Reading symbol charts

What a symbol chart is

A symbol chart, or crochet diagram, is a picture of the stitches. Each symbol stands for one stitch and sits where that stitch goes, on top of the stitch it is worked into. The symbols are drawn roughly the height of the stitch, so a row of tall stitches looks tall on the chart too.

Because nothing on a chart is written in words, a chart reads the same whatever language the pattern is in, and it shows at a glance what a paragraph of instructions makes you work out: where a stitch goes, and how one row sits on the last. Lace, motifs, doilies and anything round are often charted for that reason, and many patterns give a chart beside the written rows.

The common symbols

These are the standard symbols, as most published patterns draw them. A pattern always has its own key, and where it differs, its key wins.

The common symbols, with their US and UK abbreviations

Symbol	Stitch (US name)	US	UK
	Chain	ch	ch
	Slip stitch	sl st	ss
	Single crochet	sc	dc
	Half double crochet	hdc	htr
	Double crochet	dc	tr
	Treble crochet	tr	dtr
	Magic ring	magic ring	magic ring
	2 single crochet in 1 stitch	sc inc	dc inc
	Single crochet 2 together	sc2tog	dc2tog
	3 double crochet in 1 stitch	3 dc in st	3 tr in st
	Double crochet 2 together	dc2tog	tr2tog
	Front post double crochet	FPdc	FPtr

From the double crochet up, the short bars across the stem count the yarn overs you make before you put the hook in: one for a double, two for a treble. The half double is a plain T, and a single crochet is a cross, or an X in some patterns.

US and UK names

The two systems use the same words for different stitches. A UK double crochet is a US single crochet, and every name above it moves up a step the same way. The symbol does not change, which is one of the best things about a chart: a cross is the same stitch on either side of the Atlantic.

Where a pattern's written parts matter, look for single crochet. Only US patterns have one, so if it appears, the pattern is in US terms.

Reading a chart in rows

A chart worked flat, like the one at the top, starts at the bottom with the foundation chain, and the triangle marks where it was begun. When the chain is made, your hook is at its right-hand end, so row 1 starts there and runs right to left. Each row's number sits at the end it starts from.

At the end of a row you turn the work, so row 2 starts on the left and runs left to right, and the rows go on swapping. The chains at the start of a row are the turning chain. In row 2 of the example, the chain of three stands where the first double crochet would be, because it counts as that stitch; row 3's last single crochet goes into its top.

If you crochet left-handed, read the chart as its mirror image: odd rows left to right, even rows right to left.

Reading a chart in rounds

A chart worked in the round starts in the middle and grows outwards. Begin at the centre, here a magic ring, and find round 1's number: the round starts there, with its chain, and runs anticlockwise, which is the way a right-handed crocheter works around. At the end, the dot is a slip stitch joining the last stitch to the first. Left-handed, read clockwise.

The example is the flat circle that hats, bags and baskets start from. Round 1 is six single crochet into the ring. In round 2 every stitch is a V, two single crochet into one stitch, which makes 12. Round 3 is one single crochet, then two into the next, around, which makes 18. Six more stitches every round is what keeps a circle flat.

Symbols that join

Most of the rest of a chart is ordinary symbols joined together, and where they join tells you what to do.

At the foot

Symbols that meet at the bottom are all worked into one stitch: an increase if there are two, a shell or a fan if there are more.

At the top

Symbols that meet at the top are worked together and finished as one stitch: a decrease, written 2tog or 3tog, or a cluster.

Over an arch

Stitches drawn over an arch of chains are worked into the space under it, not into the chains themselves.

With a hook

A hook at the foot of a stem means the stitch goes round the post of the stitch below rather than into its top. The key says which way is front and which is back.

Step by step

1. Read the pattern's key first, and check whether its written parts use US or UK names.
2. Find the start: the foundation chain at the bottom of a chart in rows, or the ring at the centre of one in rounds.
3. Read row 1 from right to left, starting where the chain ends. Its number sits at its start.
4. Turn, and read row 2 from left to right. Keep turning, so odd rows run right to left and even rows left to right.
5. For a chart in rounds, start each round at its number and read anticlockwise, joining with a slip stitch where the chart shows one.
6. Where symbols meet at the foot, work them all into one stitch; where they meet at the top, work them together into one.

Drawing your own

The symbol chart editor draws charts in these same symbols, 123 of them, in rows or in rounds, with repeats placed around a round in one go. Export a chart as PNG or SVG for a pattern you are writing, or print it to work from. It is free and needs no account.