Crochet Symbols Chart: What Every Chart Symbol Means
A crochet chart is a picture of the fabric, drawn one symbol per stitch. The symbols are not arbitrary: a chain is an oval, a cross means no yarn-over, and every crossbar added to a stem stands for one more yarn-over. Learn that rule and most of the chart reads itself.
Oval = chain. Filled dot = slip stitch. Cross = single crochet. Plain T = half double. Each crossbar on the stem adds one yarn-over, so T + 1 bar is a double, + 2 is a treble, + 3 is a double treble. Rows alternate direction; rounds read outwards from the centre.
The symbols, and why they look like that
Most symbol charts are presented as a list to memorise. They do not need to be, because the shapes encode how the stitch is made.
That single rule covers the whole family of tall stitches. Once a stem with two crossbars reads as “two yarn-overs, so treble”, you no longer need the key for the basic stitches — only for the ones a designer has invented.
The symbols chart
Every symbol below is drawn by CrochetCalc, and both naming systems are given because the symbol does not change between them but the words do.
| Symbol | Stitch (US) | Abbr. | UK name | What it represents | Related guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain | ch |
chain | One loop pulled through another. The foundation, and the spacer inside almost every pattern. | Abbreviations | |
| Slip stitch | sl st |
slip stitch | A join with no height — used to close a round or travel across stitches. | Stitch guide | |
| Single crochet | sc |
double crochet | No yarn-over. The shortest working stitch, and the densest fabric. | Stitch guide | |
| Half double crochet | hdc |
half treble | One yarn-over, pulled through all three loops at once. | Stitch guide | |
| Double crochet | dc |
treble | One yarn-over, worked off in two steps. The crossbar marks the yarn-over. | Stitch guide | |
| Treble crochet | tr |
double treble | Two yarn-overs, so two crossbars. Roughly half again as tall as a double. | Stitch guide | |
| Double treble | dtr |
triple treble | Three yarn-overs, three crossbars. The pattern continues indefinitely. | Abbreviations | |
| Double crochet 2 together | dc2tog |
tr2tog | Two stems joined at the top: two stitches worked together into one. A decrease. | Increase & decrease | |
| Shell / fan | shell |
shell | Several stitches sharing one base stitch. Splays the fabric outwards. | Advanced stitches | |
| Front post double | FPdc |
FPtr | Worked around the post of the stitch below rather than into its top. The hook at the base shows which side. | Advanced stitches |
Why charts survive the US/UK problem
This is the most useful thing about charted patterns and it is rarely said plainly. A T with one crossbar is the same drawing in London and in Los Angeles. The word attached to it is not: a US pattern calls it double crochet, a UK pattern calls it treble.
The two systems are offset by one throughout, so a US double is a UK treble, a US treble is a UK double treble, and — the one that catches people — a US single crochet is a UK double crochet. Work a UK pattern as though it were American and every stitch comes out one step too short. The chart is immune to all of it, which is why a charted pattern from an unfamiliar source is safer than a written one. The abbreviations list covers the written side of the same problem.
Reading direction
Knowing the symbols is half of it. The other half is knowing where to start and which way to travel.
Two details do the most damage when missed. The row number sits at the start of its row, so the numbers alternate sides — that is the quickest way to confirm which direction a row runs. And every symbol shows the stitch as seen from the right side, so a wrong-side row still displays its right-side symbol. The chart is a picture of the finished fabric, not a record of what your hands did.
Left-handed crocheters read a round chart in the opposite direction. Nothing about the chart changes; the direction of travel does.
Symbols in sequence: what a glossary cannot show
A symbol on its own is a definition. Symbols in sequence are a shape, and that is the point of charting.
Three features of that shell are visible in the chart and invisible in the written line. The five stems converge on one point, so they share a base stitch. They fan outward, so the fabric will scallop. And the crosses sit lower than the shell tops, so the edge will undulate rather than run straight. None of that is in *sk 2, 5 dc in next st, sk 2, sc in next st — it is all in the picture.
Where a symbol sits is part of what it means
The shape tells you which stitch. Its position tells you where the stitch goes, and that second half is what separates people who can follow a chart from people who can only recognise the pictures in it.
Directly above another symbol means worked into that stitch — the ordinary case, one new stitch on each old one. Straddling the gap between two symbols means worked into the space between them rather than into a stitch: in a mesh or a granny square that distinction decides whether the fabric holds its holes or closes up. Several stems meeting at one base point is an increase, several tops meeting at one point a decrease, and the two are mirror images of each other — the increase and decrease guide covers what each one does to the stitch count.
