Texture · Easy
Trinity stitch
Trinity stitch is a row of small clusters with one chain between them. Each cluster is a single crochet (UK double crochet) decrease over three places: pull up a loop in each of three places, then yarn over and pull through all four loops on the hook. What makes the fabric is where the clusters stand: each one begins in the place where the one before it ended. One row is repeated, on an even number of chains.
How to work it
Two more loops from the next two places
Put the hook into the next place and pull up a loop. Do the same in the place after that. Four loops are on the hook: three new ones and the one that was there.
Close the cluster and chain 1
Yarn over and pull through all four loops. Chain 1. The three loops have become one stitch with three legs, and the chain sits beside its top.
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 20.
- The ch 1 at the start of a row does not count as a stitch.
- Each sc3tog begins in the place where the stitch before it was worked, so two neighbors always share a place.
- A cluster and the chain after it stand over two places of the row below, so every row has the same count.
- Foundation. Ch 20.
- Row 1. Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc3tog over same ch and next 2 chs, [ch 1, sc3tog over same ch as last leg and next 2 chs] 8 times, sc in same ch as last leg (2 sc, 9 sc3tog, 8 ch-1 sps).
- Row 2. Ch 1, turn; sc in first st, sc3tog over same st, top of next sc3tog and next ch-1 sp, [ch 1, sc3tog over same ch-1 sp, top of next sc3tog and next ch-1 sp] 7 times, ch 1, sc3tog over same ch-1 sp, top of next sc3tog and last st, sc in last st (2 sc, 9 sc3tog, 8 ch-1 sps).
Repeat row 2 for the pattern.
Abbreviations in these rows
- ch
- chain stitch
- sc
- single crochet (UK double crochet)
- sp
- space
- st
- stitch
- yo
- yarn over
- sc3tog
- single crochet 3 together, over the three places named: [insert hook in the next place named, yo, pull up a loop] 3 times (4 loops on hook), yo, pull through all 4 loops.
At a glance
- Used for
- washcloths and dishcloths; blankets; scarves and bags
- Abbreviation
- None of its own. Patterns write each cluster as sc3tog and say which three places it uses.
- In UK terms
- trinity stitch, the same name: each cluster is a UK double crochet 3 together (dc3tog)
- Loops on the hook
- 4 before the pull that closes a cluster
- Multiple
- The chain is a multiple of 2 (8 or more).
- Row repeat
- Row 2.
The fabric is close and full of texture, with few holes. The legs of each cluster lean in to one top, and because neighbors share a foot, the legs run across the row in a zigzag.
A plain decrease over three stitches would make the row narrower. Here it does not, because every cluster starts again in the last place of the one before, and a chain follows it. Each cluster with its chain takes up two places and makes two stitches, so the count never changes.
On the first row the places are chains. On every later row they are the two chain spaces on either side of a cluster and the top of that cluster itself. If you can see the little hole of the chain space on each side of a cluster top, you can see all three places.
Trinity stitch can also be worked in rounds.
When it goes wrong
- My row is getting shorter.
- A cluster did not begin in the place where the last one ended. The first loop of every cluster goes back into the place just used. Without it, each cluster uses up three new places and the row shrinks.
- I have a gap at the end of the row.
- The row ends with one single crochet in the same place as the last leg of the last cluster. Leave it out and the row is one stitch short.
- I cannot tell which loop is the top of the cluster.
- Look for the chain spaces first: each is a small hole. The top of a cluster is the stitch between two of them.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Variations
- Star stitch. Also made of loops pulled up in several places and closed together, each star beginning in the one before it. It pulls up more loops for each star.
Questions
- What is the multiple for trinity stitch?
- An even number of chains: a multiple of 2. The starting chain calculator works out the number for the width you want.
- What is sc3tog in trinity stitch?
- Single crochet 3 together: pull up a loop in each of three places, then yarn over and pull through all four loops on the hook. In trinity stitch the first of the three places is the one where the stitch before was worked.
- Does the stitch count change from row to row?
- No. Every row has the same number of clusters, with a single crochet at each end.
- How many rows are there to learn?
- Two: the first row into the chain, and one row that repeats.