England; because the world revolved around them during this time (cough cough). Since Irish Crochet was a cheap and fast(ish) way of making lace, the higher class of society in early Victorian Britain considered it ‘below them.’ What with their dark colored clothes covering them from chin to wrist to the ground, cages, bustles and all the layers in between, perhaps they just dreaded wearing something else.
To make crochet more fashionable, Queen Victoria bought Irish crochet lace from the women in Ireland who were trying desperately to make money. She learned crocheting herself and produced eight crocheted scarves. She gave each one to veterans of the South African war…it would be interesting to see her handiwork. So English crochet is a little complicated. So for example, the American single crochet is the same as the British double crochet. The American double crochet is the same as the British treble crochet.
Here’s a little chart to help:
| American Crochet | British Crochet |
| Single Crochet | Double Crochet |
| Half Double Crochet | Half Treble Crochet |
| Double Crochet | Treble Crochet |
| Treble Crochet | Double Treble Crochet |
| Double Treble Crochet | Triple Treble Crochet |
| Gauge | Tension |
| Skip | Miss |
However…
Treble crochet in UK terms or double crochet in US terms is a taller stitch then double crochet (UK). It is around twice as tall as double crochet which means that your work will grow more quickly with this stitch, in the same way as a wall would grow more quickly if you used taller bricks. Just throwing that out there in case you want to really give that a shot. Those are just the closest they come to a translation. The good news if you can read UK you can Australian (there’s something to be said for colonization I suppose).
So if you decide to invest in some UK patterns (and they are out there) start with learning some new words and what those new words really mean. Also pay attention when reading the patterns,most modern patterns will state if using US or UK terms, older patterns will usually list the country the pattern is from.
Thoughts?