Sunday Stitch – Crochet Crocodile Scales

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I’m working on my teapot cozy this weekend and its made with the crocodile stitch. Who doesn’t want a scaly teapot? So I’ve made crocodile stitches the subject of this Sunday’s post. That way you can make a scaly teapot cozy with me.

Making the crochet crocodile stitch
Making Crocodile Scales the easy way

Crocodile stitches can be confusing. Not in the stitch work itself but in the directions. Crocodile stitches are made with double crochets, single crochets and chains. That part is easy. But you have to twist your work around a bit. You work sideways-down and then sideways-up. That can be tricky for pattern writers to explain. They don’t always do the best job explaining where exactly you put your hook.

Its so much easier to show in a video.

There are lots of variations of the crocodile stitch. The one I show (and the one used in the teapot cozy I’m making) is probably the easiest version. Its worked flat in rows and all the scales line up. There are versions for in-the-round and for offset scales. Once you master this version (or any of them really) you’ll be able to pick up any crocodile pattern and make it.


If you’d like to follow along, here is how I’m making my sample piece in the video:

ch – chain

dc – double crochet (treble in the UK)

V stitch – (cc, ch 1, dc) in same space

sc – single crochet (double crochet in the UK)

Chain 21 (or chain any multiple of 6 and then chain 3 more)

Row 1: skip 5 ch, *V stitch in next base ch, ch 2 and skip 2 base ch, dc in next base chain* repeat to end (Note: the the first three chains of the “skip 5 ch” counts as a dc. So you should have 3 V stitches and 4 dc’s)

Rows 2: ch 1, sc in the dc from previous row, *put 5 dc in the first half of the V stitch, ch 1, put 5 dc in the second half of the V stitch, sc in the dc from previous row* (you should have 3 scales)

(Ah ha! The dc’s in Row 2 are really front-post dc’s. Use the V stitch as your “post”. The first 5 are worked going down towards to point of your V stitch. The second half are worked going up the other side of that V stitch.)

Row 3: ch5, *V stitch in top of V stitch from Row 1, ch 2, dc in sc from previous row* repeat to end. Repeat Rows 2 & 3… ending with a Row 2… for as long as you want the piece to be.


That should get you on your way to all things scaly. If you enjoyed this tutorial, we have others. You can find knit, crochet and handspinning tutorials on our Tips, Tricks and Videos page. Enjoy!


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3 Comments on "Sunday Stitch – Crochet Crocodile Scales"

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ceresandraste
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Omg that looks like fun! I will have to try that out after I finish some wips…

Kimberly Curtis (@KimsBitsNBites)
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What a great tut. This seems to be a popular stitch right now! I will need to learn this one thank you for a great easy way for us newbies to learn. I love YouTube. I learn best by watching others, maybe old age, lol.

knitsbyjenn
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Granny Youtube is very wise. She knows many things.

Glad you liked the video and I hope you try crocodile stitches real soon. They are fast to work up.

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