Post stitches and cables · Intermediate
Back post single crochet
A back post stitch in single crochet (UK double crochet) is a single crochet worked round the post of a stitch from the back of the work. Bring the hook from the back to the front beside the post, across the front of the post and to the back again, pull up a loop, and finish like any single crochet. The stitch you work round is pushed away from you. Patterns write it BPsc or bpsc.
How to work it
Go round the post from the back
Do not take the yarn over first. Find the post of the next stitch, the part below its two top loops. Bring the hook from the back of the work to the front just before that post, take it across the front of the post, and push it to the back again just after it. The hook now lies across the front of the post.
Finish the single crochet
Take the yarn over and draw it through both loops. One loop is left. The stitch is made, and it sits behind the row below.
At a glance
- Also called
- BPsc, bpsc
- Used for
- a slight texture on single crochet fabric, worked with or without its front post twin
- Abbreviation
- BPsc, also written bpsc
- In UK terms
- raised double crochet back (RdcB)
- The hook goes
- From back to front to back, round the post
- Takes the place of
- The stitch whose post it goes round. Skip that stitch's top.
- Loops after the loop is pulled up
- Two
It is the front post single crochet turned round. The moves on the hook are the same, and only the way the hook passes the post changes. Here the hook starts behind the work, so the finished stitch lies at the back of the fabric and the stitch it goes round is pushed away from you.
Post stitches are most often worked round double crochet (UK treble) and taller stitches, which have a long post to go round. A single crochet has very little post. When the stitch below is a single crochet, the hook passes just under its top, close to the two top loops, and the effect is a subtle texture.
A back post stitch of any height can be worked round a single crochet in the same way. The pictures show the stitch worked on a row of single crochet.
When it goes wrong
- I cannot see where the hook goes.
- Look for the gaps on either side of the stitch, just under its top. The hook comes forward through the gap before the stitch and goes back through the gap after it, so that the hook lies in front of the post.
- My row has too many stitches.
- After each back post stitch, skip the top of the stitch in front of it. Working into that top as well adds a stitch.
- The stitch stands forward when it should sit back.
- The hook went round the post from the front. For a back post stitch the hook starts behind the work, and the hook ends up lying across the front of the post.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- Front post single crochet. The hook goes round the post from the front, and the stitch stands forward.
- Back post double crochet. The same move in the stitch most patterns use, with a yarn over first.
Questions
- What does bpsc mean in crochet?
- Back post single crochet: a single crochet worked round the post of a stitch from the back, not into the two loops at its top.
- What is the difference between fpsc and bpsc?
- The side the hook starts from. In a front post stitch the hook passes behind the post and the stitch you work round is pushed toward you. In a back post stitch the hook passes in front of the post and that stitch is pushed away.
- Does a back post single crochet count as a stitch?
- Yes. It takes the place of the stitch it is worked round, so skip the top of that stitch.
- What is bpsc in UK terms?
- Raised double crochet back, written RdcB.