Crochet Hook Sizes and Abbreviations
I compiled this Crochet Hook Sizes and Abbreviations chart last year and although I have been linking to it from some of my posts, I thought it deserved a post of its own. And once I decided to dedicate a post to it, I thought I should really play around with the layout a bit. Two hours later and you would never know that I actually have a million and one more important things to be getting on with.
But avoiding confusion IS important as well. And crochet is mired in confusion! We have metric, US and UK hook sizes. We have US and UK Crochet Terminology/Abbreviations (and that’s just in English. What about the other languages??) And don’t even get me started on yarn weights! (But that will have to wait for another day)
I use US Crochet Terminology in all my patterns as it just makes more sense to me. But if you are used to using UK Terminology I don’t want you to miss out and become totally confused. Plus, I live in the UK, so I should show a bit of solidarity, hm?
If you would like a printer-friendly version of the Crochet Hook Size and Abbreviations chart, feel free to save the image below to your computer. You can do that by right-clicking on the image and choosing Save Image As…
To save the chart as a PDF, simply click on the image below to access the PDF.
You can Pin these images as much as you want. You can print them out and give them to your crochet buddies. You can blog about them and link to them and fold them into paper aeroplanes or origami flowers. But please do not republish them anywhere else.
If you have any questions, or spot any errors, please do not hesitate to contact me. (Thank you to Elizabeth Ham, who picked up the dodgy slip stitch abbreviation so that I could correct it!)
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Happy Hooking!
Tiffany Monson says
Hi Dedri
Ok, so I am currently doing round 21 of sophie’s universe and oh mylanta! Ok so in your pattern you say to do front post double treble crochets. In my mind that means I need to yarn over 3 times before inserting into my previous fptr. However, when I’m watching the tutorial by “It’s all in a nutshell”, she does a fptrb. I’m in America btw…I am so very confused now, if I’m supposed to be doing it the way she is in the video then I have lots of frogging to do…♀️
Dedri Uys says
Hi Tiffany,
I think you are referring to Round 20? There is a note on the video to say that where she is saying FPtr should be FPdtr. Does that help? The written pattern is correct and you do not need to frog.
Jewell Scrivner says
I. Have been using both for about 45 years now and they r like second nature to me now but in the begininng it was very hard
Melanie says
I am always confused by US terminology as I’m quite a new UK crocheter. UK terminology makes more sense to me as a Double Crochet is 2 movements, 2 loops on the hook. A Treble is 3 chains high, 3 movements and 3 loops on the hook and this is Double in the US. I find it quite difficult to follow a pattern in US terminology as the brain is reading something other than the hands are doing, but if I persevere I should crack it in time. The error potential is quite high though.
Dedri Uys says
I suppose it depends on how you look at it :) I have never quite understood why UK terms start with a double and not a single. I was taught that a double (US) is a double because you pull through twice, and a treble (US) is a treble because you pull through 3 times, so for me the US terms make more sense. Either way, once you get the hang of switching them in your mind, it becomes second nature :)
Charts are an excellent way to avoid the confusion, I suppose, but I so love written instructions.
Levi says
In true British Crochet a UK single crochet is actually the proper name for a slip stitch. I’m a 24 y/o self-taught male, I can follow most patterns, bar Japanese and Bavarian, but working on that.
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Levi. I have seen a few references for a sc as a sl st, but that seems to be in much older patterns. Do you use UK terms, and if you do, do you use sc or sl st (or ss) for a slip stitch? I have yet to master Japanese and Bavarian patterns too!
Mayna says
Dankie Dedri vir al die inligting, dit help so baie. Ek wil net graag vra of jy ook asb meer
inligting kan gee oor die dikte van die wol/gare aangesien ons hier in SA praat van
4-draad of dalk “dubble knit” ens. Dankie vir alle die pragtige werk wat jy doen. Groete Maryna.
Amanda Edgeworth says
Thanks for the helpful chart! This will be helpful for so many! Thanks again! Manda!
Alicja says
I have a question, ’cause I’m not sure if I got it right. For example when it’s double crochet in US terminology and in UK one is treble crochet does it mean that they are the same stitches with different names or they are completly different stiches with different names? I know there’s a picture, but I’m a bit confused as I do not work with none of these terminologies on daily basis – I’m from Poland. Any word of advice would be nice :)
Dedri Uys says
Hi Alicja. A US double crochet is the exact same stitch as a UK treble crochet. They are both: yarn over, insert your hook into the next st, yarn over and pull up a loop. (Yarn over and pull through 2 loops) twice.
I have no idea why the Americans and the British call the stitches different things, because it can be very confusing. If I were you, I would pick one to work in and learn – preferably US as it is more common. When you then run into a pattern that uses UK terms, just use a conversion chart to help you “change” the instructions into UK ones. So if a UK pattern said make a treble crochet, you would make a US double crochet. Does that make sense?
Alicja says
Dedri, thanks a lot for your reply. It makes much more sense now :)
Elizabeth Ham says
This is a wonderful reference! Thanks!
There are a couple of thing that I would add… a G-6 also can be a 4.25 mm hook…
‘sl st’ is the Us abbreviation for slip stitch. I have also seen ‘rpt’ for repeat.
I rarely see a chart for the steel thread hooks… but those are pretty much universal. a 00 steel lace hook is the same size an an E-4 93.5 mm hook… they get smaller the higher the numbers go.
Elizabeth Ham says
correction…where did that 9 come from?!…. E-4 (3.5mm) hook.
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Elizabeth. I have now changed the instructions for the sl st. As for the 4.25, I think the difference is so minimal between 3.75, 4 and 4.25 that they are all occasionally called a G hook. But according to the yarn council of America the 4 mm hook is the actual G.
Rhondda Mol says
LOVE THIS!!! Thanks for letting me know it was here :) R
Dedri Uys says
Just a pleasure. I thought I’d spam your facebook page a little bit :)