The dc2tog symbol in crochet charts
Two posts, one top. Either a decrease or a two-stitch cluster — and the chart, not the symbol, tells you which.
- US name
- dc2tog
- UK name
- tr2tog
- In the editor
- dc2tog (decrease)
What it looks like in a chart
Two double crochet legs splayed apart at the bottom, leaning together and meeting at a single shared top bar. Each leg carries its own slash, so you can still count what the stitch is made of.
The shared top is the meaning: two stitches started, one loop finished, so two stitches become one.
How it is used
- Decreasing — narrowing a hat crown, shaping an armhole, closing a round.
- Making a soft two-stitch cluster when both legs go into the same place.
Worth knowing
Where the legs land is the whole story. If the two legs sit over two different stitches of the round below, it is a decrease: your stitch count drops by one. If both legs sit over the same stitch or chain space, nothing decreases — it is a cluster, a raised bump, and the count is unchanged. The symbol is identical; only its position on the chart distinguishes them, which is exactly the kind of thing written instructions have to spell out in a sentence and a chart just shows you.
UK patterns write this as tr2tog, since UK treble is the same stitch as US double crochet.
Common questions
What does the two-legged symbol joined at the top mean?
Two double crochets worked together (dc2tog). If the legs sit in two different stitches it is a decrease; if both legs sit in the same stitch or chain space it is a two-stitch cluster and your stitch count does not change.
What is dc2tog in UK terms?
tr2tog — two trebles worked together. UK treble and US double crochet are the same stitch, so the decrease has the same shape and a different name.