Free crochet tool

US to UK crochet terms

A UK double crochet is a US single crochet. Read a British pattern as an American one and every stitch comes out twice as tall — with no error anywhere, because the counts still add up. Paste the pattern below and it comes back in the other dialect.

Round 1: 6 dc in ring → 6
Round 2: 6x inc → 12
Round 3: 6x (dc, inc) → 18
Round 4: 2 htr, 3 tr, dtr, ss, miss 1 → 18

The conversion chart

Only the stitches whose names differ. Everything not listed — chain, increase, puff, popcorn, shell — reads the same in both.

Why the mistake is so hard to catch

The names are offset by one, and the stitches are otherwise identical. So a UK pattern read as American works perfectly all the way through: the counts come out, the shaping happens where it should, nothing complains. It is only the finished object that is wrong — taller, looser, gappy where an amigurumi should be dense — and the usual conclusion is “my tension must be off”.

Worse, the giveaway words are the ones a pattern might simply not use. There is no sc in UK notation and no htr in American, so either one settles it — but a pattern built from chains, doubles and trebles alone is a valid reading in both, and no amount of staring at it will say which.

The bug this converter does not have

The mapping is a chain: US sc → dc → tr → dtr becomes UK dc → tr → dtr → ttr. Convert them one term after another and the first replacement becomes the input to the second — every single crochet turns into a double, and then that double turns into a treble. The pattern comes back looking plausible and describing something else entirely.

So this reads the whole pattern in one pass, longest term first: each stitch is recognised once, written once, and never looked at again by the same run. Converting a pattern to the other dialect and back returns the original text exactly, which is the property a build check holds it to.

Questions

What is the difference between US and UK crochet terms?

The names are offset by one. A UK double crochet is a US single crochet, a UK treble is a US double, and so on up the chain. The stitches themselves are identical — only what they are called differs — which is exactly why the mistake is so easy to make and so hard to spot.

How do I tell which terminology a pattern uses?

If it says "sc" or "hdc", it is American: those spellings do not exist in UK notation. If it says "htr", "ttr" or "miss", it is British. If it only uses chains, doubles and trebles, there is genuinely no way to tell from the text — both dialects are valid readings — and you have to go by the designer's country or ask.

What happens if I read a UK pattern as if it were American?

Every stitch comes out taller and looser than intended. A UK "dc" worked as a US "dc" is double the height, so an amigurumi ends up with gaps the stuffing shows through, and a garment comes out longer and wider. There is no error along the way — the counts still work — which is why people usually blame their tension.

Are the stitches themselves different?

No. Both dialects describe the same movements of the same hook; only the names are assigned differently. A converted pattern is the same pattern, spelled for a different reader.

Which terms are the same in both?

Chain, increase, decrease as a concept, puff, popcorn and shell all read the same. That is part of the trap: a pattern can look entirely familiar and still be in the other dialect, because the words that would have warned you are the ones it happens not to use.

Does the converter change my stitch counts?

No, and it should not: the counts are the same pattern either way. It only rewrites the names, in a single pass so that a stitch is read once and written once — converting them one at a time is how a naive tool turns every sc into a dc and then that dc into a tr.

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