Crochet A to Z: Half-Double Crochet

I’m doing the A to Z Challenge for the month of April with the theme “Learn to Crochet A to Z.” For more details, and to see previous posts, click here! 

Today we’re going to be adding another stitch to our crochet repertoire! The half-double crochet is, I think, one of the underrated crochet stitches. It’s usually abandoned in favor of its taller and thinner relative, the double crochet. But the half-double crochet is maybe my favorite crochet stitch, or certainly one of the top ones. Because it’s shorter than a double crochet, it’s a little bit squishier and therefore warmer, making it a fantastic choice for fingerless gloves or hats or anything that needs to keep you warm.

Enough of a sales pitch, let’s move onto the directions. :}

The half-double crochet is the pink stripe in the picture above. You can see it’s definitely shorter than the double crochet, which is the purple stripe.

So a half-double crochet is the same as a double crochet except for the very last step…which means if you’re familiar with the double crochet from the earlier tutorial, this will be super easy! If not, no worries, it’s not hard at all.

To start a half-double crochet, begin by making a yarn over (or wrapping the yarn around the crochet hook from back to front).

Next you’re going to insert the hook into the stitch as below:

Remember that in standard crochet, unless otherwise specified, you’ll be inserting the hook under two loops of the stitch. You can see how that looks in the picture above.

Next you’re going to make a yarn over and pull the loop through the stitch.

You’ll wind up with three loops on your hook, as in the picture above. To finish a half-double crochet, you just have to wrap the yarn around the hook again, and pull through all three loops at once.

Here’s what a row of half-double crochets looks like! I think they look kind of cute and compact, like a squashed double crochet.

To do future rows of half-double crochet, you’ll need to chain two and turn. Not one like for a single crochet, because this stitch is taller. If you’re a really loose crocheter, you could experiment with chaining one, but just beware it might make your edges a little too tight. For my tension, it actually works for me to chain one, even though I’m not a loose crocheter. Just mess around with it until you find out what works for you – but two chains is standard. 🙂

Do you have a favorite crochet stitch? I think the name “half-double” is so silly because it implies “single,” but there’s already a single crochet. Because things really need to be more complicated. 😛