What does DC crochet stitch abbreviation mean

DC is one of the most common stitches in crochet. It’s versatile and is one of the quickest to crochet with. It’s a tall stitch and perfect for any project, but especially larger ones like a shawl or a blanket. Dc is one of the handful of basic stitches in crochet that every crocheter should have in their arsenal.

What does DC mean in crochet

Dc crochet stitch abbreviation stands for Double Crochet. It’s double crochet because it is done in two main steps (which you will learn later in this post).

What can you make with DC stitch

Even though Dc crochet stitch is one of the basic stitches, it can be used in all kinds of projects: from accessories, to clothing, to blankets, to kitchen, to home décor, and so much more.

What you need to keep in mind when working with DC is that because this stitch is tall, the crochet fabric that it creates is quite airy, and depending on the thickness of the yarn can be quite hole-y.

On a flip-side, precisely because DC is a tall stitch, if you have a project that is large or long, like a long scarf, or blankets, or a shawl, or a long cardigan or a sweater, and you need to make it in a shorter amount of time, DC would be a perfect stitch for that since it works up fast.

Things to know about DC stitch

If it’s important to you that your final project is not a see-through or you want to make sure that smaller things like hair clips don’t fall out of it, consider not using DC.

When inserting the hook, insert it under the top 2 loops at the top of each stitch, they look like a V.

If you insert the hook only under back loop, it’s called BLO or a back loop only stitch. If you insert under front loop only, this variety of the stitch is called FLO or a front loop only.

If you insert the hook between and around the stitches, that’s called post stitch as in FPDC (front post DC) or BPDC (back post DC).

When 2 or 3 DC stitches are crocheted together, this stitch is a cluster stitch and is called DC2TOG (for DC 2 together) or DC3TOG (for DC 3 together).

Here is how crochet DC stitch

Here is how you crochet DC starting with the chain

After you made a chain, yarn over, insert your hook (front to back) into fourth stitch from the hook, yarn over again and pull the loop through. You have 3 loops on the hook.

Next, yarn over and draw through first 2 loops at the same time.

You now have 2 loops on the hook.

Yarn over and pull through these 2 loops at the same time.

Voila, dc stitch done!

Note: since DC is three loops tall, we skipped three loops at the beginning of the chain to act as a first dc in the row and then we crocheted the DC, which is technically second DC in the row.

Once you have your first crocheted DC, to continue with the rest of that row do this:

Yarn over and insert your hook (front to back) into next loop in the chain, yarn over and pull through a loop.

You now have 3 loops on your hook.

Yarn over and pull yarn through first 2 loops. You now have 2 loops on your hook.

Yarn over and pull the yarn through both of these loops.

Another DC stitch done!

Now, just continue till the rest of the row in the same manner.

Here is how to crochet DC on the top another row

Once you are done with your first row and want to start the second row, you need to chain some loops to raise you up to the height of the stitch you are using. Since dc is 3 loops tall, you would need to chain 3 loops (or CH 3) – this will count as the first DC in that row.

Next, yarn over and insert hook into next stitch (front to back), yarn over and pull the loop through. You have 3 loops on the hook.

Yarn over and draw through first two loops on the hook. You know have 2 loops.

Yarn over and draw through both loops at the same time.

Then, continue in the same manner for the rest of that row.

And there you have it! You are now the Master of DC! (but if you need a little bit more clarity, here is in an excellent video on DC in action):

Here are examples of the patterns made with DC stitch:

If you want to learn about other basic crochet stitches like SC (single crochet) and HDC (half double crochet) you can find helpful posts about these on my blog.