Shells, fans and V-stitches · Easy
Fan stitch
A fan is a group of tall stitches worked into one stitch or space, so that they spread like an open fan. Patterns use the words fan and shell loosely: some keep fan for a group that has chain spaces among its stitches, and others use the two words for the same thing. The fan shown here is two stitches of double crochet (UK treble), one chain and two more double crochets, and each fan is worked into the fan below it.
How to work it
Two more in the same stitch
Work two more double crochets into the same stitch as the first two. One fan is made: four double crochets rising from one stitch, with a chain between the second and the third. In the first row, skip three stitches before the next fan.
In the next row, work into the chain space
Turn, and chain 3 to stand for the first double crochet. Work each new fan into the chain space in the middle of the fan below: put the hook under the single chain, and work two double crochets, chain 1 and two double crochets there. The fans stand one above the other. End the row with one double crochet in the top of the turning chain.
The stitch pattern, row by row
- Multiple
- Chain a multiple of 4 plus 3 (15 or more).
- Starting chain
- The rows here are written for a chain of 23, which is 5 times the multiple of 4, plus 3.
- The ch 3 at the start of a row counts as a dc. The last stitch of the next row is worked into the top of it.
- Row 1 is the right side.
- A stitch worked into a chain space passes over any stitches that lie before the space; they are left unworked.
- Stitches in parentheses, or several of one stitch, are all worked into the one place named after them.
- Foundation. Ch 23.
- Row 1 (RS). Sh in 5th ch from hook (skipped chs count as dc), [sk next 3 chs, sh in next ch] 4 times, sk next ch, dc in next ch (2 dc, 5 sh).
- Row 2. Ch 3 (counts as dc), turn; [sh in next ch-1 sp] 5 times, sk next 2 sts, dc in top of turning ch (2 dc, 5 sh).
Repeat row 2 for the pattern.
What each symbol meansHow to read a chart
Abbreviations in these rows
- ch
- chain stitch
- dc
- double crochet (UK treble)
- RS
- right side
- sk
- skip
- sp
- space
- st
- stitch
- sh
- shell: (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in the same st or sp.
At a glance
- Used for
- shawls, wraps and light scarves; light blankets and baby blankets
- The fan on this page
- Two double crochets, chain 1, two double crochets, all in one stitch or space.
- Multiple
- The chain is a multiple of 4 plus 3 (15 or more).
- Row repeat
- Row 2.
- Edges
- The side edges are straight: where a row begins with a chain that counts, that chain is the edge stitch and the last stitch of the next row goes into its top.
- These rows are also published as
- Iris stitch.
What a pattern means by a fan is not fixed. One online stitch library draws a line: a fan has at least one chain space among its stitches, a shell is made of stitches only, and fans are usually stacked one above the other. A printed stitch dictionary keeps the same habit: its fans are groups such as three double crochets, a chain and three more.
Others do not hold to that line. A book of crochet techniques says that shells are often known as fan stitches too. One tutorial gives shell stitch and fan stitch as two names for one technique. Several stitches named for their fans have no chain in the group at all. And the rows printed below call this page's own group a shell, written sh, as other patterns that use the same group do.
So go by the pattern in your hands. A pattern that uses a fan says once what its fan is, as a list of stitches and chains in brackets, and everything in the brackets goes into one place.
Fans come in many sizes. Patterns named for their fans use groups of three, five and nine tall stitches, with chains or without, and each has a multiple of its own.
Tips
- Work into the space under the chain, not into the chain. The hook goes in under the whole chain.
When it goes wrong
- My fans do not line up above each other.
- A fan has gone into the gap between two fans. Each fan goes into the chain space in the middle of a fan: look for the single chain with two double crochets at each side of it.
- My rows are getting shorter.
- The last stitch has been left out. After the last fan, work one double crochet into the top of the three chains that began the row below.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Patterns that use it
Questions
- Is a fan the same as a shell?
- Often it is. Many patterns use the two words for the same group of stitches worked into one place. Where a difference is made, a fan has chain spaces among its stitches and a shell has none. The pattern you are following says what it means.
- What is the multiple for fan stitch?
- It depends on the fan. For the stacked fans on this page the starting chain is a multiple of 4 plus 3. Wider fans need more chains for each repeat. The starting chain calculator works out the number for a width of your own.
- Is this the same as iris stitch?
- Yes. Rows of this fan, each worked into the chain space of the fan below, are published under the name iris stitch.