US vs UK crochet terms

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Read across: the US name on the left is the same physical stitch as the UK name on the right.

Where UK patterns disagree

These are the rows with more than one true answer, or where we could not find a UK source at all. A chart that hides that is easier to read and worse to work from.

1. BLO → BLO: UK patterns print this lowercase and after the stitch: "dc blo", not "dc in BLO".
2. BPdc → BPtr: Many UK patterns call post stitches "raised" instead — rtrf and rtrb, raised treble front and back. UK patterns also print these lowercase.
3. BPhdc → BPhtr: Many UK patterns call post stitches "raised" instead: rhtrf and rhtrb, raised half treble front and back. UK patterns also print these lowercase.
4. BPtr → BPdtr: Many UK patterns call post stitches "raised" instead: rdtrf and rdtrb, raised double treble front and back. UK patterns also print these lowercase.
5. bull → bull: Cherry Heart, the one UK source found for this stitch, heads it "bullion" and treats "roll stitch" as a variation of it. No UK abbreviation found.
6. ch-2 picot → 2ch picot: UK patterns put the count first: a "3ch picot" rather than a "ch-3 picot".
7. ch-4 picot → 4ch picot: UK patterns put the count first: a "3ch picot" rather than a "ch-3 picot".
8. dtr → ttr: Most UK publishers print ttr; some, including Inside Crochet, print trtr. Same stitch.
9. FLO → FLO: UK patterns print this lowercase and after the stitch: "dc flo", not "dc in FLO".
10. FPdc → FPtr: Many UK patterns call post stitches "raised" instead — rtrf and rtrb, raised treble front and back. UK patterns also print these lowercase.
11. FPhdc → FPhtr: Many UK patterns call post stitches "raised" instead: rhtrf and rhtrb, raised half treble front and back. UK patterns also print these lowercase.
12. FPtr → FPdtr: Many UK patterns call post stitches "raised" instead: rdtrf and rdtrb, raised double treble front and back. UK patterns also print these lowercase.
13. ldc → ltr: Follows the ladder, but no UK publisher was found printing an abbreviation for a linked stitch — expect a pattern to spell it out.
14. loop st → loop st: UK patterns use this name but abbreviate it however the pattern likes, usually defining it in a special-stitches note. No UK glossary checked carries a standard abbreviation.
15. ltr → ldtr: Follows the ladder, but no UK publisher was found printing an abbreviation for a linked stitch — expect a pattern to spell it out.
16. picot → picot: UK patterns put the count first: a "3ch picot" rather than a "ch-3 picot".
17. shell → shell: UK patterns use this name but abbreviate it however the pattern likes, usually defining it in a special-stitches note. No UK glossary checked carries a standard abbreviation.
18. sk → miss: Most UK charts teach "miss", and Inside Crochet and LoveCrafts UK print it — but plenty of UK patterns say "skip", including Stylecraft's own, whose key has no "miss" at all. Expect either.
19. sl st → ss: Written ss in some UK patterns and sl st in others — both are current.
20. spike dc → spike tr: UK sources differ on the word order and rarely abbreviate it: a UK pattern is as likely to say "long treble" or "tr spike". No UK glossary checked carries a spike abbreviation.
21. spike hdc → spike htr: UK sources differ on the word order and rarely abbreviate it: a UK pattern is as likely to say "long htr" or "htr spike". No UK glossary checked carries a spike abbreviation.
22. spike sc → spike dc: UK sources differ on the word order and rarely abbreviate it: a UK pattern is as likely to say "long dc" or "dc spike". No UK glossary checked carries a spike abbreviation.
23. spike st → spike st: UK sources differ on the word order and rarely abbreviate it: a UK pattern is as likely to say "long" or "spike" before the stitch name. No UK glossary checked carries a spike abbreviation.
24. star st → star st: UK patterns use this name but abbreviate it however the pattern likes, usually defining it in a special-stitches note. No UK glossary checked carries a standard abbreviation.
25. surface sl st → surface ss: UK patterns usually call this "surface crochet" and describe it rather than abbreviate it.
26. third loop → third loop: No UK source found for a separate UK name; a UK pattern may call this something else entirely.
27. trtr → Quadruple Treble Crochet: UK patterns have a name for this stitch but no agreed shorthand — a sweep of some thirty UK brands, magazines and designers found none printing one, and most UK lists stop at triple treble. Expect a pattern to write it out or define its own.
28. V-st → V-st: UK patterns use this name but abbreviate it however the pattern likes, usually defining it in a special-stitches note. No UK glossary checked carries a standard abbreviation.
29. W-st → W-st: No UK source found for this stitch under this name at all — treat the UK column here as a translation of the US name, not as something a UK pattern will say.
30. yo → yoh: Just as often yrh, "yarn round hook" — some UK lists print only that.

The quick version

For the basic stitches, UK terms are all “one taller” than US ones. US single becomes UK double, US double becomes UK treble, and so on up the ladder. The hook and the yarn don’t change — only the name does.

One more word to know, because it is not a stitch and so is not in the table above: what a US pattern calls gauge, a UK pattern calls tension. Same thing, same swatch, same arithmetic — the calculator does not care which word you arrived with.

The difference a translation chart can’t show you

UK patterns put the number first. Where an American pattern says “ch 5”, “12 sc” and “3 dc in next st”, a British one says “5ch”, “12dc” and “3tr into next st” — usually with no space. Nothing in the table above tells you that, and it is the thing that makes a UK pattern look unfamiliar even after you have translated every stitch in it. A picot is written “3ch picot” for the same reason.

Two more that catch people out: what a US pattern calls a gauge swatch, a UK pattern calls tension; and UK patterns lean on “into the same place” where American ones say “in same st”. And if the yarn is described as 4ply, DK, aran or chunky rather than fingering, worsted or bulky, you are almost certainly holding a British pattern before you read a single stitch.

Why the two systems disagree

US names follow the yarn overs you make before you work the stitch — none for a single, one for a double, two for a treble.

UK names follow the loops left on your hook after you pull up your first loop — two for a UK double, three for a UK treble. They are counting two different moments in the same stitch, which is the whole reason the names never lined up.

Half double crochet is the one that catches people. You yarn over once, exactly like a double crochet, but then pull through all three loops at once instead of two. It really is half a double crochet — which is precisely what it is called.

Once you know which side it is from

The rest of the shorthand is on the abbreviations list, in US terms, with what each stitch actually is. If your pattern came with a chart instead of words, the symbol legend has every glyph drawn out — and a chart sidesteps this whole problem, because a symbol means the same stitch on both sides of the ocean.

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