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I get such questions on Etsy now and then, so today I thought it’s useful to write it on my blog because Etsy prevents using different fonts in messages (bold or italic, blue or red letters). Besides, you can’t press on links in messages if such links are not associated with Etsy.com (such as Ravelry, Instagram and so on).
Got 3 such questions on Etsy:
- *I am trying to zoom in to see the stitch but I can’t see it well. What is the type of stitch used on the skirt everywhere except the center?”.
- “What is the name of that stitch with the circle lace eyelets. The one that is used for most of the main body of your skirt pattern. It’s a very simple stitch I assume. If that stitch is available on YouTube?“.
- “What is the name of the main stitch used in the pattern?“
Answer:
The widely accepted names of crochet stitches are given on Wiki
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crochet_stitches
And even those vary internationally – as you know, 1 British dc equals 1 American sc.
When you get to more complicated stitches, it really is a free-for-all, as far as crochet terminology goes. Everybody learns from somebody else, and so everyone works a little bit differently. Another result of everyone learning differently is that there’s NO standardization in the terminology of some complicated stitches. Watch random videos on YouTube and you’ll see the truth in that.
My point is that giving every combination of stitches a particular NAME is very confusing.
Surely, we can call stitches that resemble leaves “a leaf stitch pattern“, pineapples – “a pineapple stitch pattern“. Though when we google pineapple crochet stitch, we see that some have 7 dc at the base, some – 9 dc, some are made with 3 or 4 chains, some have different stitches between two leaves or two pineapples etc. But one thing is clear – nobody calls a pineapple stitch a Bougainville stitch or Catherine… Anna … Mary … or other girl’s name stich. ?
For example, in this Augustina top I do mention that the stunting central part is created with “pineapple stitch pattern“:
(this Augustina top is available on www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/AUGUSTINA-top and https://conceptcreative.store/AUGUSTINA-top)
Some stitches names are accepted by some crochet communities and not by others (communities or countries).
Let’s take the Linen stitch. Some people call it the Moss stitch, the Woven stitch, the Seed stitch, the Granite stitch… whatever stitch… There are no standard rules for giving them names that will be accepted by everyone. Probably, some Encyclopedias of crochet stitches used one name, while others – another.
In this dress/top pattern I use the Linen stitch (I heard that name more often than others):
(this crochet dress/top pattern can be downloaded from my website https://conceptcreative.store/shop/proportions-dress-crochet-pattern )
The same happened to British and American double crochet – someone remembered how to crochet a stitch, but brought it across the ocean with a different name. Confusing enough, right? ?. I saw a negative review in one Etsy shop when someone tried to search for a particular stitch on Youtube and it differed from the one given in her pattern ?.
Imagine that one person called a combination of stitches a “Mini Bean Stitch” (maybe the “inventor” of a stitch that is widely used in old crochet charts enjoys gardening :). Another one has renamed the same stitch to “Elizabeth stitch“. Nowadays both names exist in English-speaking countries only.
People who create new names for existing combination of crochet stitches might not think strategically, so misinterpretation/misnaming happens a LOT in the crochet world. It’s definitely not as precise as the world of physics, so why should anyone contaminate their brain with the variety of names for the same combination of stitches? ?
Or another example: one crocheter placed two shells among other stitches and called it a “Catherine-Wheel“, but this name does not exist in non-English speaking countries – that nameless stitch had been published by old Japanese crochet magazines before some “Catherine” decided to claim the name.
Here is another example of name confusion in crochet stitches:
5 dc worked into 1 stitch are called “one shell” by some crocheters, “one fan” by others. And some people even call it a “cluster“.
This creates a huge problem for beginners because of lacking “official standards” – everything is made up by different people at the same time and called differently.
I call “clusters” several stitches joined at the top, while some people call them “a decrease”. But we can use this stitch along with others (dc, chains, sc and so on) in a rectangular lacy scarf with straight borders. It can’t be counted as “a decrease” in this shawl as it could be in a solid row of the same stitches.
Some websites explain that stitches included into clusters can be placed into the same stitch and some – in different stitches, like written on Redheart-website
www.redheart.com/learn/articles/how-crochet-clusters or here
www.dummies.com/crafts/crocheting/stitches/how-to-crochet-a-cluster-stitch/
Lots of other websites state that clusters are stitches worked into 1 stitch only
www.anniescatalog.com/crochet/content.html?content_id=47&type_id=S and here
www.kristinomdahl.com/how-to-crochet/#Clusters
How many names exist for a stitch pattern where 3 dc are worked in 3 ch? ?
By the way, this stitch is shown in my Sweater Turquoise Glacier
… and in my Mermaid skirt:
This stitch pattern has existed without any names in many crochet charts. Someone uses it in corner-to-corner blankets and calls it “corner-to-corner stitch“. But “corner-to-corner” is about the direction – for example, in all my Trapezoids I have worked from corner to corner and I have not used the same stich as in the Mermaid skirt, check out here:
We do not work the Turquoise sweater and Mermaid skirt from corner to corner – we crochet them in the round, so I do not use the corner-to-corner as a name. Somebody named this stitch “Drunken Granny Stitch” (press on this link to find it on google). And I’m sure, other names exist too :).
Thus, my answer to all questions about the NAME of STITCH PATTERN used in my crochet patterns is mostly the same:
Only these count as “standard ones” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crochet_stitches ?
I would never pay attention to “not standardized” crochet names on Youtube or Stitch-Encyclopedias because anyone can experiment with different stitches and create new combinations of them – it’s a constant process and that is why new stitch- and garment patterns appear every day ?.
I don’t want to invent any new “not standard” names and bring even more confusion into crochet world – I always chart crochet stitches from scratch for all my patterns ? ? ? ? ? ? and describe them in American terms – dc, sc and so on. And I’m not aware of a “standard” name that is accepted in every country for a stitch pattern you mention. Even if someone clams the well-known stitch pattern from Japanese crochet charts as “their own” :).
Happy crocheting/knitting!
