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When I was teaching myself to crochet, I somehow skipped right over the half double crochet stitch. Like most people I’d guess I learned to chain and single crochet, then I tried double and treble crochet, but it took a long time for me to get back to half double crochet.
That’s a shame, because this stitch is quick and easy to make and makes a nice, relatively solid stitch in less time than single crochet. Let’s learn all about i!
What is the Half Double Crochet Stitch?
Half double crochet, known in pattern-speak as HDC, is a basic crochet stitch that’s in between single crochet and double crochet in terms of size.
In British terms it would be called half treble crochet.
Half double crochet is less firm than single crochet, less open than double crochet. It’s a great choice when you want a warm fabric for hats, mitts, headbands and the like, but gives a little more breatheability and drape than single crochet.
Whatever you call it, it involves taking the yarn over the needle, going into the stitch and pulling up a loop, then yarning over again and pulling through all three loops. We’ll take that step by step below if you need more than the quick version.
How to Work Half Double Crochet
HDC works on any number of stitches. If you’re just practicing, chain a few, then add two more to allow for the height of the stitch.
Take the yarn over the hook (here I’m using worsted weight yarn, Lion Brand Wool Ease to be specific, and a size I/5.5 mm crochet hook).
Insert the hook from front to back into the third chain from the hook. I turned the hook here a bit so that you can see where to go.
Yarn over and pull through a loop. There are now three loops on the hook.
Yarn over one more time.
Pull through all three loops. You’ve just made one half double crochet stitch!
Continue in this manner across the row.
Continuing to Work in HDC
Chain 2 at the end of the row and turn the work.
If you’re working a pattern that uses half double crochet, it will tell you whether the chains count as a stitch. I don’t typically count them; they just serve to bring the crochet hook up to the height of the stitches for the next row.
To start the next row, yarn over and go into the top of the stitch from the previous row, skipping the two chain stitches.
Work across as before. Remember on subsequent rows that the chain isn’t counted as a stitch so you shouldn’t work into the chain as if it were a stitch when you get back to it.
It’s a great idea to count stitches at the end of the first few rows just to make sure you’re on the right track.
And there you have it! Half double crochet stitch is a great one to have in your arsenal. I’d love to know what you use it for.
