How To Understand The Language Of Crochet -- #1

Crochet has it's own language and to a person just starting to learn the craft, it must be daunting.  One student told me, when we were talking about "dc on dc",  "you know how crazy that sounds!?"
This phrase or crochet command sounds perfectly sane and normal to me but I've been crocheting off and on since I was seven or eight years old.  One thing I realized is that crochet instructions are sentence short hands and this is the part that beginning crocheter learning to read pattern need to understand.

Crochet instructions usually omits words such as "you make" or "you do" because it is understood that the reader (you) of the pattern is the one being addressed.  To include these words on the instructions will be very repetitive and cumbersome and will make the written pattern so much longer.  In the following sentence, for example:  You make a double crochet stitch on the next double crochet stitch of the previous row (round), in crochet pattern instructions it will be written as, "dc on next dc," see how short this instruction is?  The words "you make" is ommitted, and "dc" instead of being a noun becomes a verb which tells you to make a double crochet stitch.  The phrase "of previous row (round)," is also omitted.  It is understood that the new crochet stitches are being attached to stitches of previous row or round so there is no need to keep repeating this phrase with every command.

What does next dc mean? when the pattern says "next dc", it actually is referring to the dc of previous row or round (as mentioned above), that is next or adjacent to the current stitch just made, because in crochet, the crocheter is always working on the previous row or round, except when working at the sides of rows to make edging or borders.  In the photo below the current stitch which is a ch-2 counted as a dc is marked by an arrow and the arrow is pointing to the hole which the ch-2 created when attached or fastened into a double crochet stitch of previous round.  The next stitch where the hook should be inserted to make a dc (double crochet) is the hole where the pin is located.  In order to see which one is the next stitch, you have to see where the last stitch (current stitch) is attached and the stitch closest to it is the next stitch.  See photo below.

Stitch VS Space

Where do you insert the hook, on a stitch (st) or space (sp)?  It is important to know that the two are not the same.  One obvious difference between stitch and space is that the hole to which a hook can be inserted on a stitch is a lot smaller than that of the hole (space) created between 2 stitches.   The hole of a stitch is sometimes hard to see and you have to use the tip of a crochet hook to pry the stitch open and see the hole to which the crochet hook can be inserted as in the  above photo where the pin is placed.

Crochet instruction variations that mean the same:  Sc on next sc also can be written as Sc on next st. It means to make a single crochet on next single crochet stitch.  Stitch is a general term for all crochet stitches such as: Sc, dc, tr, slst etc.

Space:  In Crochet usually refers to the space between stitches or the space created under chain stitches.  Space under chains can also be referred to as a loop.  It is important to remember the distinction between stitch and space to get the expected result that the pattern calls for.   See Photos below.

In photo above the hole associated with the stitch is where the pin is located.  This is where the crochet hook is to be inserted when a crochet instruction says "dc on next st" or "dc on next dc stitch" another instruction variation is to say "dc on top of next dc" they all mean the same thing.

On the photo above, the bottom pin is placed in space between 2 dc(s) or double crochets and the top pin is place on the stitch.  An example of crochet instruction that is requiring to use the space between 2 double crochet will say something like this,  "skip 2 dc then dc on next space (sp)".  In this case, if you are a right handed crocheter, you will start counting from right to left, from the stitch where your last stitch is attached and skip the specified number of dc(s) then insert the hook on the space immediately after the skipped stitches.  If you are a left handed crocheter then reverse the direction of counting and use the same instructions.

In above photo, the pin is placed on the ch-3 space, which is a space under the 3 chains at the corner of this granny square.
Loop

Use one loop or two loops?  There are 2 strands of yarn visible on top of each stitch:  The one facing you is called front loop; the one facing away from you is called back loop.  Unless the pattern specifies to use either back loop or front loop, both front loop and back loop are used when inserting the hook to make a stitch.  Using both front loop and back loop makes a stable and strong crocheted fabric and using only one will result in the opposite characteristics of the crocheted work.  See photo below.

On photo above, the crochet hook is inserted on both front and back loop of a stitch.

There are a lot more things that can be discussed related to this topic but I will save them for my next post.

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Thank you for stopping by and I hope I shed a little light that help beginning crocheter.

Happy Crochet Day!