How to Back Post Double Crochet
Adding texture like ribbing, columns or simple cables to your crochet projects doesn’t have to be unattainable. While these textures may look intimidating, they are a lot more accessible once we know the stitches that go into creating them. Now that you’ve learned how to Front Post Double Crochet with me, it’s time we add the Back Post Double Crochet to your stitch knowledge. Then adding ribbing or other textures to your projects will be a breeze!
While you certainly can use a front or a back post stitch by themselves, these stitches really shine and show texture when worked together. They’re a crochet yin and yang, if you will.
So, now that you’ve learned how to Front Post Double Crochet using my tutorial, your next logical stitch to learn is the Back Post Double Crochet. Once you know and feel confident with these two stitches, you’ll be creating gorgeous textures and following patterns that used to feel intimidating like nobody’s business.
The Back Post Double Crochet is undoubtedly a more intimidating stitch to beginners than the Front Post, but it really doesn’t have to be. The act of working toward the back of the work seems wonky, weird and feels intimidating but it’s as easy as a Front Post – I promise!
In this stitch tutorial, we’ll do more than just talk about how to work a Back Post Double Crochet. We’ll talk about the anatomy of the stitch and get into the details so you can feel confident using this stitch in future projects.
What is the Back Post Double Crochet (BPdc)?
The Back Post Double Crochet (abbreviated to BPdc) is the sibling stitch to the Front Post Double Crochet. It is simply a double crochet worked around the back side of the post of the stitch below, instead of into the top of the stitch. This pushes the stitch backward (away from you) which creates texture.
Don’t worry, we’ll talk about the anatomy of a double crochet so you can identify the post of the stitch quickly and easily. Identifying the post is the “hardest” part of working a post stitch, but I promise it’s not all that difficult once you know the anatomy.
What stitches should I know before I try a BPdc?
Before you try this crochet stitch, you should know the basic crochet stitches. This means you should know and feel at least somewhat confident creating chains and working single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet stitches.
Essentially what this means is as long as you can work a double crochet and understand the technical parts to working a double crochet (how to insert your hook into a stitch, how to yarn over, how to pull through loops, etc.), you can work a Back Post Double Crochet.
There’s nothing super advanced or fancy to this crochet stitch. It’s easier than it sounds!
Are back post stitches created only using double crochet?
Nope! You can also create a back post stitch using single crochet, half double crochet and treble crochets! The Back Post Double Crochet is typically the most used, so that’s what we’ll use in this tutorial.
Any other front post stitch, like a Back Post Half Double Crochet, will be worked similar to the Back Post Double Crochet. They will all be worked around the post of the stitch, not into the top of the stitch.
Double Crochet Stitch Anatomy (And How to Identify the Post)
In order to confidently work a Back Post Double Crochet (or any other post stitch), we need to be able to identify the post of the stitch we will be working around. This means that we need to understand the anatomy of double crochets (and crochet stitches in general) before we dive in.
For the sake of this tutorial, we will look at the anatomy of a double crochet. Typically you’ll end up working a Back Post Double Crochet on the post of a double crochet or a half double crochet (which look similar to the double crochet). Rarely you’ll see them worked on a treble and very rarely you’ll see them worked on the post of a single crochet.
Here I have a swatch of 2 rows of 10 double crochet. On this third row, I’ve worked 3 double crochet.
Let’s place 1 more double crochet and keep an eye on the anatomy so that we can clearly identify the post of the stitch to work a Back Post Double Crochet later.
So, we will yarn over, insert our hook into the top of the stitch below, yarn over and pull up a loop. We will have 3 loops on our hook.
I have highlighted these three loops in yellow, pink and orange.
The orange loop is the loop that was already on our hook from finishing the previous double crochet.
The pink loop is our first yarn over before we inserted our hook into the stitch.
The yellow loop is the loop that we have pulled through the top of the stitch.
As we make our double crochet, we will pay attention to these 3 loops and their placement so that we can understand the anatomy of a double crochet.
Now, let’s continue the next step of our double crochet. We will yarn over and pull through two loops. With this step complete, we have a double crochet that is half finished.
Let’s take a look at where the three loops are now. The two images above are the same however, the bottom image is highlighted for clarity.
