Beginner help needed please :-)

[Sara1357]

I have just started to learn how to crochet and am needing assistance reading a pattern please.

I understand how to do basic stitches ....chain, single crochet, double crochet etc.

I am reading my first pattern .......row 1: 1ch, miss the first st and work dc into every st to end. I understand that ch = a chain stitch, if I am chaining the 1st stitch then how do I miss the first stitch, a bit confused, any help would be appreciated. Thanks Sara

[redrosesdz]

Welcome to Crochetville, Sara!

 

A miss is the same as a skip.  It just means to do nothing to that stitch and work in the stitch after the skipped one.

 

Where are you from?  The terminology "miss" is more common in UK/Australian patterns and the word "skip" in US patterns.  The reason that I'm asking is because there are other differences in the terminology.  Here's a handy chart that shows the differences...

http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/10/british-vs-american-crochet-terms/

[Sara1357]

Hi Sharon,

 

Thank you so much for your help. I am from the uk. I didn't realise that there was such a difference. I have been following a lot of American YouTube videos, nothing is ever straight forward is it :-)

[RoseRed]

American and UK use the same name for different stitches.  Which would you prefer to learn?

[Granny Square]

US stitch names are mostly 'demoted' by one degree from UK stitches.  Slip stitch and chain stitch are the same in both US and UK, but US SC=UK DC, US DC=UK TR and so forth.  Actually if you look at really old crochet books, the terms were the same until sometime after WW1 and then we silly Yanks went and changed ours.  

 

Meanwhile, to your original question - I think it is about the turning chain.  When you crochet flat, turning each row, you need to chain 'up' to the level of the next row.  Here's the formula (UK terms)

DC - chain 1 to turn - the chain does not count as a stitch.  Normally you make the first stitch in the row into the last SC of the prior row.

TR - Chain 3 to turn, the chain does count as a stitch 99% of the time (the pattern should tell you if it doesn't).  Normally you skip the last TR made in the row below, and make the first 'real' TR into the following stitch; the reason is, because the ch-3 counts as a stitch, acting as if it were made into the skipped stitch, but it's really hanging off the side of it.

Double Treble or Quadruple - chain 4 to turn; this and taller stitches act like TR in that the turning chains count as stitches.

HTR - this is an odd stitch.  Patterns may vary, turning stitch is either 1 or 2 and either count, or not, as a stitch.  

 

That Craftsy link is a good one for hints that a pattern is US or UK.  Other hints :

If it says "chain 3, DC", it's US terms  (since this is true for a turning chain in US DC, but the turning chain for UK DC is 1)

US spelling, like color 

US patterns tend to say ch 1, UK patterns tend to say 1 ch; this word order doesn't seem to apply to other stitches