Crochet Stitch Identifier — what stitch is this?
Take a photo of any crochet fabric and find out which stitch it is, how sure we are, and where to learn it — with left- and right-handed videos. Free, no sign-up, works from your phone camera.
Free · 15 photos a day · photo analysed, not stored. Privacy
How to photograph a stitch so it can be identified
Lay the piece flat with the right side (the side you look at) facing up. Move in until the stitches are clearly visible — a palm-sized area is perfect — and shoot from directly above in daylight, not under a warm lamp. Avoid strong shadows, variegated yarn if you have a plain swatch, and photos with hands or hooks in the way. The tool works on finished items too: blankets, hats, bags, amigurumi.
What the identifier can and cannot tell you
It can: name the stitch (from a library of 260, from single crochet to Tunisian and crocodile), give a confidence score, tell you whether the piece was worked in rows or rounds, estimate the yarn weight, and send you to the right lesson with left- and right-handed videos.
It cannot: reverse-engineer a whole pattern. Shaping, row counts and stitch counts are not visible in a photo, and a tool that pretends otherwise gives you a pattern that will not work. To recreate a piece, identify the stitch here, then design it on the Crochets grid — the app writes the pattern from your grid and shows a photo of the result before you start.
Stitches most often confused
| Looks like… | Tell them apart by |
|---|---|
| Single crochet vs half double | Half double has a horizontal bar across the front of each stitch and is about 1.5× taller. |
| Double crochet vs treble | Treble posts are visibly longer with two twists in the post; the fabric is much more open. |
| Front-post ribbing vs waffle | Waffle has square pockets between ridges; ribbing is straight vertical columns. |
| Bobble vs puff vs popcorn | Bobble: firm, rounded; puff: soft, oval, loose strands; popcorn: a folded cup with a crisp edge. |
| Linen / moss vs grit | Moss has a tidy woven chequerboard of single stitches and chain spaces; grit is denser with paired stitches. |
| Tunisian knit vs real knitting | Tunisian shows horizontal bars between rows on the back; knitting has none. |
Frequently asked
How does the crochet stitch identifier work?
You upload or take a photo of a piece of crochet. A vision model trained on textiles compares what it sees — stitch height, post structure, bumps, fans, gaps, ribs — against the 260 stitches in the Crochets library and returns its best matches with a confidence score and the visible feature that decided it. Nothing is invented: it can only answer with a real, named stitch, and it links you to the lesson.
What kind of photo works best?
Fill the frame with the fabric, in daylight, from straight above, with the right side facing you. Get close enough to see individual stitches — a palm-sized area is ideal. Blurry, distant or heavily patterned-yarn photos lower the confidence, and the tool says so.
Can it tell me the full pattern of a garment from one photo?
No, and be wary of anything that claims to. A photo shows the stitch, the direction of work and roughly the yarn weight; it cannot show increases, decreases, row counts or shaping. Use the identifier to name the stitch, then design the piece yourself in the Crochets app, which writes the pattern from your grid.
Can it tell crochet from knitting?
Yes. Knitting shows interlocking V columns or purl bumps with no chain tops; crochet stitches each have a braided V on top and visible posts. If you upload knitting, weaving or machine-made fabric it will tell you rather than guess a crochet stitch.
Is it free and do you keep my photo?
It is free, no sign-up, up to 15 photos a day. The photo is sent for analysis and not stored; we keep only the text result to check the tool's accuracy over time.
Related: Stitch dictionary (300 stitches) · US ↔ UK terms · Left-handed crochet guide
Found your stitch? Now make something with it
Design on a grid, get the written pattern, the yarn amount and a photo of the finished piece — with every stitch in the hand you crochet with.
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