The yellow and pink loops are the first two loops that we have pulled through. You can see how they have settled. The yellow loop is still at the bottom of the stitch but is pulled a bit vertically and the pink loop is now sitting on top of it, almost like a top of a stitch. This resembles a finished single crochet.
The orange loop is still on the hook, waiting to be worked. Finally, we have a new loop that a black arrow points to in the bottom image. This is the loop we have just created in our yarn over, pull through 2.
Let’s finish the double crochet by yarning over again and pulling through the 2 remaining loops on the hook.
We now have a finished double crochet!
The three original loops are still highlighted in their original colors and an arrow points to the loop created in the first yarn over, pull through 2.
The orange loop is now worked and is the top of the double crochet stitch.
The yellow loop, pink loop and the loop an arrow points to all create the post of the stitch.
Here’s another way to look at the same information.
In this image, I’ve highlighted the top of the stitch in the same orange as before, so we know that if we wanted to work a normal stitch into this double crochet, we would go under the two loops highlighted orange.
Highlighted yellow is the post of the stitch, which was created by all of the loops we have been paying attention to.
When we work any type of Post Stitch, we will work it around the post of the stitch (yellow highlight), not into the top of the stitch (Orange Highlight).
Now that we know the stitch anatomy of a double crochet and can identify the post of the stitch, we can move on to placing a Back Post Double Crochet in the next stitch.
How to Back Post Double Crochet
This Back Post Double Crochet stitch tutorial will show you step-by-step how to work this stitch with photos along the way. Similar to the anatomy lesson above, there will be highlights and arrows to help identify the steps as clearly as possible.
Ready to get started? Let’s go over the technical stuff first.
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YARN AND HOOK USED IN THIS TUTORIAL
To practice the Back Post Double Crochet, you can use any yarn you like! Choose a hook size that corresponds with the yarn weight you’re using and you’re good to go.
In my tutorial photos, I’m using Bernat Maker Home Dec in colorway Aqua and my Furls Ebony Streamline Wood 8mm (M).
WRITTEN BACK POST DOUBLE CROCHET INSTRUCTIONS
To work a Back Post Double Crochet (BPdc), you will:
Yarn over, insert your hook from back of work to front of work between the posts of the previous stitch and current stitch and maneuver the hook to the back of the work on the other side of the post. Your hook should now sit horizontal with the post of the stitch on the back of hook and all of your work in front of your hook. Yarn over, pull a loop through. You will have 3 loops on hook. Yarn over, pull through 2 loops. Yarn over, pull through 2 loops again.
Step by Step Instructions
Now that we have the technical stuff out of the way, let’s walk step by step through how to work the Back Post Double Crochet.
For this tutorial, I am using the same swatch as above. I have 2 rows of 10 double crochet and, on the 3rd row, I’ve worked 4 double crochet.
First thing’s first, let’s identify the post of the next stitch.
This image has the same picture twice. The top picture allows you to see the work as you would on your own swatch and the bottom picture shows the top of the next stitch and the post highlighted.
To properly place a Back Post Double Crochet, we will insert the hook around the post of the highlighted stitch from back of work to front of work between the post of the previous stitch and the current stitch. Then, we bring the hook back to the back of the work on the other side of the post.
Let’s go through this step by step.
We will yarn over and maneuver our hook in the same direction of the arrow in this image. To do this, we will swing our hook down and BEHIND the work.
Insert the hook from back of work to front of work between the posts of the previous stitch and the current stitch. In this image, you can see my hook going behind the work.
Then, once your hook is inserted between the posts, bring the hook back to the back of the work on the other side of the current stitch’s post. A black arrow shows where your hook will go through.
In the top image, you can see the tip of the hook has come through between the two posts. The post we are working the stitch on is highlighted yellow behind the hook.
In the bottom image, you can see the hook pushed through the work on the other side of the post. The post we are working the stitch on is still highlighted yellow.
Your hook should sit horizontal with the post of the stitch on the back of the hook and all of the work in front of the hook.
This is why this stitch is called a “Back Post Double Crochet”. It is worked from the back of the work and the post of the stitch is on the “back” of the hook!
