Tutorial - Half Double Crochet

There's an exception to every rule, right? 

That applies to crochet as well.  Just when you thought it was safe to assume that the (US) name of a stitch told you how many loops to have on your hook when you begin, and how many pairs of loops to remove... along come half stitches.

The most common half stitch is half-double crochet, so let's go over it step by step.

Like regular double crochet, half-double crochet (hdc) starts with two loops on the hook.  We create that second loop with a yarn over.

To work hdc, insert your hook under both loops of the stitch below - that teardrop/chain shape.

Yarn over and pull up a loop. 

Just like double crochet so far, right? But here's the twist.  Normally we'd begin to remove loops in pairs, but a half-double is only half... um... double.  ;o) 

So it starts out like a double crochet and ends like a single crochet.

Yarn over, and pull through *all* three loops on your hook.  Do not remove any in pairs.

I've worked a few stitches so you can see what they look like, front and back.

To work half-triples (or taller) then, you would work the stitch as named until you have three loops remaining on your hook.  (In the care of a triple, start with three loops, and remove in pairs until three loops remain.)  Yarn over, and remove those last three loops together.

One of the coolest features of half-double crochet is this extra loop on the back of the stitch.  Some patterns like to use that to special effect. 

So with a half-double stitch you not only have back loop only (BLO) and front loop only (FLO) but third loop only. 

This means you work your next row into that third loop... below the top two loops.

When you've worked a row this way, you can see how working the third loop pushes those unused top loops to one side, creating a nice surface chain as you go!


Just like all the other stitches, half double crochet can also be increased, decreased, posted... here let me show you.