Post stitches and cables · Intermediate
Front post half double crochet
A front post stitch in half double crochet (UK half treble) is a half double crochet worked round the post of a stitch, not into its top. Take the yarn over, pass the hook from the front round behind the post and out to the front again, pull up a loop, and draw the yarn through all three loops. Patterns write it FPhdc or fphdc.
How to work it
Yarn over, and go round the post from the front
Take the yarn over the hook. Find the post of the next stitch, the upright part below its top. Push the hook in at the front of the work just before that post, take it behind the post, and bring it out at the front again just after it. The post now lies across the hook.
Pull up a loop round the post
Take the yarn over the hook and draw it back round the post, the way the hook came. There are three loops on the hook, and the new loop goes round the post.
Finish the half double crochet
Take the yarn over and draw it through all three loops at once. One loop is left. The stitch is made, and it stands in front of the row below.
The stitch pattern, row by row
- Multiple
- Chain a multiple of 2 (8 or more).
- Starting chain
- The rows here are written for a chain of 26, which is 13 times the multiple of 2.
- The ch 2 at the start of a row does not count as a stitch.
- Row 1 is the right side.
- Foundation. Ch 26.
- Row 1 (RS). Hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each ch across (24 hdc).
- Row 2. Ch 2, turn; hdc in first st, [FPhdc around next st, BPhdc around next st] 11 times, hdc in last st (2 hdc, 11 FPhdc, 11 BPhdc).
Repeat row 2 for the pattern.
What each symbol meansHow to read a chart
Abbreviations in these rows
- ch
- chain stitch
- hdc
- half double crochet (UK half treble)
- FPhdc
- front post half double crochet (UK front post half treble)
- BPhdc
- back post half double crochet (UK back post half treble)
- RS
- right side
- st
- stitch
At a glance
- Also called
- FPhdc, fphdc
- Used for
- ribbing, worked in turn with back post half double crochet; raised texture in fabric of half double crochet
- Abbreviation
- FPhdc, also written fphdc
- In UK terms
- raised half treble front (RhtrF)
- The hook goes
- From front to back to front, 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
- Three
- Multiple
- The chain is a multiple of 2 (8 or more).
- Row repeat
- Row 2.
- Edges
- The side edges are straight: a row that begins with a chain that does not count begins and ends in a stitch, and that chain is not worked into.
The only thing that differs from a plain half double crochet is where the hook goes. Because the loop is pulled up round the post and not through the top, the stitch you work round is pulled toward you, and its top is left behind your new stitch.
The rows below make ribbing: a front post and a back post half double crochet take turns across the row, with one plain half double crochet at each edge. The rule for every row of post ribbing is the same. Work a front post stitch round each stitch that stands forward on the side facing you, and a back post stitch round each stitch that sits back. The fabric is turned after each row, so a stitch you made as a back post stitch stands forward when you come back to it.
A half double crochet is shorter than a double crochet (UK treble) and taller than a single crochet (UK double crochet). Its post stitch is shorter too, so the ribs it makes are lower than those of double crochet post ribbing.
A post stitch also comes out a little shorter than a plain stitch of the same kind, because part of its height goes round the post.
When it goes wrong
- I cannot see where the hook goes in.
- Look for the gaps on either side of the post. The hook goes in through the gap before the post and comes out through the gap after it, with the post in front of the hook.
- My row has too many stitches.
- After each post stitch, skip the top of the stitch behind it. Working into that top as well adds a stitch.
- My ribs do not line up.
- Look at the stitch before you work round it. If it stands forward on the side facing you, work a front post stitch; if it sits back, work a back post stitch.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- Back post half double crochet. Written BPhdc. Take the yarn over the hook. Bring the hook from the back of the work to the front just before the post, take it across the front of the post, and push it to the back again just after it. Take the yarn over and pull up a loop: three loops. Take the yarn over and draw it through all three. The stitch you worked round is pushed away from you.
- Front post double crochet. The same move in the taller stitch, with two pulls through two loops to finish.
- Front post single crochet. The same move with no yarn over first.
Questions
- What does fphdc mean in crochet?
- Front post half double crochet: a half double crochet worked round the post of a stitch from the front, not into the two loops at its top.
- Does a front post half double crochet count as a stitch?
- Yes. It takes the place of the stitch it is worked round, so skip the top of that stitch and the row keeps its count.
- How is it different from a front post double crochet?
- Only in the stitch that is made. Both start with one yarn over and go round the post the same way. The half double crochet is then closed through all three loops at once, which makes it the shorter stitch.
- What is fphdc in UK terms?
- Raised half treble front, written RhtrF. In UK terms post stitches are called raised stitches, and a half double crochet is a half treble.