This is what your work will look like if you flip it over (upside down) and look at it from the back side while the hook is still inserted around the post.
You can see how the post sits on the back of the hook.
Now, we yarn over and pull a loop through.
We have 3 loops on our hook. From here, we will finish this Front Post Double Crochet as we would a normal double crochet.
We will yarn over and pull through 2 loops. 2 loops will remain on the hook. Yarn over and pull through the 2 remaining loops.
We now have 1 completed Back Post Double Crochet. These images are the same however I have highlighted the bottom picture for clarity.
The Back Post Double Crochet is highlighted yellow. Notice there is a little bit of yellow beneath the orange highlight. This is where we pulled our first yarn over through. You can see how this stitch wraps around the post instead of being worked into the top of the stitch.
The top of the double crochet stitch we worked this post stitch on is highlighted orange. It’s important to know that the top of this stitch is here and that we do NOT work into it.
The previous four Double Crochet worked are highlighted with pink. You can see how these stitches are clearly worked into the top of the stitch.
Also notice how the Back Post Double Crochet pulls the post of the previous stitch backward. If we were to flip the work over and look at it from the backside, it would look as if we had worked a Front Post Double Crochet!
Now, let’s say we wanted to put a Back Post Double Crochet in the next stitch. First, we identify the post of the next stitch.
Once again, the top of the stitch is highlighted orange and the post of the stitch is highlighted yellow. We want to work around the post of the stitch and not into the top of the stitch.
Following the same steps as listed above, we will yarn over and maneuver the hook behind the work, aligning the tip of the hook with the post of the stitch.
We will insert our hook from back to front in between the post of the previous stitch and current stitch. Then, we will bring the hook back to the back of the work on the other side of the post, following the direction of the arrow.
Your hook should sit horizontal with the post of the stitch on the back of the hook and all of the work in front of the hook.
Then, we will yarn over and pull a loop through. We will have 3 loops on our hook.
We finish the Front Post Double Crochet as we would a normal double crochet.
We yarn over, pull through 2 loops. 2 loops remain on hook. Yarn over and pull through 2 loops.
Our second Back Post Double Crochet is complete!
Now that we know how to work Back Post Double Crochets one after the other, we need to know how to work a standard double crochet in the next stitch.
We can see the tops of the stitches hanging out in front of the Back Post Double Crochets we have just worked.
It is important to know that you do NOT work into the tops of these stitches unless it is specifically stated in the pattern you’re following. Working into the tops of these stitches will increase your work and you will end up with too many stitches.
Remember: These stitches are already worked so we will “skip” the top of the stitches highlighted orange.
An arrow points to the top of the NEXT stitch. This is the top of the stitch we would work into if we were placing a standard double crochet.
Here we can see the standard double crochet worked into the top of the stitch as normal.
The Back Post Double Crochet stitches are highlighted yellow. You can see a little bit of yellow highlight just below the tops of the stitches. This shows where the stitches wrapped around the post of the double crochets below.
The tops of the stitches that belong to these posts are highlighted orange. We do not work into the tops of these stitches unless SPECIFICALLY stated to.
So, what do I do now?
To continue practicing the Back Post Double Crochet, you can simply continue creating swatches of double crochets so that you can continue to practice placing BPdc’s around the posts.
You can even practice Back Post stitches with half double crochets, if you wanted!
Once you’ve practiced both the Front Post Double Crochet and the Back Post Double Crochet, you can start following patterns that use them! Ribbing is the best way to practice using the two stitches together and you can find ribbing using Front Post and Back Post Stitches in both my Arctic Beanie and Eunoia Cowl patterns!
That’s all there is to the Back Post Double Crochet!
You should now feel confident working the Back Post Double Crochet and using it in almost any pattern that calls for it!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and that you can move forward crocheting all your favorite patterns that use Back Post Stitches with confidence. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today!
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Shannon | Designer & Editor
Shannon helps crocheters find their next project and build their skills with in depth tutorials and crochet patterns on her blog, theloopholefox.com.
With more than a decade of crochet experience, Shannon knows that understanding why we do something matters just as much as how we do it. She teaches new techniques and crochet stitches in depth so you can crochet with confidence.
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