A symbol whose base wraps around a stem instead of resting on a stitch top is a post stitch, and which side the hook curls to tells you front or back. A symbol drawn off to the side of the stitch line, typically a run of chain ovals at the start of a row, is a turning chain the designer does not count as a stitch. If those same ovals sit squarely in the line, they count — and that one detail changes your stitch count on every row.
Beyond that, a chart's spacing is not decorative. Symbols drawn at even intervals mean an even fabric; symbols crowding together at one point and fanning out at another are telling you in advance where the piece will pull in and where it will flare.
When a chart is the wrong tool
Charts are not universally better, and it is worth knowing where they stop helping. A long amigurumi spiral worked in continuous rounds becomes an unreadable spiral of symbols after the first few rounds, which is why amigurumi is almost always written rather than charted. Deeply textured fabric — post stitches crossing over each other, cables, anything where a stitch leans — strains a notation designed to show stitches sitting upright. And colourwork usually abandons stitch symbols entirely for a coloured grid, one square per stitch, because there the colour is the information and the stitch never changes.
Most published patterns give both a chart and the written instructions for exactly this reason. Where they disagree, that is an erratum rather than a subtlety, and the designer's errata page is the place to check.
Always read the key
There is a widely used convention, and the Craft Yarn Council publishes a reference set of symbols. It is not a standard in the sense that anyone is obliged to follow it, and designers regularly invent symbols for stitches the convention does not cover — a particular cluster, a cabled post stitch, a colour change.
So a well-made chart always carries its own key, and reading it first is not optional. Where this page and a pattern's key disagree, the key wins: it describes that designer's intent, and this page only describes the common convention. The symbols here are CrochetCalc's own drawings of documented shapes rather than reproductions of anyone's artwork.
Where chart reading goes wrong
Counting the turning chain as a stitch when the chart does not. A chart shows whether the turning chain is a stitch by whether it sits in the stitch line. If the ovals are drawn in the row, they count; if they hang off the end, they do not. The foundation chain calculator handles the arithmetic either way.
Reading every row in the same direction. The row numbers alternate sides for a reason. Follow them.
Assuming a symbol from another pattern. Clusters and puffs vary between designers. Check the key.
Missing that stitches share a base. Five stems meeting at one point is five stitches in one stitch, not five stitches across five. It is the single most common misread of a shell chart.
Frequently asked questions
What do crochet chart symbols mean?
Each symbol is a picture of one stitch as it appears from the right side. A chain is an oval, a slip stitch a filled dot, a single crochet a cross, and a half double crochet a plain T. From there every crossbar added to the stem stands for one more yarn-over: a double crochet has one, a treble two, a double treble three. The symbol tells you both how tall the stitch is and how it is made.
How do you read a crochet chart?
For a flat piece, row 1 is read right to left, row 2 left to right, and the direction alternates because you turn the work. The row number sits at the edge where that row begins. For a piece worked in the round, round 1 is the centre and you work outwards, anticlockwise if you are right-handed.
Are crochet symbols the same in US and UK patterns?
The symbols are. The names are not. A T with one crossbar is the same drawing in both, but a US pattern calls it double crochet and a UK pattern calls it treble. That is the strongest argument for charts: the picture is unambiguous where the words are not.
What is the difference between a crochet chart and a written pattern?
A written pattern is a sequence of instructions; a chart is a picture of the finished fabric. The chart shows you the shape of a shell or the placement of a cluster before you work it, which written instructions can only describe.
Do crochet symbols show the right side or the wrong side?
The right side. A symbol represents the stitch as it looks from the front of the work, so a wrong-side row still shows the right-side symbol. That is why a chart reads as a picture of the fabric rather than a record of what your hands do.
Is there a standard set of crochet symbols?
There is a widely used convention, and the Craft Yarn Council publishes a reference set. It is not a formal standard in the sense that a designer must follow it, which is why every well-made chart carries its own key — always read the key before assuming a symbol means what you expect.
Sources & further reading
- Craft Yarn Council — crochet chart symbols — the reference set whose documented meanings the drawings here follow.
- Crochet abbreviations — the written shorthand, including the full US/UK mapping.
- Reading crochet patterns — written pattern syntax: brackets, asterisks and repeats.
Every symbol on this page was drawn by CrochetCalc from the documented shape of each stitch. No external symbol artwork is reproduced: the Craft Yarn Council's pages carry a general site copyright with no stated reuse licence, so its files are linked rather than copied. The shapes themselves — an oval for a chain, a crossbar for a yarn-over — are long-standing craft conventions rather than any one publisher's design.
Related tools
- Crochet stitch guide — how to work each of the stitches these symbols stand for.
- Increase and decrease guide — the shaping the joined-top symbols represent.
- Circle calculator — the increase maths behind a round chart worked from the centre.