Dictionary of Crochet Terminology
This crochet dictionary will help you to navigate your crocheting journey. Crochet language can be confusing to new crafters, and modern terms can even fox a crochet expert. To make things simple, here is your glossary of crochet terms, abbreviations, stitches, and common online crochet colloquialisms.
If you need help telling your game of yarn chicken from your yarn bomb, or the wrong side of your crochet work from the back post, this dictionary of crochet terminology will set you on the right track.
A
Abbreviation: A short sequence of letters used to describe a longer crochet term. For example, ‘ch’ instead of ‘chain’.
Acrylic yarn: Fossil fuel produced, plastic yarn fibers. Manufactured, often cheap and widely available.
Afghan: A term to describe a crocheted blanket, throw or shawl.
Alpaca wool: Yarn created partially or entirely from the fleece of a farmed alpaca.
Alpine stitch: A crochet stitch with twisted points, produced by double crocheting at intervals into the front post. This repeating pattern stitch is worked in sets of four rows, using single and double crochets.
Alternate: Swap between the current and previous instruction.
Amigurumi: Three dimensional stuffed crochet toys, usually animals, derived from the Japanese style.
Applique: A separate additional material attached to the surface of your crocheted work.
Aran yarn: Medium weight yarn, thicker than worsted weight and finer than chunky or bulky yarn.
B
Back loop only (BLO): Work your new stitch into just the furthest away half of the V shaped loop of the stitch.
Back post (BP): The rear section of the tall vertical stem of the stitch.
Bamboo yarn: Tough, roughly textured crochet yarn made from the bamboo plant.
Basket weave stitch: Crocheted stitches that look like a traditional woven basket, created through double crocheting in regular sections into the back and front posts.
Bavarian crochet: A mosaic, puzzle style of crochet worked in dense squares.
Bean stitch: The bean crochet stitch involves accumulating loops on your crochet hook to give soft raised areas to the material. They don’t have a right or wrong side, but use a lot of yarn.
Blended yarn: Yarn containing fibers from at least two sources, for example acrylic and merino wool.
Blocking: The process of pinning your crochet item to a board to give it a more defined shape.
Bobble stitch: Crocheted bobble stitches add three dimensional round lumps to your crochet pattern, also known as popcorn stitches.
Border: The edge of your crochet work.
Broomstick crochet: A loose lace crochet stitch worked in gentle loops.
Bulky yarn: The second heaviest commonly used yarn weight, also known as chunky yarn.
Bullion stitch: A neat, wrapped crochet technique involving winding yarn repeatedly around the hook.
C
Cake: A term used to describe a circular method of storing yarn, which looks cake shaped.
Crochet Along (CAL): A themed, usually virtual, group crochet session.
Crojo: Derived from the term mojo, crojo describes your enthusiasm for crocheting.
Crochet: The art or craft defined by using a hook to lift yarn and pull it through loops both on the hook and through stitches.
Cable stitch: Braided crochet cables designed made by twisting the yarn within some stitches.
Chain (ch): A starting line of loop-like crochet stitches.
Chain space (ch-sp): A gap in your crocheted chain.
Chevron stitch: An angular wave style crochet pattern that is created with regular increases and decreases within a row.
Chunky yarn: The second heaviest commonly used yarn weight, also known as bulky yarn.
Cluster stitch (CL): Groups of crochet stitches of equal height and length, joined together at the top and bottom of the stitch.
Contrasting color (CC): Use a color that is distinctly different in palette or tone to your current yarn.
Corner to corner crochet (C2C): The classic diagonal crocheting style, built up in small blocks for one corner.
Cotton yarn: Natural fibered yarns, spun from the seed head of the cotton plant. They are strong, durable but questionably unethical in terms of their production.
D
Decrease: Reducing the total number of stitches in the round or row, by crocheting two or more stitches together with a single stitch.
Destash: When you give away, sell, trash or find a project for your excess yarn.
Double crochet stitch (dc): Your medium height basic crochet stitch. You yarn over, insert the hook into the stitch, yarn over and pull the yarn back through the stitch. Yarn over again, pull through two loops, yarn over again and pull through the remaining loops.
Double knit yarn: A lighter weight yarn, thicker than fine yarn but finer than worsted weight yarn.
Drape: How the finished crocheted item hangs.
E
Embellish: To add extra detail.
Ergonomic crochet hook: Crochet hook with a grip that is thicker than usual, designed to be easier to hold and less likely to cause strain.
Extended single crochet: A single crochet stitch with an extra chain style stitch at the base.
F
Felting: Matting wool fibers together to make a new material.
Fiber: The materials that make up the interwoven threads in a strand of yarn.
Filet crochet: Delicate, fine crocheted work that imitates lace.
Filler: The stuffing used to pad out crochet toys and some soft furnishings.
Frog: Unravel, undo or unwind your work, so that it returns to being just yarn.
Front loop only (FLO or FO): Work your new stitch into just the nearest half of the V shaped loop of the stitch.
Front post (FP): The front post of a stitch is the nearest side of the tall vertical stem of the stitch.
G
Gauge: The number of stitches and rows for a given measurement, usually calculated in inches.
Granny ripple: Granny stitch stripes worked with additional increases and decreases to create waves.
Granny square: Crocheted squares of granny stitches, worked in outwards rounds.
Granny stitches: Groups of three double crochets, separated by chain spaces.
Granny stripe: Crochet blankets worked in lines of granny stitches.
H
Hairpin crochet: A lacework crochet style using fine yarn created on a loom.
