English abbreviation · Crochet and knitting
What does rep mean in crochet and knitting?
rep means repeat.
In French: répéter
How to work it
To repeat, written “rep”, is to work a group of instructions again. The group is marked by asterisks or brackets, so that the pattern does not have to write the same words a dozen times.
Work the group of instructions between the marks once, exactly as written. This first pass is easy to forget: the instruction “rep from *” comes after you have already worked the group once, so you are asking for the group again, not for its first time.
Return to the asterisk and work the group again, as many times as the pattern says. The pattern may give a number, such as “rep from * 5 times”, or a place to stop, such as “rep from * to end” or “rep from * to last 2 sts”.
Brackets work the same way but carry their own count: “[sc, ch 1] 4 times” means the group inside the brackets, four times over. When the end is given as “to last 2 sts”, stop when two stitches remain and follow the pattern’s next instruction.
In a pattern
Row 3: ch 1, *sc in next st, ch 1, sk next st; rep from * to end, turn.
Take the row “Row 3: ch 1, *sc in next st, ch 1, sk next st; rep from * to end, turn.” “Row 3” is the third row. “ch 1” is the turning chain, a hinge. The asterisk opens the group: “sc in next st”, “ch 1” and “sk next st”. You work these three instructions once, then “rep from * to end” tells you to start again at the asterisk, until you reach the end of the row. “turn” means flip the work. This row makes a mesh: a single crochet, a small space, a single crochet, a small space. This row has no number in brackets, so count your stitches against the row before it.
US or UK?
Identical. “Rep” means repeat in American and British patterns alike, and both use asterisks and brackets in the same way. The stitch names inside the group may change between conventions, so read them with the right one in mind, but the repeat itself does not need converting.
Common mistakes
- Repeating from the wrong asterisk. When a row has two asterisks, “rep from *” means the first, and “rep from **” the second. Look at how many stars the pattern shows, and match them.
- Working the group once fewer than needed, forgetting the first pass. If the pattern says “*sc, ch 1; rep from * 4 times”, you work the group five times in total: once, then four repeats.
- Running past the end. When the pattern says “to end” but your last group is incomplete, the number of stitches in the row below was not a multiple of the group. Stop, and check the row before, since the count is probably off.
A tip
Keep a finger, or a small marker, under the first word of the group in the pattern. After every repeat, glance back at that word. If you always come back to the same word, you will not lose your place on a long row.
Try it with a row from your pattern
Here is a row that uses it. Replace it with a row from your pattern: every abbreviation the reader knows is underlined, and its meaning shows on hover.
Row 3: ch 1, *sc in next st, ch 1, sk next st; rep from * to end, turn.