The first rule of communication is establishing common terms. Looking at an English crochet pattern or scrolling through YouTube videos, you might think all terms are equal — but you’d be wrong. Crochet patterns written in English may look similar, but there are two different terminologies that use the same terms to mean different stitches.
Let me explain! No, there is too much. Let me sum up… using embedded reference charts!
But why? US terminology counts the number of yarnovers needed to complete a stitch whereas UK terminology counts the number of loops on your hook.
But knowing the naming difference isn’t enough – You need to know how to identify which terminology is being used.
If you’ve identified your pattern language, and it’s not the terminology you are the most comfortable with, you can always convert it! My personal preferences is to copy things into a text file and use the find & replace tool. When doing this, though, you need to be careful to replace the stitches in order.
Why? If you are converting from a pattern written in UK terminology to a US terminology and you replace DC (UK) with SC (US), then when you go to replace TR (UK) with DC (US), you do not run into conflicting meanings for the same term. Whereas if you replace TR (UK) with DC (US) before replacing DC (UK) with SC (US), all of your stitches would end up being mixed together.
Now you’re armed to search YouTube and browse patterns, no matter the pattern origin!
What else have you found confusing about US and UK terminologies? What has you confused and in need of explanation? Leave a comment and leave the research to me!
Hi, Sara! Very useful post, and thank you for the tip on how to translate patterns! That is really confusing that both US and UK terms use the same abbreviations but for different stitches. Looking forward to reading more of your posts!