Yarn Diary

Amigurumi abbreviations, explained

The core set

sc — single crochet

The stitch almost all amigurumi is made of: short, dense, and tight enough to hold stuffing. (In UK terms this same stitch is called dc — see the US/UK page — but amigurumi patterns are overwhelmingly written in US terms.)

inc — increase

Work 2 sc into the same stitch. The round gains one stitch per inc: 6 incs into a 6-stitch round makes 12.

dec — decrease

Work 2 stitches together into one (sc2tog). The round loses one stitch per dec.

invdec — invisible decrease

A decrease worked through the front loops only of two neighbouring stitches. It lies flatter than a standard sc2tog — no gap, no bump — which is why toy patterns prefer it. Community shorthand: you'll also see it written inv dec. Patterns that just say "dec" usually leave the choice to you.

MR — magic ring (also magic circle, adjustable ring)

The standard start: stitches are worked into an adjustable loop that is then pulled tight, closing the centre hole completely. "MR 6" or "6 sc in magic ring" both mean six single crochets into that loop. The documented alternative — ch 2, then 6 sc in the second chain from the hook — is interchangeable, just with a slightly less closable centre.

FLO / BLO — front loop only / back loop only

Work into just one of the two loops at the top of the stitch. In amigurumi, BLO rounds create the crisp corner where a flat base turns upward (plant pots, feet); the loop left unworked stays visible as a ridge.

st, sts / rnd

Stitch, stitches; round. "(18 sts)" at a round's end is the count you should have — the checkpoint the whole count-checking habit is built on.

ch / sl st

Chain and slip stitch — in amigurumi mostly the supporting cast: a sl st smooths the final round before fastening off, chains appear in the ch-2 alternative start and in shaping like ears.

FO — fasten off

Cut the yarn and pull it through the last loop. Toy patterns often say "FO leaving a long tail" — the tail becomes the thread you sew the part on with.

make 2 (and 4, and 6)

Written after a part name — "Ears (make 2)" — it means work the whole part that many times. It is the quiet bookkeeping burden of amigurumi: each copy needs its own round tracking, or the second copy ends up a round short of the first. Yarn Diary reads the "(make N)" straight from the pattern and tracks each copy separately.

The MC trap

On the Craft Yarn Council's official list, MC means main color. In amigurumi circles, MC often means magic circle. Both readings are common, and a colour-change toy pattern can plausibly contain either. Read it from context: "6 sc in MC" is a magic circle; "change to MC" is the main colour. When a pattern defines its abbreviations up top, trust its definition over any list — including this one.

Official standard vs community shorthand

Worth knowing when a pattern surprises you: sc, inc, dec, ch, sl st, st(s), rnd, FLO, BLO are all on the Craft Yarn Council's standard list, so they're stable across publishers. invdec, MR, and MC-as-magic-circle are conventions that grew up inside the amigurumi community — near-universal there, but unstandardised, which is why their spellings wander (inv dec, mr, mc) and why designers define them in their pattern notes.

When the pattern uses symbols instead

Some patterns — often translated ones — write rounds in X V A notation: X for sc, V for inc (two stitches in one looks like a V), A for dec. When the symbols are written as separate tokens, the way patterns print them, Yarn Diary detects the notation automatically and expands it to the usual abbreviations.

Look any of them up as you work

The built-in stitch guide covers 57 stitches and techniques with both US and UK names, searchable by any alias — and the tracker understands all of the above when it reads your pattern, including MR expansion, invdec and "(make 2)".