# Crochet abbreviations

> rep, rnd, ch-sp, tog, BLO, tch — the vocabulary a pattern assumes you already have, which every other abbreviation chart leaves out in favour of the stitches.

**What this covers.** The vocabulary a pattern assumes you already have and that abbreviation charts leave out: rnd, rep, ch-sp, tog, BLO, tch, MC, RS. 26 entries, none of them a stitch. The stitches themselves are the half you can already look up — they are in the [US/UK conversion chart](https://crochet3d.com/tools/us-uk-crochet-terms) and in the planner's stitch library, and printing a fourth copy of them here would be this site competing with itself.

## The vocabulary

### What the line is

| Abbreviation | Stands for | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| rnd | round | One trip around a piece worked in the round. Amigurumi is rounds. |
| R / row | row | One trip across a piece worked flat and turned at each end. |
| rep | repeat | Do the marked section again. “rep from *” means go back to the asterisk; “rep around” means keep going to the end of the round. |
| patt | pattern | The established sequence, as in “continue in patt”. |
| cont | continue | Carry on doing what you were doing. |
| foll | following | The next one, as in “foll row”. |

### Where the hook goes

| Abbreviation | Stands for | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| st / sts | stitch / stitches | The stitches of the round before, which are what you work into. |
| sp | space | A gap between stitches rather than a stitch itself. You work into the hole. |
| ch-sp | chain space | The gap under a chain from the round before. “2 dc in ch-sp” means both stitches go into that hole, not into the chain. |
| BLO | back loop only | Work into the back loop of the stitch, leaving the front one free. Leaves a visible ridge. |
| FLO | front loop only | The mirror image: into the front loop, leaving the back free. How surface ruffles and standing flaps are made. |
| ea | each | Into every one of them, as in “sc in ea st around”. |
| beg | beginning | The start of the round or row, usually where the marker sits. |
| rem | remaining | Whatever is left, as in “sc in rem 6 sts”. |

### Counting and repeats

| Abbreviation | Stands for | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| tog | together | Work the named stitches as one, which decreases. “sc2tog” is two single crochet worked together; “sc3tog” is three. |
| inc | increase | Two stitches into one base stitch. The piece grows by one. |
| dec | decrease | Two stitches worked as one. On amigurumi this nearly always means the invisible decrease. |
| ( ) or [ ] | a group | Everything inside is one unit, usually followed by how many times to work it — “(sc, inc) 6 times”. |
| * … * | a repeat marker | The same idea in older notation: “rep from * around” means go back to the asterisk and keep going. |

### Yarn and colour

| Abbreviation | Stands for | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| MC | main colour | The colour most of the piece is worked in. |
| CC | contrast colour | The other one. A pattern with several says CC1, CC2 and so on. |
| yo | yarn over | Wrap the yarn over the hook. A step inside a stitch rather than a stitch itself. |
| FO | fasten off | Cut the yarn and pull it through the last loop to secure it. |

### Sides and direction

| Abbreviation | Stands for | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| RS / WS | right side / wrong side | Which face of the fabric is the outside. A piece worked in a spiral has no wrong side to turn to — the right side is simply outward. |
| turn | turn the work | Flip it over to work back the other way. Rows turn; rounds do not. |
| tch | turning chain | The chain at the start of a row that brings the yarn up to the height of the stitch. Whether it counts as a stitch is something the pattern has to tell you. |

**Are these the same in US and UK patterns?** These are. The stitch abbreviations are not, and that is the difference that ruins a project: a UK "dc" is a US "sc". See the [conversion chart](https://crochet3d.com/tools/us-uk-crochet-terms).

The full article, with six questions answered, is at [https://crochet3d.com/learn/crochet-abbreviations](https://crochet3d.com/learn/crochet-abbreviations).

Source: https://crochet3d.com/learn/crochet-abbreviations