by Barb Skoglund
The World Wide Web is a great source for free and paid patterns from all around the world. Yarn companies offer patterns designed specifically for a particular yarn. Norway’s DROPS Design has thousands of free knit and crochet patterns in multiple languages, including United States (US) English and United Kingdom (UK) English. Online yarn shops can ship yarns to most countries in the world and both free and paid patterns show up in your inbox instantly. For example, international company, lovecrafts offers over 7,000 free crochet patterns. Some use American terms and others use United Kingdom/British terms. Ravelry includes over half a million crochet patterns from designers around the world. While most Ravelry patterns use US terms, there are thousands that use UK or other terms. Bloggers from many countries offer patterns as well.
Attic24 is a prolific designer of stunningly beautiful blankets. She even has her own line of yarn and buttons at the Wool Warehouse. Bella Coco is another crochet superstar from the UK. She has her own crochet subscription box, Crochet Society. Larger book and craft stores often sell crochet magazines and books published in the UK and Australia. Inside Crochet, Simply Crochet, Homespun Crochet and Crochet Now are all UK magazines. Yarn is an Australian magazine. Crochet World and Crochet! are from the US.
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw noted that “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” While I doubt Shaw was a crocheter, this quote definitely applies to crochet patterns. British and Australian designers usually use UK terms in their patterns. Patterns written in British English use different terms and even different stitch names. People tend to use the terms England, British, Great Britain, United Kingdom interchangeably. Geographically and politically they mean different things. But as far as crochet is concerned they mean the same thing.
Check out “What’s the Difference Between Great Britain and the United Kingdom?” for an explanation of the different geographical areas. I’m here to talk about crochet. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States were all British colonies in the past. However, logic does not play into the use of crochet terminology. Australian and New Zealand designers usually use UK terms while Canadian designers usually use US terms. Except, Canadians also refer to tension, instead of the US term gauge and yarn over hook (yoh) instead of the US term yarn over (yo). Canadians are also more likely to use terms like colour, fibre, grey, toque, bunny hug, and centimetre.
Some designers graciously warn users that the crochet pattern uses “UK terminology” while for other patterns you need to review the pattern to figure it out yourself. Look for the lack of single crochets in the pattern. Patterns using UK terms never use a single crochet. Look for the terms tension, miss a stitch or half treble crochet since they are only used in UK crochet terminology. Crochet chart symbols are universal, so you can also compare the pattern descriptions with the chart to see if the pattern is using UK or US terms.
Here is a handy chart to help you out if you want to make a beautiful project from a designer who uses UK crochet terminology.
UK Crochet / American Crochet
tension / gauge
Chain (ch) / Chain (ch)
Slip stitch (ss) / Slip stitch (sl st)
Yarn over hook (yoh) / Yarn over (yo)
Double crochet (dc) / Single crochet (sc)
Half treble crochet (htr) / Half double crochet (hdc)
Treble crochet (tr) / Double crochet (dc)
Double treble crochet (dtr) / Treble crochet (tr)
Triple treble crochet (ttr) / Double treble crochet (dtr)
Raised treble crochet back (rtrb) / Back post double crochet (bpdc)
Raised treble crochet front (rtrf) / Front post double crochet (fpdc)
Double crochet 2 together (dc2tog) / Single crochet 2 together (sc2tog)
Treble crochet 2 together (tr2tog) / Double crochet 2 together (dc2tog)
Reverse double crochet (rev dc) / Reverse single crochet (rev sc) also called crab stitch
Miss (ms) / Skip (sk)
Work straight / Work even
Adjustable ring / Magic ring Adjustable loop, Magic loop
When crocheting a simple pattern, you can probably translate the terms in your head. “Ch 25, turn, dc 24” can be quickly converted to chain 25, turn and single crochet 24. But for complex patterns, with varying repeats it is probably easier to re-write the pattern out using the US terms.
Stitch names and pattern abbreviations are just one difference between UK and US crochet patterns. Watch for future blog posts focused on international hook sizes and yarn gauge, or tension (as they say in the UK)!
