Reference / Reference
Abbreviations: modern US, UK, and antique
The same fabric, three vocabularies. This table is the Rosetta stone; it is also, line for line, what the Frogproof translator applies when you paste an old pattern.
| Modern US | UK equivalent | Antique US (1840s-1920s) | The stitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| ch | ch | ch, "make a chain of N" | chain |
| sl st, ss | sl st | Sl. C., slip | slip stitch |
| sc | dc (!) | Sg. C., s, "plain" | single crochet |
| hdc | htr | (rare) | half double |
| dc | tr (!) | D. C., d | double crochet |
| tr | dtr | Tr. C., t, tc | treble |
| dtr | ttr | D. Tr. | double treble |
| inc, 2 sc in next | inc | widen, 2 in 1 | increase |
| dec, sc2tog | dec | narrow | decrease |
| skip, sk | miss | miss | pass over a stitch |
| picot, p | picot | p. | picot |
| FLO / BLO | front/back loop | (described in words) | loop choice |
The two traps
- UK shift: every UK stitch name is one step "taller" than the same US name. Check the pattern's origin before anything else.
- Very old "single crochet": in some pre-1900 books "single crochet" means the slip stitch. If a Victorian pattern's fabric seems impossibly dense, that is why.