US and UK crochet terms, side by side
The same words name different stitches on the two sides of the Atlantic. The whole conversion, set out so a UK reader can work a US pattern without losing a count.
The two traditions use the same words for different stitches, and there is exactly one shift between them. US single crochet is UK double crochet. US double crochet is UK treble. US treble is UK double treble. Every named stitch slides one place; chain, slip stitch and the counts do not move at all. The tell is single crochet: the phrase exists only in US writing, so a pattern that uses it anywhere is US throughout, and a pattern that never uses it and opens on double crochet is UK. UK terms are standard in British, Australian, New Zealand and South African publishing; US terms are standard across North America and most of the crochet internet. Crochet Addiction writes every pattern in US terms, with the UK word printed beside each abbreviation in the abbreviations page.
| US name | US abbrev. | UK name | UK abbrev. | Same stitch? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slip stitch | sl st | Slip stitch | ss | Same word, same stitch |
| Single crochet | sc | Double crochet | dc | Same stitch, different word |
| Half double crochet | hdc | Half treble | htr | Same stitch, different word |
| Double crochet | dc | Treble | tr | Same stitch, different word |
| Treble | tr | Double treble | dtr | Same stitch, different word |
| Double treble | dtr | Triple treble | ttr | Same stitch, different word |
| Chain | ch | Chain | ch | Same word, same stitch |
| Yarn over | yo | Yarn over hook | yoh | Same motion |
| Skip | skip | Miss | miss | Same instruction |
| Gauge | — | Tension | — | Same measurement |
The confusions this causes
US single crochet and UK double crochet — one stitch or two?
They are the same stitch under two names — US single crochet and UK double crochet are worked identically. The trouble only starts when one pattern is read with the other's vocabulary.
How did one stitch end up with two names?
They were written down separately, and each is internally consistent on its own terms. The usual explanation is that UK naming counts the loops the hook works through while US naming describes the finished stitch, but the honest answer is that neither scale was designed against the other. Neither is wrong; they simply cannot be mixed.
Which system do Australian patterns follow?
UK. So do New Zealand and South African patterns, and most British print magazines. Canadian patterns follow the US.
What has to change to read a UK pattern in US terms?
Move every stitch name down one step: UK dc becomes US sc, UK htr becomes US hdc, UK tr becomes US dc, UK dtr becomes US tr. Change nothing else — not the counts, not the hook, not the repeats.
Do tension and gauge mean the same thing?
Yes. UK patterns say tension, US patterns say gauge, and both mean stitches and rows over a stated measurement. UK writing tends to give it over 10cm and US writing over 4 inches, which are the same square.
Which system are the patterns here written in?
US terms on every pattern, with the UK word printed beside each abbreviation on the abbreviations page. Where a pattern has to depart from that, it says so above the materials.
Telling which pattern is in front of you
Three checks, in order. Look for the words single crochet anywhere at all, the abbreviation list included: if they appear, the pattern is US throughout, because UK writing has no such stitch. If they are absent and the piece is built on double crochet from the first round, it is UK. If it is still ambiguous, look at where the designer writes from — British, Australian, New Zealand and South African writing defaults to UK terms, and Canadian writing follows the US.
A well-set pattern says which it uses at the top, above the materials. That line is the first thing tested here, and a pattern that departs from US terms for any reason has to say so in the same place.
What a mis-read costs
A conversion error does not announce itself. Nothing throws, nothing miscounts, and the piece is simply the wrong shape four rounds later.
What six stitches at the wrong height look like
The failure is quiet, which is what makes it expensive. Read a UK instruction of dc 6 into the ring as US double crochet and you have worked six stitches at more than twice the height they were meant to be. Nothing looks wrong on round one. By round four the piece is a shallow cone where it should be a dome, the count is still perfectly correct, and there is no arithmetic error anywhere to find.
Read the shape, not the arithmetic
The clue is height against width, never the count. If a piece that should be closing is spreading, or a flat round that should be lying down is ruffling, check which alphabet you are reading before you check your increases. Working the wrong stitch keeps every count honest and every measurement wrong.
The parts that do not change
Hooks are millimetres everywhere. A 4mm hook in a British magazine is the same tool as a 4mm hook in an American one, and the US letter system is a parallel label rather than a different measurement. Stitch counts do not move either: a round of 24 is a round of 24 in both, because the conversion renames stitches and never renumbers them.
Two other words do shift. UK writing says tension where US writing says gauge, and miss where US writing says skip. Each means exactly what its counterpart means. So converting a UK pattern is one operation: rename each stitch to the next shorter US one, and leave every number exactly where it stands.