Filet Crochet – The Basics 2

Understanding filet crochet: different ways of looking at the grid

This is Part 2 of my Filet Crochet Basics series.

If you are completely new to filet crochet, please start with Part 1. It explains the special features of a filet crochet pattern and how to read the charts.

In Part 2, I will explain two different ways of looking at a filet crochet grid. Even though they use different counting methods, they both lead to the same result

Two ways to think about filet crochet construction

There are two different ways to think about the construction of a filet crochet grid.

When it comes to filet crochet, you will probably often come across the terms 4-dc mesh and 3-dc mesh as basic variants. Both variants are based on a counting method that I personally find illogical. I therefore favour a different approach to translate a filet crochet grid into stitches. The only difference is the way of looking at the grid and the resulting way of counting the stitches. The technique itself and the end result are absolutely identical. To distinguish between them, I therefore differentiate between Type I and Type II filet crochet.

Type I — Filet crochet worked over 3 stitches (3-stitch construction) corresponds to 4-dc mesh and

Type II — Filet crochet worked over 2 stitches (2-stitch construction) corresponds to 3-dc mesh.

Chart 3 shows the two approaches side-by-side, based on Type l filet crochet. Chart 3a is based on Type II filet crochet.

Another way to think about 4-dc mesh

The traditional 4-dc mesh explanation defines each square by four stitches, where adjacent squares share one stitch. Each square is therefore regarded as a ‘closed unit’.

Whereas the 3-stitch construction I use in this article is defined as three stitches per square. Each square is regarded as an ‘open unit’, and completed with a closing double crochet at the end of the row.

The closing double crochet completes the last square of the row and ensures that all squares have the same width. Without it, the edge of your work would not line up correctly.

For a better visualisation, the different ways of counting the stitches are also shown in Chart 4 using a grid and a crocheted sample.

Both ways produce an identical result and require exactly the same number of stitches, calculated by:

number of squares in the grid x 3 + 1 stitch

Another way to think about 3-dc mesh

The same principle can be applied to 3-dc mesh or Type II filet crochet — the 2-stitch construction — as I call it.

In the 3-dc mesh explanation, one square equals three stitches and shares one stitch with adjacent squares. Type II filet (2-stitch construction) equals a square with two stitches and has a closing double crochet at the end of the row.

For both, the number of stitches are calculated by:

number of squares in the grid x 2 + 1 stitch

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Basic principles of filet crochet

Both versions of classic filet crochet, Type I and Type II, follow the same basic principles:

• The design is worked in turned rows using double crochets and chains.
• Each row begins and ends with a double crochet.
• The first double crochet of a row is replaced by chains.
• Double crochets are worked in the stitches of the previous row.
• When working into chain spaces, double crochets can be placed either around or into the chains.

As long as you are following a pattern, it will normally tell you which type of filet crochet is used and how to translate the chart into stitches.

Ready to continue?

To practise these two types of filet crochet, move on to Part 3 and Part 4 of the tutorial.

There you will find a small sample of each type of filet crochet, one using Type I filet crochet and the other one using Type II filet crochet.

Both are explained using a filet grid, a diagram with traditional crochet symbols and written instructions.