# US to UK crochet terms

> US and UK crochet terms compared and converted: a UK double crochet is a US single crochet, and reading one as the other produces a different fabric that still counts correctly.

**The trap, in one sentence.** The two terminologies use the same words for different stitches: a UK "double crochet" is a US SINGLE crochet, and a UK "treble" is a US double. So a UK pattern read as American does not come out slightly wrong — it comes out as a different fabric, twice as tall and half as dense — and the stitch counts add up the whole way, so nothing warns you. Most readers blame their tension.

## The conversion chart

| US abbreviation | US name | UK abbreviation | UK name |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| sl st | Slip stitch | ss | Slip stitch |
| sc | Single crochet | dc | Double crochet |
| hdc | Half double crochet | htr | Half treble |
| dc | Double crochet | tr | Treble crochet |
| tr | Treble crochet | dtr | Double treble |
| dtr | Double treble | ttr | Triple treble |
| dec | Decrease | dec2tog | Decrease |
| dec3 | Triple decrease | dec3tog | Triple decrease |
| sk | Skip | miss | Miss |
| bo-4dc | Bobble (4 dc) | bo-4tr | Bobble (4 tr) |
| bo-3dc | Small bobble (3 dc) | bo-3tr | Small bobble (3 tr) |
| bo-2dc | Tiny bobble (2 dc) | bo-2tr | Tiny bobble (2 tr) |
| sl st | Join | ss | Join |

Read it as a chain: US sc → dc → tr → dtr is UK dc → tr → dtr → ttr. Each US stitch is named one step "shorter" than its UK equivalent, which is why the two dialects collide instead of merely differing — and why converting one term at a time turns `sc` into `dc` and then that `dc` into `tr`. This converter reads each term once, in a single pass.

## The same in both

- `ch` — Chain st
- `inc` — Increase
- `inc3` — Triple increase
- `bo` — Bobble
- `puff` — Puff stitch
- `pc` — Popcorn
- `shell` — Shell
- `FO` — Fasten off

These are safe to read either way.

## How to tell which one you are holding

Some words exist in one dialect only, and they are the giveaway: **sc**, **hdc** and **sk** are American and have no UK spelling; **htr**, **ttr** and **miss** are British and have no American one. A pattern using only chains, doubles and trebles is valid in BOTH and means different things in each — there is nothing in the text to tell them apart, so ask the designer rather than guess.

**Converting does not touch the stitch counts.** These are the same physical stitches under different names; only the words change.

The converter — paste a pattern, get it back in the other dialect — is at [https://crochet3d.com/tools/us-uk-crochet-terms](https://crochet3d.com/tools/us-uk-crochet-terms).

Source: https://crochet3d.com/tools/us-uk-crochet-terms