*2HDC, 1HDC in next 3 stitches*

[oleander86]

Hi there - long time knitter but newbie crocheter here. I'm struggling with being able to understand these instructions when you have a repeating part of a pattern that says "step 1, step 2 in next X number of stitches". In particular, the one in the title of this post. What does this mean? When it said "2HDC, 1 HDC in next 2 stitches" I assumed it meant I did two HDCs in one stitch, then just one HDC in the next (so two stitches being worked on in total). Now I get to this one and I'm confused. Can someone translate this into plain language?

 

Thanks in advance!

[oleander86]

Sorry for the double post all - something glitched on my phone.

[redrosesdz]

Welcome to Crochetville!

 

When there is a number in front of a stitch, like 2HDC, it means to do 2 HDC stitches in the same stitch.  (It's also called an increase.)  A comma separates the next instruction. 

 

It's unusual to see 1HDC, instead of just HDC, but it means the same thing.  1HDC in the next 2 stitches means to do an HDC in the next stitch, then do another HDC in the stitch after that.  1HDC in the next 3 stitches means to do an HDC in the next stitch, then do another HDC in the stitch after that, then do another HDC in the stitch after that.

 

So, 2HDC, 1HDC in the next 3 stitches means that you're working a total of 5 HDC stitches in 4 stitches of the previous row.

 

Below is the link for the Yarn Council's "How to read a crochet pattern" ...

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/tip_crochet.html

[oleander86]

Awesome thank you! I hadn't found something exactly on point in the pattern tutorials I'd read and so I was mistakenly thinking "well, how do I fit two steps into three stitches?" I didn't realize the "in next three stitches" only referred to the 1HDC and not the whole repeating part of the pattern.

 

Thanks for the quick reply and help! Crochet feels so different from knitting so I'm sort of puzzling over a lot of little things.

[redrosesdz]

You're welcome!  I understand completely.  I'm a crocheter and beginning knitter.  Knitting instructions confuse me. 

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!  Hang in there, it will make more sense as you go along.  

 

Not sure if you are familiar with the site below because it also covers knitting, but here's a page on standard crochet terms.  Like knitting, if you want to do a pattern repeat, it will say to do different things in some number of stitches after the asterisk.  I'm not an expert knitter, but from what I've encountered aside from increases and bobbles it's not too common to put multiple stitches into 1 knit stitch, but it happens a lot in crochet; in that case (unless it is telling you to put some multiple of the same stitch type into 1 stitch) the pattern should use brackets to indicate all the things that go into 1 stitch.

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards.html

I linked to menu page because there's other good stuff there, but go to 'how to read a crochet pattern' 

 

On the extra post, I believe you can delete it as long as no one else has responded to your original post.  Or, you can just change the original text to 'never mind' so you don't get 2 sets of answers.