Introduction
This is the ultimate guide to crochet terminology UK vs US! This guide will explain the different stitch abbreviations, hook sizes, yarn types and more!
Crochet can be a difficult skill to learn, one reason for this is the discrepancies with crochet terminology – specifically the differences between UK and US terms.
Crochet Hooks
Crochet hooks come in a wide range of sizes, but you will often find yourself using the same hook sizes frequently. For standard crochet hooks, the smaller the hook size, the thinner the yarn you will use and therefore the smaller the outcome. Your yarn tension is also a major factor when it comes to stich size too.
In the UK we tend to use the mm size and the US tends to use a lettering system – US hooks tend to use a 0.25mm system rather than the 0.5mm of the metric system. This means there isn’t always a completely direct translation between the sizes but a 0.25mm difference in hook size won’t make much difference.
UK
14
12
11
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
0
00
000
Metric
2mm
2.5mm
3mm
3.5mm
4mm
4.5mm
5mm
5.5mm
6mm
6.5mm
7mm
8mm
9mm
10mm
US
–
–
–
E/4
G/6
7
H/8
I/9
J/10
K/10.5
–
L/11
M/13
N/15
Crochet Stitches – Abbreviations
For English speakers there are two main text-based crochet languages: UK Terminology and US Terminology. This can become confusing when looking across various websites and creators for patterns.
I personally choose to use US terminology as I found it easier to learn – all my free patterns are written using US stitches however if you buy any patterns from my shop you will always be provided with both a UK and US version of the pattern.
UK
slst
ch
dc
htr
tr
dtr
Stitches
Slip stitch
Chain
Double crochet
Half treble crochet
Treble crochet
Double treble crochet
US
slst
ch
sc
hdc
dc
tr
Stitches
Slip stitch
Chain
Single crochet
Half double crochet
Double crochet
Treble crochet
Yarn Types
Coming soon…