Texture · Intermediate
Linked double crochet
Linked stitches join each double crochet (UK treble) to the one before it, halfway up. In place of the yarn over that begins a plain double crochet, put the hook under the bar that runs across the middle of the last stitch and pull up a loop there. Then pull up a loop in the next stitch and finish as usual. The fabric is as tall as double crochet and has none of the gaps between its stitches.
How to work it
Find the bar
Look at the post of the stitch you have just made. About halfway up, one strand runs across it, slanting a little. That strand is the bar. Do not yarn over.
Pull up a loop under the bar
Put the hook under the bar, yarn over and pull up a loop. Two loops are on the hook. This loop does the job of the yarn over.
Pull up a loop in the next stitch
Put the hook into the next stitch of the row below, yarn over and pull up a loop. Three loops are on the hook, just as in a plain double crochet.
The stitch pattern, row by row
- Multiple
- Chain any number (6 or more).
- Starting chain
- The rows here are written for a chain of 22.
- 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.
- Foundation. Ch 22.
- Row 1 (RS). Ldc in 4th ch from hook (skipped chs count as dc) and in each ch across (1 dc, 19 ldc).
- Row 2. Ch 3 (counts as dc), turn; ldc in next 18 sts, ldc in top of turning ch (1 dc, 19 ldc).
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
- st
- stitch
- yo
- yarn over
- ldc
- linked double crochet: insert hook down through the horizontal bar halfway up the stitch just made (for the first stitch of a row, in the 2nd ch from hook of the turning ch), yo, pull up a loop, insert hook in the st, yo, pull up a loop (3 loops on hook), [yo, pull through 2 loops] 2 times.
At a glance
- Also called
- ldc, linked stitches
- Used for
- a solid fabric with the height of double crochet; anything where the gaps of plain double crochet would show
- Abbreviation
- ldc
- In UK terms
- linked treble
- Loops on the hook
- 3 before the first pull, as for a plain double crochet
- Multiple
- Any number of chains (6 or more).
- Row repeat
- Row 2.
- Sides
- The two sides look a little different.
- 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.
Plain double crochets stand side by side like fence posts, with a gap between each pair. The link pulls every post against its neighbor and closes those gaps, so the fabric is denser than plain double crochet. A row of linked stitches looks like two rows of single crochet (UK double crochet), one on top of the other.
Patterns do not all begin a row the same way. Most chain 3, and some chain 2. In the rows on this page the chain counts as the first stitch of the row, and the first linked stitch goes into the next stitch. In many patterns the chain does not count, and the first linked stitch goes into the very first stitch. Follow the pattern you are using, and keep to one way so that the edges stay straight.
The stitch works over any number of stitches, so it needs no multiple. On the starting chain, the first link is drawn up from the second chain from the hook, in the same way as at the start of any later row.
Other tall stitches can be linked in the same way. Linked half double crochet (UK half treble) and linked treble crochet (UK double treble) both begin with a loop from the stitch before in place of a yarn over.
When it goes wrong
- There are still gaps between my stitches.
- A yarn over has taken the place of the link. Each stitch begins with the hook under the bar of the stitch before, not with a yarn over. Pull out the plain stitch and work it again with the link.
- I cannot find the bar on the last stitch.
- Look halfway up the post, on the side facing you. It is the one strand that crosses the post at a slant. On the first stitch of a row there is none: use the second chain from the hook.
- There is a gap after the turning chain at the start of each row.
- The first stitch was not linked to the turning chain. Draw the first loop up from the second chain from the hook before you go into the 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
- Linked treble crochet (ltr). A treble crochet (UK double treble) has two bars across its post, an upper and a lower one, so a linked treble takes two links. Pull up a loop under the upper bar of the last stitch, then under its lower bar, then in the next stitch. Finish as for a treble crochet: yarn over and pull through two loops, three times.
Questions
- What does ldc mean in a crochet pattern?
- Linked double crochet: a double crochet that begins with a loop pulled up under the bar of the stitch before it.
- Does linked double crochet look the same on both sides?
- Not quite. The links make the two sides look a little different from each other, and both look different from plain double crochet.
- How many chains do I start with?
- Any number of stitches works. In the rows on this page the chain is two more than the number of stitches, because the first 3 chains stand for the first stitch. A pattern that does not count its turning chain gives its own number.