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READING CROCHET DIRECTIONS
By Ed Barrall II
The Knitting Room
San Jose, CA
EDITORS NOTE: This reply was written in response to a crocheter's post asking what the parenthesis in crochet directions meant. This answer is a wonderful primer for reading crochet directions.
You asked what "(instructions) twice" meant in your question to Partners. This is standard Crochetenglish (say that twice fast!). For a really good coverage I strongly urge that you invest in a good beginning crochet/reference book such as Maggie Raggheti's "Crochet in Plain English".
Barring that here is an answer to your question. The grammar of crochet is exactly like English with the exception that it is very rigid. When a group of instructions are given inside ( ) it means do what is in side this set of ( )'s as many times as I say. From time to time there is some #$%%$ knitter writing the instructions and will say "two times more" (which means actually do what is inside the ( )'s THREE TIMES!). Your set of directions are well written crochet language. Just do the sequence of stitches inside the ( ) as many times as said and move on to the next set of instructions. I is not uncommon to see {, [, and ( used to nest commands very much like FORTRAN or Basic notation in programming language (but, came LONG before that). In addition for sub repeats *, daggers and double daggers are used (as in repeat from * to * twice and dagger to dagger once).
You will also see the use of : at the end of a row's instructions. After : there will be something like 56 dc or 200 sts. What they are telling you is: if you did what I told you to do you should have 56 or 200 whatever we have been doing. This colon is used usually after the total number of stitches have been changed in a row by either adding stitches or crocheting two or more together. A period (full stop) ends the instructions. Commas separate stitches in the instructions.
It is important to note if the pattern is numbered in rows or rounds. In rows one works back and forth (usually with a ch 1, ch2, ch3 or ch4 and turn at the end of the row to get you up to the next sc, hdc, dc or tr in the next row). With rounds one is actually going around and around. Just do the next round's stitch on top of the first one from the round before! No turn, no nothing. This is common in rugs, hats, purses, flowers, etc. I mark rounds as I go with colored thread as I have difficulty finding where one round ended and the other started (several days later).
You may see some odd instructions such as "work bcl (beginning cluster)". What is that? Look at the beginning of the instruction or pattern. There will be a box explaining that. The book may have special stitches explained in front or back. Now, from time to time, we do a Xerox and forget to copy the beginning of the pattern book. Too bad. For a proper pattern one is expected to know only ch, ss, sc, hdc, dc, and tr. The rest is explained SOMEWHERE in the book or leaflet. Really old patterns are not so nice, but that is another subject.
Generally, crochet instructions "flow". Work across and don't look back in the row. Instructions are always sequential. In the next row it may say dc in the next ch 1 space. Then, you have to look back to the previous row and determine where you did the ch1. Usually, this is not rocket science, but when you have done 3 dc, ch 1, 2 dc etc. it is difficult to tell where the ch 1 is and where there was no ch 1 (two weeks after you did them!). This is where you learn to "read" your work. That is follow the stitch sequence you did. If you get to be really good at this you will be able to "read" other people's crochet and read and write their pattern! Very useful when faced with a 50 year old chunk of crochet you would like to reproduce.
The use of the words space and stitch is very important. Space is exactly that. Dc in the next ch1 space means yo, put the hook into the SPACE and complete the dc. Dc in the next stitch means to yo and put the hook through the two loops making up the top of the stitch. Sometimes, the instructions will say dc in the back loop (front loop) of the next stitch. Looking down on crochet the stitches always have two loops. Holding the work normally again, the back loop is on the back side, etc. Before 1910 or so folks always used the back loop only..... Now, we always use both loops unless told to do otherwise.
I've been crocheting for 50 years and seen instruction formalisms change three times and crochet stiles change at least four times. The whole process is very dynamic. The language is interesting. But, as with English, there are some few differences between Jane Austin and the latest newspaper......
Hope this helps! Do try to get a copy of Maggie. You will love her in spite of some of her snobbish ways (won't recognize afghan stitch or hair pin lace as crochet, poor dear). You will get a liberal education in written crochet and learn symbol crochet at the same time. Symbol crochet (see the bimonthly Crochet Fantasy magazine) is international and widely used. With it you can work a Japanese pattern and not know a word of Kanji or Kana. Like the metric system, everyone out there is using it.
Ed Barrall II
The Knitting Room
San Jose, CA
May 14, 1999
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