Post stitches and cables · Intermediate
Front post single crochet
A front post stitch in single crochet (UK double crochet) is a single crochet worked round the post of a stitch, not into its top. Pass the hook from the front round behind the post and out to the front again, pull up a loop, and finish like any single crochet. Patterns write it FPsc or fpsc.
How to work it
Go round the post from the front
Do not take the yarn over first. Find the post of the next stitch, the part below its two top loops. 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.
Finish the single crochet
Take the yarn over and draw it through both loops. One loop is left. The stitch is made, and it stands in front of the row below.
At a glance
- Also called
- FPsc, fpsc
- Used for
- a slight raised texture on single crochet fabric; stitch patterns that mix it with plain single crochet, such as raspberry stitch
- Abbreviation
- FPsc, also written fpsc
- In UK terms
- raised double crochet front (RdcF)
- 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
- Two
The only thing that differs from a plain single 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 pushed toward you, and its top is left behind your new stitch.
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 raised effect is slight: a subtle texture, not the bold rib of a taller post stitch.
A front post stitch of any height can be worked round a single crochet in the same way, a half double crochet (UK half treble) for one. The pictures show the stitch worked on a row of single crochet.
When it goes wrong
- I cannot see where the hook goes in.
- Look for the gaps on either side of the stitch, just under its top. The hook goes in through the gap before the stitch and comes out through the gap after it, with the post in front of the hook.
- My row has too many stitches.
- After each front post stitch, skip the top of the stitch behind it. Working into that top as well adds a stitch.
- The stitch is raised on the wrong side.
- The hook went round the post from the back. For a front post stitch the hook starts at the front, and the post ends up lying over the hook.
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 single crochet. The hook goes round the post from the back, and the stitch sits back.
- Front post half double crochet. The same move with a yarn over first, for a taller raised stitch.
- Front post double crochet. The post stitch most patterns use.
Questions
- What does fpsc mean in crochet?
- Front post single crochet: a single crochet worked round the post of a stitch from the front, not into the two loops at its top.
- Does a front 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 and the row keeps its count.
- Can I work a post stitch round a single crochet?
- Yes. It is less common than working round taller stitches, because a single crochet has so little post, but post stitches of any height can be worked round one.
- What is fpsc in UK terms?
- Raised double crochet front, written RdcF.