Crochet increases and decreases

Shape fabric by changing how many new stitches come from the old row. Keep insertion points and loops on the hook separate.

In this guide

An increase makes two stitches in one place Sc2tog: two single crochets become one Keep the extra wraps in taller decreases Try three countable shaping rows

An increase makes two stitches in one place

For a single-crochet increase, make one complete sc under both top loops of the next stitch. Then insert under those same two loops again and make a second complete sc. One old stitch has become two new stitches: the total grows by one.

Finish each stitch separately. Two unfinished stitches closed together make a different structure. Mark the old insertion point if the yarn makes it hard to see, then count the two new top Vs.

At the three-loop checkpoint, yarn over and draw through all three; one loop remains. Read the stitch diagrams from the old row at the bottom to the new tops above. For sc2tog, pull up one loop in each of two separate stitches before the final pull-through. An increase completes two whole stitches in the same stitch.

Review the complete single-crochet action →

Sc2tog: two single crochets become one

Begin with one active loop. Insert into the next stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop: two loops on the hook. Insert into the following stitch, yarn over and pull up another loop: three loops. Yarn over and draw through all three. One loop remains.

You used two old stitches and made one new top V, reducing the row total by one. Work under both top loops for this ordinary sc2tog. An invisible decrease is a separate front-loop technique; use it only when the pattern specifies it. Skipping a stitch instead leaves a gap and is not an interchangeable decrease.

Check the top loops before retrying a decrease →

Keep the extra wraps in taller decreases

Hdc2tog: yarn over, insert in the next stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (three loops). Yarn over again, insert in the following stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (five loops). Yarn over and draw through all five. This ordinary method consumes two stitches and makes one hdc.

Dc2tog: yarn over, insert in the next stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (three); yarn over and draw through two (two remain). Yarn over, insert in the following stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (four); yarn over and draw through two (three remain). Yarn over and draw through all three.

Different patterns can specify modified decreases for appearance. Follow their special-stitch definition and count the stated result. Do not draw through all loops before the second insertion is complete.

Compare an ordinary half double crochet →

Compare an ordinary double crochet →

Try three countable shaping rows

Start each exercise from a separate row of 12 sc. Chain 1 and turn; the chain does not count. Work all three examples in US sc. Count the old stitches used as well as the new stitches made.

Exercise A: 2 sc in first st, sc in next 10 sts, 2 sc in last st. You use 12 and make 14. Exercise B: sc2tog, sc in next 8 sts, sc2tog. You use 12 and make 10. Exercise C: (sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st) four times. You use 12 and make 16.

A and B shape both edges; C spreads the increases across the row. Twelve random increases would not produce the same outline. To undo a mistake, remove the affected stitches back to a correct insertion point and try again with a marker.

Try three countable shaping rows: count check
Exercise	Old stitches used	New stitches	Change
A: both edges increase	1 + 10 + 1 = 12	2 + 10 + 2 = 14	+2
B: both edges decrease	2 + 8 + 2 = 12	1 + 8 + 1 = 10	−2
C: four repeats	4 × 3 = 12	4 × 4 = 16	+4

Use evenly spaced increases in a round →

Check how stitch and row gauge affect the shape →

References

CYC: Crochet Abbreviations Master List CYC: Crochet chart symbols