crochetguideTerminology and size references come from the Craft Yarn Council. Product details come from the named maker or merchant. Calculations and construction drawings are explained below.
Our instructions, patterns and calculations
Our crochet instructions and drawings
The practice steps, stitch counts and drawings in our lessons and reference pages.
Our project patterns
Our project patterns: instructions, stitch and row counts, drawings and sizes. Sizes come from your own washed swatch; we haven’t crocheted samples of these patterns yet.
Our calculation methods
How we work out stitch totals, repeats, stripe rows, sizes from gauge and ball counts. The worked numbers are examples calculated from the inputs shown.
Written, worked out and drawn by Crochet.guide.
Craft Yarn Council: Hooks & Needles
Hook sizes in millimeters and US letters, and which way to change hook size when your gauge is off.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Steel Crochet Hook & Crochet Thread Sizes
Steel hook sizes, kept apart from regular hooks, and why their numbers run backward.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Crochet Abbreviations Master List
US abbreviations, US and UK stitch names, and what gauge, tension, yo and yoh mean.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Standard Yarn Weight System
Yarn weight categories 0 to 7, with their gauge ranges and recommended hooks. The Council calls these guidelines, not rules.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: How to Measure Wraps Per Inch
Wraps-per-inch ranges for each yarn weight, and why a swatch still has the last word.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Care Symbols
The five groups of care symbols, and why to keep the yarn label with a gift.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Crochet chart symbols
Crochet chart symbols.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: How to read a crochet pattern
How to read pattern notation and stitch counts.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Head Circumference Chart
Head circumference from preemie to adult: women 53–58.5 cm, men 56–61 cm.
Facts in our own words and drawings; the Council’s charts and text aren’t copied.
DROPS Design (Garnstudio): needle and hook conversion charts
Old UK crochet hook numbers beside metric sizes, from 2.00 mm (14) to 10.00 mm (000). From the maker’s crochet hook chart.
Sizes in our own table; the chart itself isn’t copied.
Wikipedia: Dreidel
The four Hebrew letters on a dreidel’s sides, nun, gimel, hei and shin, and pe in place of shin on most dreidels in Israel, and what each letter means in the game; used for the crochet dreidel.
Facts in our own words.
US Consumer Product Safety Commission: For Kids’ Sake, Think Toy Safety
Long strings, cords, loops and ribbons can strangle a baby, so nothing hung with them goes in a crib or playpen; small parts are banned in toys for children under three. Used for where to hang the dreamcatcher.
Advice in our own words.
Wikipedia: Flag of the United States
The flag’s proportions under Executive Order 10834 (1.9 times as long as tall; a canton seven stripes tall and two-fifths of the length), its 13 red and white stripes, and 50 stars in nine rows of six and five; used for the crochet American flag.
Facts in our own words.
Wikipedia: Yarn weight
UK and Australian names for each yarn weight category (ply names, DK, aran, chunky), used as a spot check of everyday names.
Names in our own table; no Wikipedia text is copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Foot Size Charts
Foot circumference, sock height and foot length by US shoe size for children, women and men.
Sizes in our own tables; the charts aren’t copied.
ISO/IEC 7810: the ID-1 card size (Wikipedia summary)
The bank-card size, 85.60 × 53.98 mm, used for the inside of the gift card holder’s pocket.
One measurement, in our own words.
Craft Yarn Council: Woman Size Chart
Chest, hip, upper arm, armhole depth, neck-to-wrist and back waist measurements for women’s sizes X-Small to 5X, used for the crop top’s panels, the butterfly top’s wings, the dress, the sweater, the cardigan, the shrug and the vest.
Sizes in our own table; the chart isn’t copied.
Craft Yarn Council: Hand Size Charts
Hand circumference and hand length for children, women and men.
Sizes in our own table; the chart isn’t copied.
Open-Meteo historical weather API (default Best Match: ECMWF IFS HRES, ERA5 and ERA5-Land combined)
Daily maximum air temperatures for 2025 in 33 cities, by each city’s local day, used by the temperature blanket planner. License CC BY 4.0.
CC BY 4.0, credited on the planner page.
Craft Yarn Council: Sharing Your Love of Crochet, a teaching guide
Who can learn: young children from about 6 up, starting with the chain, single and double crochet.
Facts in our own words.
Wikipedia: Crochet
The origin of the word, the first published patterns (Penélopé, 1823), the 1840s spread, 20th-century fashions and the comparison with knitting.
Facts in our own words.
Wikipedia: Irish crochet lace
Irish crochet lace in the famine years: teaching at Blackrock from 1845 and about 16,000 women working in crochet by 1851.
Facts in our own words.
NIST: SI conversion factors
Yards and meters, inches and centimeters, and the rounded avoirdupois ounce-to-gram factor. NIST SP 811, 2008 edition.
Credit: National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Clover Amour crochet hook, 4 mm
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Clover Soft Touch crochet hook, 4 mm
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Tulip Etimo Red cushion-grip crochet hook set
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Tulip Etimo Grandhook giant crochet hooks
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Susan Bates Silvalume crochet hook set of 4
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Furls Silver Streamline metal crochet hook
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton DK yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton worsted yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Lion Brand Wool-Ease DK yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Lion Brand Heartland yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Lion Brand Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Bernat Blanket yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Bernat Softee Cotton yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Red Heart Super Saver yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Paintbox Yarns Simply DK
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Knit Picks Dishie Cone yarn
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Clover yarn ball winder
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Clover fork blocking pins
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Clover Quick Locking stitch marker set
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Clover swatch ruler and needle gauge
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Tulip Etimo Rose cushion-grip crochet hook set
Specs, materials and what’s in the pack, from the maker’s product page.
In our own words; the maker’s descriptions aren’t copied.
Product photographs
Where an exact product photograph is available, it is supplied under the applicable Amazon image terms and links to that exact item. An unavailable or expired image is omitted. The instructional drawings and project illustrations are made for Crochet.guide.
Report a correction with the page and the detail that needs checking.