If you’re wondering how to crochet a graph, this is the post for you! When starting a new crochet along I get a lot of questions from people who are afraid of reading a graph. Especially people who have difficulty reading regular crochet patterns. Well, have no fear! Graphs are much easier to read than crochet patterns, in my opinion.

How to Crochet a Graph

If you’ve mastered shapes and colors – you can read a graph! If you see a green square, you work a green stitch. If you see a red square (or “tile”) you crochet a red stitch. It’s that simple! No struggling to decode confusing crochet language.

In this post I’m going to share three different stitches for crocheting a graph and they’re all super easy, I promise! If you can chain, SC, HDC, and DC, you can work any of these methods.

Three Methods for Crocheting a Graph

1. Corner to Corner (c2c)
2. HDC
3. Bobble Stitch

First things first, my preferred method and what I have used in all of my nerdy crochet graphghans.

Corner to Corner (c2c)

I use the mini c2c variation of this stitch in my blankets and it’s very easy – if you can chain and HDC then you can do this.  The stitch is worked diagonally so your graphghan will work up on the diagonal, as well. Your first row will be one tile across, your second row two tiles, etc, as you increase.  One tile equals 1 c2c stitch. 

Related Articles

• Corner to Corner for Beginners
• How to Estimate Yardage for Graphghans
• How to Get Rid of Holes in c2c
• How to Decrease in c2c

Here are two examples of a panels worked up in the mini c2c method from my Office and Parks and Rec blankets.

Crocheting graphs with HDC

Another method that I’ve seen participants of my crochet alongs use is the HDC method. Instead of diagonally like the c2c stitch, this is worked across horizontally line by line.

Each tile of the graph is made up of 4 HDC stitches and each line of the graph is worked twice, once right to left, and then left to right.

For your foundation chain double the number of tiles plus 2. So in the example below you would chain 14 + 2 for turning. In the first row you work 2 HDC per tile, and on the second row you work another 2 HDC above the first two. Chain 2 and turn after each row.

Here is an example of the same panel from above worked up in HDC.  It’s a less boxy finished product.

Crocheting Graphs with the Bobble Stitch

This stitch is also known as the popcorn or puff stitch. Just as with the HDC method, this stitch is worked horizontally back and forth and you will need to start with a foundation chain that is double the number of tiles in your graph plus 1.

This method is made of a two row repeat. First a sc foundation row and then the bobble stitch row that represent the tiles in the graph. In the example below the blue line represents the sc rows and the red the bobble stitch tiles. If you’re unfamiliar with the bobble stitch you can find a detailed video tutorial here.

Below is an example of a graph crocheted with the bobble stitch. The finished project is puffy and squishy with clean lines. It’s a lovely stitch but does use a lot more yarn than the other two methods.

That’s it! Crocheting a graph is really quite simple as far as the stitches go. The tricky part that takes some practice is changing colors and learning to use bobbins. Check out my corner to corner for beginners post for more insights about bobbins, and more.

Thank you to my former crochet along participants for letting me share images if your lovely work!

I hope you found this post helpful. Make sure to pin with the image below so you can find it later.

Happy Hooking!

Jessica