The chain symbol in crochet charts

What it looks like in a chart

A narrow oval lying on its side. On its own it means one chain; strung together it reads as a run of chains — a foundation chain along the bottom of a row chart, an arc of chains bridging two stitches in lace, or a ring of ovals at the center of a round motif.

Because a chain has almost no height, chart-makers draw the oval small and let its position carry the meaning. Chains drawn in a straight line are a foundation or a flat chain space; chains drawn in a curve are a loop that will pull into an arc when the fabric relaxes.

How it is used

• The foundation chain a flat piece is built on.
• Turning chains at the start of a row, and starting chains at the start of a round.
• Chain spaces — the gaps in mesh, filet and lace that the next round is worked into.
• Chain loops that join motifs together, or that a picot closes back onto.

Worth knowing

A chart tells you something written instructions often do not: whether a turning chain counts as a stitch. If the chart draws the turning chain standing in a stitch position — with a stitch worked into its top on the next row — it counts. If it hangs off the edge with nothing on top of it, it does not.

Counting chains off a chart is easier than counting them off your work: each oval is one chain, and the loop on the hook is never one of them.

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