How To Make a Half Double Crochet

The half double crochet is a useful basic stitch that creates a fabric with a bit more height than single crochet while still working up quickly. In US crochet terminology, this stitch is called half double crochet and is abbreviated hdc. In UK terminology, the equivalent stitch is called half treble crochet (htr).

Below you can check a step-by-step tutorial on how to make half double crochet stitches. 

Step 1. You will start from a working position, with the working yarn (the yarn marked with a red line in the image on the left) in front of the hook, and yarn over first. After that insert the hook in the next stitch. You will be left with 4 loops on the hook at this stage. 

Step 2. With the 4 loops on the hook, you will yarn over again, but pull the yarn through just the closest 2 loops to the tip of the hook. These 2 will be the loops that represent the stitch you inserted your hook into. After this, you should have 3 loops on your hook. 

Step 3. Yarn over again and pull the yarn through all 3 loops. You should now have 1 loop on your hook, and Congratulations! You have completed your first half double crochet stitch. 

To better view the effect of this type of stitch, you can see below the right half, having only HDC stitches, and on the left, regular single stitches SC. You can see how, on the right, the span of that half circle is significantly bigger than the left side. 

Once you get comfortable with the motion, the hdc / htr becomes a smooth and easy stitch to work. It’s a versatile stitch that appears in many crochet patterns, so learning it early is very helpful.