What does sk mean in crochet?

You will often see “sk” on crochet patterns and instructions. The “sk” in crochet means to skip or skip a stitch. It is not a stitch but a lack thereof. Skipping a stitch or stitches is a crochet technique that is very useful for a variety of reasons.

How do you skip a stitch?

In crochet, you will come across various types of crochet stitches and techniques with their matching abbreviations. One of these is sk or “skip.” The crochet abbreviation sk also means “skipping a stitch.”

When crocheting, the typical way is to crochet your next stitch into the next available space. The skip stitch does the opposite. When your pattern says “sk,” you are not supposed to stitch. You may need to skip many stitches if the design requires it. Then, proceed with making stitches depending on the instructions in the pattern.

Modern crochet patterns have various uses for skipping a stitch. Skipping stitches in crochet is useful to create intricate designs for mandalas, blankets, and even in some clothing. Skipping a stitch can also come in handy when you need to make buttonholes or tote bag handles on your crochet projects.

How do you skip crochet stitches?

Gather your yarn and hook first. If you are learning how to skip a stitch, you can use any yarn with the matching hook size. Skipping stitches is easy, mostly when you have crocheted a lot of patterns already. Newbies in the craft may get intimidated if they need to skip a stitch in their design. Here is a simple guide on how to skip stitches in crochet that you can practice on.

• Crochet a small swatch of fabric using double crochet. Make around three or four rows.
• For example, the pattern asked you to make 3 dc and sk 3. It only means you have to chain three stitches and skip stitching on three spaces on the previous row. Then follow the pattern if it says you can start stitching again on the 4th stitch.
• The pattern can also say that you can skip three stitches without creating a chain. You do not need to have the same number of chains as the number of skipped stitches. You can skip stitches from one, two, or any number of stitches, depending on what your pattern calls for.
• When you read a pattern, skip is sometimes spelled out or abbreviated as “sk.”
• Skipping stitches is an excellent way to make great designs on your crochet fabric. Gaps created by skipping a stitch or a few stitches can serve other purposes on your crochet project.

Sometimes, a skip can be confusing to read in crochet patterns. You might need to read it twice or thrice to understand what skipping stitches in your fabric meant. It will be a big help if the instructions in the pattern are spelled out rather than use abbreviations.

You will understand what the skip is for if you try to work the pattern first to see if you are getting the result you want. One great thing about crochet is that it is easy to unstitch a row you are not working right. You can try it on the yarn that you are using for the project. You can also experiment on a cheaper yarn to see the effect of skip that the pattern wants.

How do you use a skip stitch in crochet?

You skip a stitch or many stitches in a crochet project for many reasons. You can see skip in crochet patterns a lot of times because it is one of the most useful crochet techniques.

Design Element
You can skip a stitch to add holes within a pattern. It can also make your crochet fabric look a bit looser. A classic example is creating V stitches where you will skip the next chain to create a lacy effect. The skip used in the rows opened up more space creating the V designs on the fabric.

Another example of using skip as a design element is the filet crochet. Filet crochet is an easy crochet technique made of open meshes and solid meshes. The pattern looks like a chart. The solid blocks are double crochets separated by spaces shown by the empty blocks.

You can make three double crochets or four double crochets for the solid blocks. The blank space or the open mesh on the chart would look like this chart symbols: ch2, skip the next two chains, dc in next dc. This group of chart symbols may appear a few times in your filet crochet pattern. The blocks made of double crochet stitches and the open spaces made by the skipping stitches create the filet crochet design.

A Way to Decrease Stitches
You can also use a skip as a way to decrease stitches. Some patterns say you do not need the same number of chains to match the number of stitches you are skipping. Then, your row will have fewer stitches than the row before it because of the skipped stitches. You can create specific shapes on your crochet fabric by skipping stitches.

For Buttonholes or Armholes
You will also need to skip when making a buttonhole on your crochet fabric. You can skip one or a few stitches for buttonholes, just enough for the button to go through. Another essential feature that skipping stitches can create are armholes for baby sweaters or doll dresses.

