Alpine stitch creates raised texture by combining double crochet with front post double crochet. These eight original projects apply it to a top down hat, a bulky headband, a striped beanie, and a dishcloth sized specifically to teach the stitch.
Alpine stitch is texture heavy, so a hook you’re comfortable gripping matters more than usual across a whole project.
Alpine stitch projects to explore
1. Alpine Stitch Hat
Cheryl Bennett’s alpine hat is soft, squishy and warm, worked from the top down starting with a magic ring, in worsted weight yarn (Vanna’s Choice) on an H/8 (5 mm) hook, about 3.25 oz. It finishes about 22 inches around and 8.5 inches tall, and you can add rounds of ribbing to get the size you need.
2. Alpine Crochet Headband
Cheryl calls this a thing of beauty and function: the alpine stitch is a series of double crochets and front post stitches, in bulky #5 yarn, so you can finish one or two in an evening. It fits an adult head of 21 to 23 inches, about 20 inches around and 3.75 inches wide, and you chain 54 loosely so it is stretchy. It is two pieces that get sewn together.
3. Alpine Stripe Beanie
Tamara Kelly’s alpine stripe beanie is the matching hat for her Alpine Pocket Scarf, a reader request, and it comes in three sizes. It uses Red Heart Heat Wave, a yarn that warms up to 12 degrees under UV light such as sunlight, though it is still a cozy acrylic without the sun.
4. Alpine Stitch Dishcloth
Louise Bollanos teaches the alpine stitch through an 8 by 8 inch dishcloth in medium weight cotton (We Are Knitters Pima Cotton, one ball makes two dishcloths) on an H-8 (5 mm) hook. She says the alpine stitch is versatile, and the tutorial shows how to use it for other items like scarves.
5. Alpine Stitch Textured Blanket
Briana Kepner says the alpine stitch gives terrific stitch definition and is easy to learn, and works quickly, so a blanket goes fast. She made the baby size for her nephew, and you can make many sizes, from a baby blanket to an adult one or even king size bedding.
6. Alpine Stitch Crochet Swatch
Erin Toews wrote this as an afghan strip about 50 by 5 inches, in worsted weight yarn (Furls Wander) on a 5 mm hook, about 240 yards. She says the alpine stitch combines two very simple stitches and is a great one to try after the basics, and that she has used it in everything from squares and bookmarks to stockings and plant cozies. The gauge is 17 stitches and 16 rows in 4 inches.
7. How to Crochet the Alpine Stitch
Sarah-Jayne Fragola explains that the alpine stitch combines standard double crochets with front post double crochets, giving a rich, dimensional look with a zigzag or ridge texture. Her page has a free step-by-step pattern and a video in right and left-handed versions, plus pattern use ideas.
8. Alpine Stitch Crochet Tutorial
Crystal Marin’s tutorial has photos for each step, using a #5 bulky weight yarn, and she says the alpine stitch crochets up well in other yarn weights too. It makes a highly textured fabric for hats, scarves and blankets.
