Stitches
Crochet Charts: How to Read Every Symbol
A crochet chart is a map of the fabric drawn in standard symbols: an oval is a chain, a dot or filled oval a slip stitch, a plus or × a single crochet, a T with no crossbar a half double, and a T with one or two crossbars a double or treble — the crossbars count the yarn overs. Charts worked flat read bottom-up, alternating right-to-left then left-to-right with the row numbers marking the starting side; charts worked in the round read counter-clockwise from the centre out. Those seven symbols and two directions cover the large majority of published charts.
A crochet chart looks like circuit-board hieroglyphics until someone tells you the organising secret: the symbols are pictures. Each one is a tiny drawing of its stitch — as tall as the stitch is tall, with a tick mark for every yarn over. Learn seven of them and the direction rules, and most published charts open up at once, including ones written in languages you don’t read.
The seven symbols
| Symbol | Stitch (US) | The logic |
|---|---|---|
| oval | chain | a link of chain, drawn |
| filled dot | slip stitch | no height — a point |
| + or × | single crochet | short cross, short stitch |
| T | half double crochet | tall, no yarn-over ticks |
| T with 1 crossbar | double crochet | one crossbar = one yarn over |
| T with 2 crossbars | treble | two yarn overs, per the treble guide |
| ovals in an arc | chain space | chains bridging over stitches |
The crossbar rule scales past the table: three crossbars is a double treble, and so on. You are not memorising a code so much as learning to see a drawing of the fabric.
Two direction systems
Rows: read bottom-up, boustrophedon — back and forth like the fabric is worked. The printed row numbers are the compass: each number sits at the end where its row starts. Rounds: centre outward, counter-clockwise (right-handed). Left-handers mirror everything, and get a genuinely better deal from charts than from written patterns — a mirrored picture still makes sense; mirrored prose doesn’t.
Grouped symbols are the grammar
The two clusters that decode fancy lace: symbols fanning from one base all go into the same stitch (shells, increases — the granny square’s 3-dc cluster is drawn exactly this way), and symbols pinched to one apex are worked together at the top (decreases, the puff and bobble family). Spread bottom, shared top — into one, out of many. Once you see those two shapes, a doily chart stops being a mandala and becomes instructions.
Why bother, when the words are printed too
Because the chart is the geometry and the words are a serialisation of it. Repeats, symmetry, what-sits-over-what — visible in the drawing, laborious in the prose. And because symbol charts are effectively an international language: the Japanese crochet-book tradition, some of the best pattern design in the craft, publishes almost entirely in charts. Chart literacy is the cheapest passport in crochet.
Notes
- The height logic makes the symbols memorable instead of arbitrary: taller stitch, taller symbol, and each crossbar on the T is one yarn over. Once that clicks, you can read symbols you have never been taught — a T with three crossbars must be a double treble, because what else would it be.
- Find row 1 before anything else: on flat charts the row numbers sit at the side where that row starts, so odd numbers on the right mean right-handed crocheters read odd rows right-to-left. Left-handers read the mirror — which is actually easier with charts than with written patterns, since the picture just flips.
- In-the-round charts read counter-clockwise (for right-handers) from the centre; the round usually opens at a marked chain and the join is drawn as a slip-stitch dot. If a doily chart seems to spiral wrong, check for a "no join" note — spiral rounds and joined rounds are drawn almost identically.
- Symbols drawn sharing one base point mean "work all of these into one stitch" (an increase, a shell, a fan); symbols drawn converging to one apex mean "close all of these together" (a decrease, a cluster). Spread at the bottom = into one; pinched at the top = joined at the top. That single distinction decodes most complicated-looking lace.
- Charts and written instructions are usually both provided, and the chart is the better error-checker: a misprint in text is invisible until your count breaks, but a chart misprint usually looks wrong — a missing fan, an asymmetry. When text and chart disagree, trust the chart's geometry and the designer's errata page, in that order.
Common questions
What do the symbols in a crochet chart mean?
The core set: oval = chain, dot (or filled oval) = slip stitch, + or × = single crochet, plain T = half double crochet, T with one crossbar = double crochet, two crossbars = treble. Height and crossbars are systematic — the symbol is a little picture of the stitch, with each crossbar recording one yarn over — so unfamiliar symbols can usually be decoded rather than looked up. Charts also include a key; read it, because a few symbols (notably ×) vary by publisher.
Which direction do you read a crochet chart?
Flat charts: bottom to top, alternating direction — the row number is printed at the end where that row begins, so a "1" on the right means row 1 reads right to left (for right-handers), row 2 left to right, and so on, matching how the fabric is actually worked and turned. Round charts: from the centre outward, counter-clockwise for right-handers. Left-handed crocheters mirror both.
Are crochet charts US or UK terms?
This is the chart's quiet superpower: the symbols are largely international, describing the physical stitch (number of yarn overs) rather than a dialect's name for it. A T with one crossbar is the same motion in Ohio and Yorkshire. The key may label it "dc" or "tr" by region, but if you work from the symbol geometry you can use Japanese, Russian or German chart patterns without translating a word — which is why chart-literate crocheters have a much larger pattern universe.
How do I know if a chart is worked in rows or rounds?
Shape and numbering: a rectangular grid with row numbers stacked up the sides is rows; a radial layout with round numbers spiralling from a centre ring is rounds. The centre itself tells you the start — a small ring of chain ovals or a magic-ring symbol. Some garment charts mix both (a yoke in rounds, then rows for the body split); the numbering always follows the working order.
Why use a chart instead of written instructions?
Because a chart shows relationships that prose has to bury: you can see that this shell sits above that chain space, that the repeat is eight stitches wide, that the edges mirror. Complex lace that reads as word-soup in text ("[2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc] in next ch-3 sp, sk 2…") is legible at a glance as a drawing. Written instructions still win for texture patterns with long plain stretches; the strongest position is reading both, checking one against the other.