Post stitches and cables · Intermediate
Crocodile stitch
Crocodile stitch makes rows of overlapping scales. It is built from two kinds of row, worked in turn. A ladder row sets up pairs of double crochet (UK treble) posts. A scale row then works round the posts of a pair: five double crochets down the first post and five up the second, which fold forward into one scale. The scales of each row lie over the gaps in the row below.
How to work it
Work the ladder row
Chain a multiple of 6, plus the chains your pattern adds for turning. Work 2 double crochet into one chain: that is one pair of posts. Then chain 2, skip 2 chains and work 2 double crochet into the next chain. Repeat to the end of the chain.
Five stitches down the first post
Turn. Work 5 double crochet round the first post of a pair, starting near the top of the post and moving down toward its foot. For each one, yarn over and pass the hook round the post itself. The hook does not go into the top of a stitch.
Five stitches up the second post
Turn the piece in your hands until you can reach the second post of the pair. Work 5 double crochet round it, starting at its foot and moving up to its top. The ten stitches make one scale.
The next ladder row, and scales over the gaps
Turn and work another ladder row: a pair of double crochets in the middle of each scale and a pair between the two posts of each pair you left empty, with 2 chains between pairs. On the scale row after it, make the scales on the pairs that stand over the gaps. Each new scale then lies across the edges of two scales below.
At a glance
- Used for
- scales, feathers and petals on scarves, shawls, bags and hats; a thick, layered fabric
- Abbreviation
- None is standard. Patterns describe the scale under their special stitches.
- In UK terms
- crocodile stitch, the same name, worked in UK trebles
- Starting chain
- A multiple of 6, plus the chains the pattern adds at the start
- Stitches in a scale
- 10 double crochets: 5 down the first post and 5 up the second
- Rows
- Two kinds, worked in turn: a ladder row and a scale row
The scale is the same in every pattern: five stitches down one post of a pair and five up the other. What differs is the ladder. On this page the ladder is pairs of double crochets with 2 chains between them, and a scale is made on every other pair. Other patterns put a single double crochet between the pairs, with 1 chain each side of it, make a scale on every pair and slip stitch into each single stitch. Follow the ladder your pattern gives.
Every stitch of a scale is worked round a post. The hook passes round the post of the double crochet, and the new stitch wraps it. Nothing is worked into the tops of the pair.
The second half of a scale is hard to reach from the usual angle. Turning the piece in your hands, a quarter turn or more, is part of the stitch.
Because the scales of one row sit between the scales of the row below, the rows do not all hold the same number of scales. In a straight piece one scale row has a scale more, or a scale fewer, than the next.
When it goes wrong
- I cannot get the hook round the second post.
- Turn the piece until the post is easy to reach, and work up it from the foot to the top. Turn the piece back when the scale is finished.
- My scales sit in straight columns and do not overlap.
- Each scale row has to be moved over. Make the new scales on the pairs that stand over the gaps of the last scale row, not over its scales.
- My scale has too few stitches.
- Count as you go: five down the first post, then five up the second. The numbers are the same for every scale.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- A scale on every pair. A ladder of pairs with a single double crochet between them. A scale is made on each pair and fastened with a slip stitch into the single stitch.
Questions
- How many stitches are in a crocodile stitch scale?
- Ten double crochets: five worked down the first post of a pair and five worked up the second post.
- What multiple do I chain for crocodile stitch?
- A multiple of 6 for the ladder on this page, plus the chains your pattern adds at the start. Patterns that build the ladder another way add different extra chains.
- Is crocodile stitch hard?
- It is built from chains and double crochet, with a slip stitch in some patterns. The new part is working round a post and not into the top of a stitch, so it helps to know post stitches first.