I have a ton of crochet patterns in my library, 9,496 according to what I have logged in my Ravelry library, most have US terms, some have UK terms but what’s the difference and how do I know?
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
The differences in US and UK terms is actually minimal and at first glance almost imperceptible but the difference made to the finished piece is a different story. Let’s compare them side-by-side.
HOW DO I KNOW?
A good pattern will have “US terms” or “UK terms” near the abbreviation list. A great pattern might have BOTH listed and then tell you which one the pattern is written in so that it can be quickly translated to the other.
If however you have an older pattern it probably doesn’t say. I have even recently had a newer book that was written in Australia, because with crochet terms, like most everything else, the US has decided to be unique. Being written in Australia the book used “UK” terms. It wasn’t stated that it used UK terms and I understand why. I also have books written by yarn companies outside of the US, but their yarn and the books are sold in the US by the ton, they don’t mention that the terms are UK.
In these situations you have use your experience, tools and swatch.
When I had finished one of the squares from the book written in Australia, it looked slightly different than the photo and I wasn’t sure why. What saved me in this instance was there was a crochet chart of the square. While I didn’t read crochet charts, I do now thanks to this project, I knew enough to know what a dc and a tr look like when charted. The stitches I had worked as dc in my square were shown as tr in the chart. I compared a couple other sets of instructions to charts within the book and figured out what was going on. I later looked up where the book was published and then it all made sense.
The books from the yarn company you’d have to do the same thing. Pick something and start making it following the instructions, using EITHER US or UK terms consistently. Then compare it to the pictures. Does it look right? How far off is the gauge?
Because a sc in UK terms is a dc in US there are some things that will be very obvious that those are not which ever terms you think they are.
This was taken from a pattern on the internet, the US terms are on the right and the UK terms are on the left. They are only slightly different because of the stitches used in this pattern. The key thing I want to point out is that the “sc” in the US terms is a single crochet. The “dc” in the UK terms is also called a single crochet. While correct to a point, it is incorrect in the pattern. It should say “double crochet” because that is what a crocheter using UK terms would call it, though it is worked the same as a US single crochet. Again context is key if you’re the crocheter trying to figure out how to work the pattern. This is an amigurumi pattern so using single crochets as worked in the US terms is correct. Using double crochets as worked in the UK terms is correct. This pattern was written correctly but this mistake in the abbreviations could be confusing enough for someone to choose not to make it.
I have seen a pattern trying to be “inclusive” use both terms at the same time in the written instructions. Far example, ch 10, sc/dc in the 2nd ch from hk and in each ch across. 9 sc/dc
This can get confusing quickly. If a pattern is to be “accessible” to more people making the abbreviations list look something like this is a better way to go.
US/UK terms
dc – double crochet/treble crochet
hdc – half double crochet/half treble crochet
sc – single crochet/double crochet
This is an example of what an ideal pattern abbreviation list looks like if both aren’t going to be included.
I hope that this helps clear things up for something you’ve experienced in the past or for a pattern that you might encounter in the future.
Happy Making!