Convert Crochet Patterns — US ↔ UK Terms

US and UK crochet terminology share names but mean different stitches. The most dangerous overlap: 'double crochet' in a US pattern is the medium-tall stitch (yarn over once, three loops). 'Double crochet' in a UK pattern is the short stitch (no yarn over, two loops) — which the US calls 'single crochet'. If you grab a UK pattern and crochet it as if it were US, every stitch is one full size too tall and the finished piece is wildly off gauge and proportion.

The shift propagates up the stitch ladder. US single crochet (sc) = UK double crochet (dc). US half double crochet (hdc) = UK half treble crochet (htr). US double crochet (dc) = UK treble crochet (tr). US treble crochet (tr) = UK double treble crochet (dtr). The pattern of UK names is always one step taller than the US name for the same stitch. Slip stitch (sl st) is the only stitch with the same name in both systems.

There are smaller vocabulary differences too: US 'gauge' is UK 'tension'. US 'skip' is UK 'miss'. US 'yarn over' is UK 'yarn over hook'. None of these will ruin your project the way the stitch-name confusion does, but they trip up readers who learned only one system.

Step 1: identify the source system. Look at the pattern's origin — Australian, UK, Irish, and most South African designers use UK terminology. American, Canadian, and most international Etsy designers use US terminology. If the abbreviations include 'tr' for the workhorse blanket stitch, it is UK. If the workhorse is 'dc', it is most likely US (but read the pattern intro for confirmation).

Step 2: paste the full written pattern into the input box, set the source system (US or UK), and the converted version appears in real time on the right. Click 'Copy result' to take it to your project. The converter handles full names ('double crochet'), abbreviations ('dc'), and the related vocabulary differences (gauge/tension, skip/miss, yarn over / yarn over hook).

Step 3 (optional): if you are also substituting yarn, switch to the Hook Scaling tab. Enter the original yarn weight and hook size from the pattern, then your substitute yarn weight, and the tool returns the equivalent hook size. The conversion preserves the relative offset from the typical hook for that weight — useful when the pattern uses a hook size at the loose or tight end of the standard range.