The Treble Crochet Stitch
Making a Popular and one of the Fastest Stitches in Crochet
Treble crochets are in many patterns; they build up quickly, and can help a crocheter move quickly through a project. Learn how to make the treble crochet.
The treble crochet, also known as the triple crochet, is a common stitch within crochet. It builds up quickly, but it is still stable (unlike longer stitches). It has a height of “3,” relative to other crochet stitches.
The steps and photographs below show how to make a triple crochet into an already-established foundation row. So, grab a J-hook and some worsted weight yarn (#4) and give it a try.
Making a Treble Crochet (tr)
To learn to make the tr or to practice it, make a foundation chain with fourteen stitches. Yarn over two times; the hook should look like Figure 1.
A treble crochet has the same height as 4 chains, so to begin the stitch, insert the hook into the fifth chain from the hook; the first 4 chains count as one treble crochet. Yarn over once. The hook and yarn should look like Figure 2.
Pull the yarn-over (YO) through a loop. At this point, there will be four loops on the hook. YO again. The hook should be as illustrated in Figure 3.
Yarn over and pull through the first two loops on the hook leaving three loops on the hook; the first third of the triple crochet has been executed. The work should appear as it does in Figure 4.
YO again and pull through two loops. There should now be two loops on the hook. YO and pull through two loops once more. This will leave a single loop on the hook, and is a completed triple crochet. Figure 5 shows the completed triple crochet, as well as the first 4 loops that also count as a tr.
Continue working into the foundation chain all the way back to the slip knot, but do not work into the slip knot. In this example, a total of ten treble crochets should been made; count to make sure that the number of stitches is correct. Make sure to take into account that the first four chains that were skipped at the beginning of the row are to be counted as one treble crochet stitch.
Defining a Treble Crochet
The “yarn over and pull through two loops” move is what is counted when describing what type of stitch has just been executed. “YO and pull through two loops” is a single crochet. “YO and pull through two loops” twice produces a double crochet. Since “YO and pull through two loops” is done three times here, a treble crochet is produced. That is what defines a triple crochet.
More Information
For a refresher on other stitches, see The Single Crochet Stitch, The Double Crochet Stitch, and The Half Double Crochet Stitch.
