I'm doing my first cross stitch and the diagram showed to begin by stitching over the thread ends and to end by running the needle through the stitches I made. I was doing well but now I have two problems.

1. I got towards the top of the hoop and now the space is too narrow for me to get the needle flat enough to run it back under the stitches. Do I take it out of the hoop and then put it back in?

2. There are some parts that are only one stitch of color. How do I finish and end a single stitch?

If anyone can help or direct me to some online tutorials, I'd really appreciate it. I am enjoying cross stitching so far!

Jessica