Knitting & Crocheting Glossary: C

C4B: Knit pattern abbreviation for cable 4 back, meaning a cable worked over 4 stitches from behind your work.

C4F: Knit pattern abbreviation for cable 4 front, meaning a cable worked over 4 stitches in front of your work.

C6B: Knit pattern abbreviation for cable 6 back, meaning a cable worked over 6 stitches from behind your work.

C6F: Knit pattern abbreviation for cable 6 front, meaning a cable worked over 6 stitches in front of your work.

cable: A knit pattern in which you cross one group of stitches over another by knitting them out of order.

cable needle; cn: A short knitting needle that's point at both ends, has a divot or curve toward the middle, and is used to hold stitches temporarily while you work on their neighbors.

carry: When knitting or crocheting with different colors, the process of moving yarn not in use to the next position it will be used by working it into the stitches being made in another color, rather than fastening off and rejoining the yarn with each color change.

cast on: Create a series of loops on one needle as a knitted starting row. The opposite is to bind off or cast off.

CC: Crocheting or knitting stitch pattern abbreviation for contrasting color.

chain; ch: A simple, common crocheting stitch used to make a crochet piece's foundation and to start new rows.

chenille: A type of yarn material (usually made of rayon or cotton) with an attractive appearance and velvety texture.

chevron: Knitting pattern that makes the fabric form arrow-like shapes.

circular; in the round: A crocheting or knitting technique that works the stitches in a continuous, spiral-like fashion without turning the piece; also called crocheting or knitting in the round.

circular needle: A knitting needle designed especially for circular knitting, made up of one long double-pointed needle in a circular shape.

cluster: A set of crochet stitches that you work across an equal number of stitches and join together at the top, forming a triangle shape that resembles an upside-down shell stitch.

colorway: Color combination.

Continental: Knitting style in which you hold the yarn in your left hand and pick the stitches through each loop.

cotton: A soft, white natural fiber from plants, often made into yarn.

crab; reverse crochet stitch: Worked like a single crochet stitch, but from left to right, rather than right to left.

crewel: A style of embroidery that's worked with any type of yarn, rather than thread.

crochet: A kind of needlework in which loops of a yarn are interwoven by means of a single hooked needle, or crochet hook.

crochet hook: A specialized needle with a hook at one end used to create crochetwork.

cross: To knit or crochet stitches at an angle, producing a pattern in which the stitches overlap; crosses can be in the back or front of a stitched fabric.

cross-stitch: A type of needlework, usually done with thread, in which stitches are crossed in the form of an X on some surface.

cuff: A band or fold at the end of a sleeve.