Half double crochet: A reduced version of the double crochet, where you pull through all the loops on the hook a step earlier.
Half treble crochet: A reduced version of the treble crochet, where you pull through all the loops on the hook a step earlier.
Hank: A way of storing yarn, commonly used by hand spun, home grown ranchers for natural wools.
Homespun: Yarn hand spun on a wheel from a small herd of sheep or alpacas.
Hook: A stick with a curved end used to pick up and manipulate yarn.
Hook size: The width of the crochet hook, as defined by a lettering system or in millimetres.
I
Increase: To add extra stitches to the round or row by making multiple stitches within a single stitch.
J
Jog: The defined line between two yarns after you change colors.
Join: Where two sections of crochet come together.
K
Knife grip: Holding your crochet hook in the manner you would hold your table or vegetable knife.
L
Lace weight yarn: Very light, fine yarn, used only for delicate projects.
Loop: A ring of yarn that makes up part of a stitch, or sits over your crochet hook.
Loose ends: The section of yarn that hangs out of your work when you have finished working on that area.
M
Magic circle: A method of making a closed circle of crochet stitches, worked outwards as a round. An essential part of amigurumi.
Medium weight yarn: Mid thickness yarns also described as worsted or aran weight.
Merino wool: Yarn made from the fleece of a merino sheep.
N
Novice: Someone who is completely new to crochet, a beginner.
P
Pattern: Instructions for creating a specific crochet project.
Pencil grip: Holding your crochet hook in the same way you would hold your pen.
Penultimate: The instruction before the last instruction mentioned.
Place marker: A plastic or metal opening ring used to keep track of the start of a round or row.
Ply: The number of strands of thread twisted together to make the yarn.
Polyester yarn: Polyester yarn is a factory produced fiber that is relatively cheap to buy, though more expensive than acrylic.
Pompom: A fluffy ball of woollen yarn often used as a decoration on hats.
Popcorn stitch: Crocheted popcorn stitches add three dimensional round lumps to your crochet pattern, also known as bobble stitches.
Post stitch: The post of a stitch is the tall vertical stem of the stitch, not the top ‘V’ loop sections you usually work into.
Puff stitch: A raised crochet blob created by repeatedly lifting but not tightening the internal part of the stitch.
R
Right side crochet (RS): The front of your crocheted work, usually displayed, with more defined stitch texture.
Ripple stitch: A gentle wave style crochet pattern that is created with regular increases and decreases within a row.
Round: A circle of crochet.
Row: A line of crochet.
Russian join: A method of merging two yarns together to create a seamless color change.
S
Shell stitch (sh): Crochet stitches with the fanned shape of a shell.
Single crochet (sc): Your short basic crochet stitch. You insert the hook into the stitch, yarn over and pull the yarn back through the stitch. Yarn over again, and pull through the remaining loops on the hook.
Skein: A long train of yarn, wrapped from the middle in a long cylindrical shape, with the ends of the yarn tucked in.
Skip (sk): Miss the next stitch or chain gap.
Slip stitch: Work into a stitch but don’t make a new raised stitch.
Stitch marker: A plastic or metal opening ring used to keep track of the start of a round or row.
Stuffing: The filling used to pad out crochet toys and some soft furnishings. Also can be used to describe the process of filling a crocheted object.
Super bulky yarn: The thickest commonly used weight of yarn, also known as super chunky.
Super chunky yarn: The thickest commonly used weight of yarn, also known as super bulky.
Surface crochet: Adding additional decorative crochet stitches to the top layer of a completed piece of crocheted material.
T
Tapestry crochet: Crochet that resembles a woven fabric tapestry, also known as colorwork as it creates detailed patterns or pictures.
Temperature blanket: A way of creating a colorful afghan, selecting your yarn based purely on the weather.
Tension: The tightness of your stitch, as dictated by how you hold your yarn.
Tunisian crochet: A cumulative method of crocheting using a longer hook, more akin to knitting.
Turn: Rotate the crocheted work so that the other side is facing towards you.
W
Waffle stitch: A lattice style crochet stitch created by periodically working into the front post.
Work: A piece of crocheted material or three dimensional crochet item.
Work even: Make the same number of stitches until the row becomes the desired number of stitches long.
Work In Progress (WIP): The crochet item that you are currently producing.
Worsted yarn: Medium weight yarn, thicker than double knit yarn by finer than aran yarn.
Wrong side crochet (WS): The back of your crocheted work, usually not seen, with less defined stitch texture.
Y
Yarn: Spun thread made from separate fibers woven together, wound into balls ready to be worked into a pattern.
Yarn bomb: A form of art whereby a public location is covered with crochet designs.
Yarn bowl: A dish that you place your ball of yarn into, with a hole for the end of the yarn you are working with to emerge from, allowing tidy unravelling of the skein as you crochet.
Yarn chicken: Trying to complete a crochet project when you have nearly run out of yarn. Named for the kids game of chicken where you see who can stay in place bravely the longest.
Yarn cutter: A device used to slice yarn safely, similar to a razor blade.
Yarn over (yo): Wrap your yarn across your crochet hook.
Yarn scraps: Remaining pieces of yarn, from tiny threads to partial skeins.
Yarn stash: The yarn you have at home ready for your next project.
Yarn weight: The thickness of your yarn, measured through the number of strands. The literal heaviness of the yarn will vary at the same weight depending on the fiber used.
Z
Zig zag stitch: An abruptly changing wave crochet pattern that is created with regular increases and decreases within a row.
