All the gear no idea!

[Yellow]

I’ve never done crotchet before and I am trying to do a dream catcher as someone got it for me for my birthday ! The instructions begin by saying “Ch 3 (in place of tr)”.. what does this mean ?!? I’ve googled everything I can and have no idea !! 

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!  And Happy Belated Birthday!  

I am going to guess you are in the UK or where UK crochet terms are used.  I'm in the US.  Here is a conversion chart.  In a nutshell, most of the standard, building-block stitches are 'promoted' in UK terms, in other words a US Single crochet is a UK Double crochet stitch, and so on.  Chain, slip stitch terms mean the same thing in both lingos.

Here is a site that is in US terms,  (sorry, I'm not aware of a UK site that's similar) .  There are lot of good things in here about reading crochet patterns which apply, just the basic stitch names are different.  See the menu on the right side of the page for different subjects. 

In that menu, look at the section the section 'how to read a crochet pattern' it explains what a turning chain is--this pertains to your question--what does "chain 3 in place of a UK triple" mean?  (but it will be talking about DC not trebles...)

Basic crochet stitches (basic stitch meaning 1 stitch not an 'assembly' of stitches) have different heights.  

A slip stitch is the shortest stitch; A UK DC (US SC) is the next taller stitch - it uses a turning chain (1 chain) to get your yarn up to the height of the next row.  For UK DC, the turning chain does not count as a stitch.  When you are starting from a foundation chain, you chain x, turn, and make the first UK DC into the second chain (the skipped one is the 'turning' chain)

Turning chains count as a stitch for all 'basic' stitches taller than UK DC (US TR).   So “Ch 3 (in place of tr)” is informative but a little redundant, because ch3 normally does count as a stitch when you are turning and the first stitch of the next row is a UK treble.  This is explained in more detail in the link I gave you, look at the menu and click on 'crochet patterns - how to read'.  Whether a turning chain counts as a stitch or not matters--actually a LOT of questions we see in the help section is from beginners who don't understand this concept.  The important thing that beginners err on re: turning chains, example UK TR row:  chain x turn, Row 1: skip the first 3 chains, tr in the 4th ch (and across, to make it simple); chain 3, turn.  Row 2: ch 3, skip the first TR, TR in each TR across and in the topmost of the 3 chains that were skipped at the beginning of the first row

I suggest you look at your pattern and see what stitches are mentioned, and start on a swatch (test piece) and practice chaining, making rows of UK DCs and their turning chains, and making UK trebles and their turning chains, and so on.  Find some videos to follow along with.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Granny Square

[Jackie6]

Does sc dc does that mean do a single crotchet and then a dc in same stitch

[Granny Square]

That is not what it would mean in a conventionally written pattern.  If the pattern doesn't specifically say where to put a stitch, it is 1 stitch into 1 stitch for however many stitches the instruction covers.

Your pattern is saying 'sc into the next stitch, dc into the stitch after that'.

Other examples, if a pattern says '9 dc', it means 1 dc into each of the next 9 stitches.  If t wanted you to put 9 stitches into 1 it would say '9 dc into the next stitch, or a specifically located stitch, example 'skip 4 stitches, 9 dc into the next stitch'.