Alpine stitch alternates raised front-post stitches with ordinary double crochet, with a single-crochet row between the textured rows. The raised stitches reach down into an earlier row. The most useful habit is checking which stitch top each raised post replaces, so the fabric does not gain extra stitches.
Stitch terminology: This guide uses US names. US single crochet is UK double crochet; US half double is UK half treble; US double is UK treble. See the full US/UK reference.
Understand the front-post movement
Yarn over and pass the hook around the body of the indicated stitch, from front to back and back to front. Draw up a loop to the current row’s height, then finish a double crochet. The hook goes around the post, not through its top V.
When the target is two rows below, allow enough loop height to span that distance. Pulling the raised stitch down tightly can make the sample curl or shorten.
Make a twenty-stitch foundation
For this practice version, chain twenty-one and work twenty single crochets. On the next row, chain two without counting it, turn and work twenty double crochets. Then chain one, turn and work twenty single crochets.
All turning chains in this exercise are uncounted. Keep a marker in the first and last actual stitch. A different published alpine pattern may use counted turning chains, so do not mix its edge instructions with these.
Alternate the raised columns
For the first textured row, chain two, turn and double crochet in stitch one. Across positions two to nineteen, alternate a front-post double crochet around the corresponding post two rows below, then a normal double crochet in the next current-row stitch. Finish with a normal double crochet in position twenty.
Skip the current-row stitch top directly behind each raised post. Work one single crochet in every stitch on the following row.
For the next textured row, keep ordinary double crochets at both edges but reverse the interior sequence: normal double crochet at position two, raised post at position three, and so on. Follow it with another single-crochet row. Continue alternating those two textured arrangements.
Count the positions, including the replacements
Each textured row still has twenty stitches: two plain edge stitches and eighteen interior positions. A front-post stitch replaces one ordinary placement. Working both the post and the stitch top behind it would add an unwanted stitch.
If the diamonds seem to form vertical columns instead, check whether you reversed the raised positions on the second textured row. The single-crochet separator alone does not create that offset.
Choose yarn that shows the relief
A smooth, reasonably plain yarn makes it easier to see the raised structure. Test the actual yarn before making a large panel; a dense alpine fabric can weigh and drape differently from plain double crochet made with the same hook.
Measure a sample containing both alternating texture rows and their separators. Counting only one row type does not describe the full repeat.
Finish the sample before judging it
End after a single-crochet separator row for this exercise, then secure the ends. Care for the fabric according to the yarn label and inspect the width, curl and flexibility. Use the linked demonstration for a close-up of the post placement; check its UK terminology before following its separate pattern.
Continue learning
Distinguish loops from posts · Investigate curling · Compare another raised-post texture
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