the repeat
Row 1: pull up loops in second and third chains from hook, then in next 3 chains (6 loops); yarn over through all, ch1. Each next star: pull up loops in the prior eye, last star leg, same foundation chain as last leg, and next 2 chains; draw through 6 loops, ch1. Make 9 more stars; hdc in last chain. Row 2: ch1, turn, hdc in edge hdc; 2 hdc in each star eye (21 hdc). Row 3: ch3, draw up 5 loops from the second/third turning chains and first 3 hdc; close first star. Continue stars with the eye/leg/shared-base/next-two sequence; hdc in last stitch. Repeat rows 2–3.
Read the fabric
The eye is the closing ch1. Count eyes as stars and keep every eye large enough for the return pair of hdc.