The back post double crochet symbol in crochet charts
The mirror of the front post symbol. Same double crochet, hook taken around the post from behind, so the stitch sinks instead of standing proud.
- US name
- Back post double crochet
- UK name
- Back post treble
- In the editor
- Back post double crochet
What it looks like in a chart
A double crochet whose post runs down into a loop at the foot, drawn as the mirror image of the front post loop: on Craft Yarn Council’s key this one is open at the upper right. The hook goes around the post of the stitch below from the back, so the finished stitch is pushed to the far side of the fabric.
On a chart the pair is easy to read once you know to look at the curl rather than the post. A row that alternates the two symbols is ribbing; a block of one against a background of the other is basketweave; a column of them crossing over another column is a cable.
How it is used
- The recessed half of post-stitch ribbing — the valleys between the raised front post ridges.
- The flat background a basketweave or cable pattern is worked against.
- Pushing a round backward on a textured motif so the round outside it stands out.
Worth knowing
Front and back are relative to the side facing you as you work, not to the finished garment. When you turn at the end of a row, what was the front becomes the back — which is why ribbing worked in rows uses front post on one side and back post on the return, and ribbing worked in the round can use the same stitch every round.
Like every post stitch it is count-neutral: one post stitch consumes one stitch of the round below.
UK patterns call it a back post treble (BPtr), following the usual one-step shift — and, as with plain dc, that abbreviation means a different stitch in a US pattern.
Common questions
What does the back post double crochet symbol look like?
A double crochet — post, top bar, one slash — with a loop drawn at the foot of the post, open at the upper right. It is the mirror image of the front post double crochet symbol, whose loop opens at the upper left.
How do you tell front post and back post apart on a chart?
By the direction of the loop at the base of the post, and nothing else. The two symbols are identical above the foot because both stitches are ordinary double crochets. Craft Yarn Council draw the front post loop opening to the upper left and the back post loop opening to the upper right.