Four basic stitches: Stitch Sampler Generator

Compare four stitch heights in one piece

This sampler holds the width at twenty stitches while progressing through single, half double, double and treble crochet. Each stitch receives three rows, making four distinct zones and twelve rows overall. The aim is to observe the change in fabric height and coverage without changing yarn, hook or working width. The specimen can become a reference for choosing a stitch in a later project; it is not a finished garment or a promise of a particular drape.

Keep the material variables consistent

Use smooth DK cotton and a four-millimeter hook as a trial pairing. Work the entire piece in one color. Have a ruler, scissors, tapestry needle and two edge markers available, plus a note card for recording measurements. The diagram's yarn slot label does not require a second actual yarn when Single color is selected. Record the actual brand, composition and hook size because the general yarn category alone cannot establish gauge.

Enter the four-zone plan

Choose Four basic stitches, twenty stitches across, twelve total rows and three rows per preset zone. Select Single color and US terminology. The row plan is three sc rows, three hdc rows, three dc rows and three tr rows. The Custom zones field is inactive in this preset. Total height is a count of working rows; the tool does not imply that all four zones will be equally tall in centimeters.

Chart and complete row sequence

Download the exact sampler JSON into the Stitch Sampler Generator.

1. In color 1 (#243BCE), ch 21. Starting in chain 2 from hook, work 20 sc. Count 20.
2. Ch 1, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 1, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 sc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
3. Ch 1, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 1, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 sc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
4. Ch 2, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 2, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 hdc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
5. Ch 2, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 2, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 hdc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
6. Ch 2, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 2, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 hdc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
7. Ch 2, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 3, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 dc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
8. Ch 2, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 3, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 dc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
9. Ch 2, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 3, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 dc, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
10. Ch 3, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 4, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 tr, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
11. Ch 3, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 4, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 tr, one in each old stitch. Count 20.
12. Ch 3, turn (turning chain does not count). Zone 4, color 1 (#243BCE): work 20 tr, one in each old stitch. Count 20.

Build the first zone

Chain twenty-one and work twenty single crochets beginning in the second chain from the hook. Mark the first and last completed stitches. For the next two rows, chain one and turn, then work one single crochet into each real stitch top. The turning chain is never counted or worked as an additional edge stitch. Count twenty after each row before the zone transition makes any error harder to trace.

Change stitch height at a counted boundary

Before row four, chain two and turn for the first half-double row. Keep one new stitch in each of the twenty old tops. Row seven begins double crochet with two uncounted turning chains; row ten begins treble crochet with three uncounted turning chains. Both top loops are used throughout. Taller stitches need no extra bases, and the boundary between zones does not contain an increase, a decrease or an extra transition row.

Verify the budgets independently

Every stitch family appears in three twenty-stitch rows, so there are sixty single, sixty half double, sixty double and sixty treble crochets: 240 fabric stitches. The foundation has twenty-one chains. Later turning chains total twenty-three: two for the remaining single-crochet rows, six before half-double rows, six before double rows and nine before treble rows. The chart has twelve numbered rows and twenty produced symbols per row. It displays the four different symbol heights without treating them as four different stitch counts.

Measure and interpret the sample

Fasten off, weave ends and wash according to the yarn's instructions. Measure each zone's relaxed height, and note any width change caused by your tension. Three rows give a useful comparison but are not a large statistical gauge sample. If a zone becomes narrower, check its last stitch before increasing hook size. Are the four zones meant to have equal physical area? No; equal row counts are the controlled comparison. Is physical performance certified? No physical sample has been claimed. Use the gauge guide before translating these observations into a finished project.