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Crochet Stitches

Learn essential and advanced crochet stitches with clear step-by-step tutorials. Explore stitch patterns, combinations and creative ideas for all skill levels.

  • Easy Tutorials Perfect for all skill levels
  • Creative Ideas For your next projects
  • Endless Variety Stitch patterns, textures & more
Five crocheted stitch swatches in different colours on a wooden table, with yarn bowls, crochet hooks and scissors in daylight.

Legend

The chart marks used on this site

Conventional craft notation, drawn for CrochetOasis.

  • Chain (ch)
  • Slip stitch (sl st)
  • Single crochet (sc)
  • Half double crochet (hdc)
  • Double crochet (dc)
  • Treble crochet (tr)
  • Back loop only (blo)
  • Increase
  • Decrease
  • Cluster group
  • Picot
  • Shell / fan

The marks are the easy half. What takes practice is reading them against real fabric: a symbol sits at the base of its stitch, so the top of a tall symbol is the row you are about to work into. Once that clicks, a chart is faster to follow than a written row — and much faster to check when a count goes wrong.

The reference image shows what single crochet fabric looks like from the front, with the V-shaped tops that charts draw as marks.

Close-up of a cream single crochet swatch showing dense, even columns of V-shaped stitches.
A single crochet swatch worked flat. The close, even columns of V shapes are what make single crochet firm enough for amigurumi.

Reference

How tall each stitch works up

Typical turning chains and relative heights. Turning chains vary by designer and by whether you work into the first stitch — treat these as starting points, not rules.
Stitch Usual turning chain Height, in sc units Worth using for
Slip stitch None 0 Joining, travelling sideways, invisible seams
Single crochet (sc) 1 chain 1 unit Amigurumi, firm bags, keychain bases
Half double crochet (hdc) 2 chains about 1.5 Soft fabric with visible height, hats, blankets
Double crochet (dc) 3 chains about 2 Granny squares, flowers, fast projects
Treble crochet (tr) 4 chains about 3 Open lace, shawls, long petals

Reference

The stitch dictionary, A to Z

One entry per stitch: chart symbol, US and UK names, multiples, height and where the stitch is worth using.

H

Chart symbol for Half double crochet (hdc): height, turning chain and gauge
Chart symbol

Beginner

Half double crochet (hdc): height, turning chain and gauge

US Half double crochet (hdc)UK Half treble (htr)

Stitch multiple
Any number of stitches works in plain hdc; where hdc is the base of a lace pattern the multiple is stated, usually as a multiple plus one
Gauge
Typical ranges for the pairing, not measured here: worsted on 5.0 mm 12–14 stitches and 10–11 rows per 10 cm; DK on 4.0 mm 14–17 stitches and 12–14 rows per 10 cm
Common uses
Warm hats, slipper soles, blankets that need to grow quickly, and borders that have to bridge a short and a tall stitch without a visible step.

Not yet craft-tested Open the full guide

Hub notes

What belongs in this hub

What belongs here: standard stitches and basic grouped stitches, one per entry, each with its symbol, its names, its multiple, its height relative to single crochet, and the turning chain that suits it. Tunisian, hairpin and speciality lace stitches are not covered yet and are listed as gaps rather than half-written pages.

How we label and test guides

About this hub

A visual stitch dictionary: one page per stitch, with the chart symbol, the US and UK names, the stitch multiple for working in rows, typical gauge, and where the stitch is worth using. This is the reference the other four hubs point back to.

What belongs here: standard stitches and basic grouped stitches, one per entry, each with its symbol, its names, its multiple, its height relative to single crochet, and the turning chain that suits it. Tunisian, hairpin and speciality lace stitches are not covered yet and are listed as gaps rather than half-written pages.

Honest status

What this hub still needs

  • No entry has been craft-tested against a swatch worked on this site, so gauge figures are typical ranges rather than measurements taken here.
  • Chart symbols follow the common convention but are not certified against a national chart standard.
  • US and UK names are given for each stitch; other naming systems are out of scope for now.
  • No step photography or video: each entry is text plus one SVG symbol.