Increasing and decreasing · Easy
Treble crochet decrease
To decrease in treble crochet (UK double treble), start a stitch in each of the next two stitches, stop each one before its last pull, and then draw the yarn through all three loops on the hook. The two stitches end in one top, so the row has one stitch fewer. Patterns write it tr2tog, short for treble crochet two together.
How to work it
Start the second stitch
Take the yarn over the hook twice and push the hook into the stitch after that one. Take the yarn over and pull up a loop: five loops. Take the yarn over and draw it through two loops, which leaves four, and again, which leaves three. Two half-made stitches now stand side by side below the hook.
Close both together
Take the yarn over the hook and draw it through all three loops at once. One loop is left on the hook. The two stitches now share one top, and that one top is the only place the next row can be worked into.
At a glance
- Also called
- tr2tog, trc2tog, treble crochet two together
- Used for
- making a piece narrower, to shape it; stitch patterns that work two or more tall stitches together as part of the design
- Abbreviation
- tr2tog
- Also written
- trc2tog
- In UK terms
- double treble two together (dtr2tog)
- Counts as
- One stitch
- What it uses
- The next two stitches of the row below
- Loops before the last pull
- Three
The idea is the same for every tall stitch: work each stitch up to the moment when one more pull would finish it, leave it there, and finish them all with a single pull at the end. A treble crochet only takes longer to get to that moment, because it has two pulls through two loops where a double crochet (UK treble) has one.
The same moves take away more than one stitch. For tr3tog, start a third stitch in the next stitch before you close: there are four loops on the hook, and the last pull goes through all four. Each stitch you add leaves one more loop on the hook.
Decreases shape a piece by making it narrower. They are also worked inside stitch patterns, where several tall stitches closed together make one point.
When it goes wrong
- My row has as many stitches as before.
- The first stitch was finished before the second was begun, which makes two stitches. Stop the first one while two loops are still on the hook, and keep those loops there while you start the second.
- I do not know how many loops I should have.
- Two after the first half-made stitch, three after the second. If you have more, a pull through two loops was left out: each treble needs two of them before you stop.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- Three together (tr3tog). Start a treble crochet in each of the next three stitches, stopping each one before its last pull. With four loops on the hook, take the yarn over and draw it through all four. It takes two stitches off the row.
- Invisible decrease. A decrease worked through the front loops only of the next two stitches. Its page has the moves.
Questions
- What does tr2tog mean in a crochet pattern?
- Treble crochet two together: two stitches of the row below are worked into one stitch. It takes one stitch off the row.
- How many loops are on the hook before I close a tr2tog?
- Three: one from each half-made treble, and the loop that was on the hook before you began.
- How do I do tr3tog?
- Start a treble crochet in each of the next three stitches, stopping each one before its last pull. With four loops on the hook, take the yarn over and draw it through all four.
- What is tr2tog in UK terms?
- Double treble two together, written dtr2tog. A US treble crochet is a UK double treble. In a pattern written in UK terms, tr2tog means the decrease of the shorter stitch, the US double crochet.