A simple crocheted rectangle can have armholes with the help of skipping stitches. Chain the number of stitches necessary to create the right size of armhole you want. It will amaze you how useful skip is in many different ways on your crochet projects.

As Clutch or Bag Handles
By skipping stitches, you can create clutch handles on your crochet. Make the number of chains necessary to create a hole big enough to use as a clutch handle. Make your clutch handle stronger by adding more rows on top of the gap you created for the handle. You can also make bag handles on your crochet by skipping many more stitches than you did with a clutch handle.

Give Texture
One of the crocheting goals is to produce a lovely fabric with a unique texture for our project. Create wonderful, textured fabrics by combining skip stitches with your favorite crochet stitches.

Where do you use skip in crochet?

After learning the basic stitches, you can now use and combine them to make various decorative stitch patterns for your crochet projects. You will find that some stitch patterns use skip to create a unique texture or design. Here are some pretty stitch patterns you can try.

Single Crochet Mesh Stitch

1. Crochet a foundation chain with an odd number of stitches.
2. For row 1: sc in 3rd chain from hook.
3. Ch 1, skip next ch, sc in next ch.
4. Repeat step 3 throughout row 1. Ch1, then turn.
5. For row 2: sc in the 1st sc, skip 1st ch
6. Sc in next sc, ch 1, skip next ch.
7. Repeat step 6 throughout row 2.
8. End the row with a sc in the last st. ch 1, then turn.
9. Repeat steps 5 to 9 until you reach the size of fabric that you want.

The single crochet mesh stitch uses a combination of the single crochet stitch and skips to create a gorgeous design. This decorative stitch is great to use for dishcloths or washcloths.

Shell Stitch

1. Crochet a foundation chain with a multiple of six stitches plus 1 extra stitch.
2. Work a sc into the 2nd ch stitch from the hook.
3. Skip the next 2 ch, then work a dc into the next chain st after that.
4. Work 4 more dc into the same chain stitch. You now have a total of 5 dc, which creates the shell shape.
5. Skip the next 2 ch. Then work a sc into the next chain stitch after the 2 skipped chains.
6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 to create more shells throughout the foundation chain.

A single row of shell stitches is great to use as a border on any crochet project. You can also sew it on the edges of quilts, napkins, or tablecloths.

V- Stitch

1. Crochet a foundation chain with a multiple of 3 stitches plus 7 extra stitches.
2. For row 1: dc in 4th chain from hook. The last 3 ch count as the first dc in the row. Ch 1, skip next ch.
3. Dc in the next ch, ch1, then dc in the same ch. Skip the next 2 chs.
4. Repeat step 3 until the end of the row.
5. At the end of the row, ch 1, skip 2 chs, then work 1 dc in each of the next 2 ch stitches.
6. Chain 3, then turn.
7. For row 2: The turning chain counts as the first dc in the row. Dc in the next dc. Ch 1, work 1 v stitch in each v stitch across the row. Ch 1, skip next ch, work 1 dc in each of the last 2 dc stitches.
8. Repeat step no. 7 until you get the desired length of fabric.

The V-stitch is a lovely stitch pattern made of double crochets and skips. It is an excellent choice for afghans and large crochet projects.

Related: 

• What does BS mean on jewelry?
• What does Abbreviation mean in knitting?
• What does symbols on gold jewelry mean?

How to make a crossed double crochet skip stitch?

One example of a crochet stitch using a skip to add texture is the crossed double crochet stitch. To make the crossed double crochet stitch, skip a stitch, then double crochet on the next stitch. Then go back to the one you skipped and double crochet on that one as well. It may not sound easy at first, but a few trials can give you the hang of creating this fun and beautiful stitch. Here is a step by step instructions to make a crossed double crochet.

1. Start by yarning over, skip the next stitch, then insert the hook into the following stitch. Make a double crochet.
2. Then, yarn over, insert the hook into the stitch that you skipped, then make a double crochet.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to complete a row.
4. Then, crochet the number of rows that you want to finish your project.

The crossed double crochet skip stitch is a simple crochet stitch using a combination of double crochets and skips. It creates a crocheted fabric with a nice texture, perfect for making shawls and blankets.