There are lots of tutes (tutorials for the lay folk) out there on the interwebs for all the various post stitches, so I won’t be redundant and reinvent the wheel.  BUT…  I had one heck of an epiphany the other day when I was working on a new pattern design that I do want to share with you.  It totally made a switch flip in my noggin, so hopefully it’ll help you keep things straight too!

All the tutes are pretty standard… For a front post stitch (we’ll use a double crochet (dc) for this dose of enlightenment), you insert your hook from front-to-back-to front:

And the back post stitch, you insert your hook from back-to-front-to-back:

Seems pretty self-explanatory, right?  Well, when I get to hooking at a frenzy pace, sometimes I forget what I’m doing.  Classic case of brain fart (hey, I can say fart on my blog)!  And as I was working on a new design yesterday, the light bulb went off, and I literally did the V-8 forehead smack!

When you have momentary cerebral flatulence (real medical term for brain fart…  I’m almost sure) and you can’t remember which stitch you’re doing, here’s an easy way to recognize whether it’s back or front post:

With a front post stitch, the post of the stitch is IN FRONT OF THE HOOK. 

With a back post stitch, the post is BEHIND THE HOOK.

If you are trying to figure out after the fact whether you worked a front post or a back post stitch, I got something to help with that too!

This is a completed front post stitch:

And you can recognize it by the fact that it creates a hump on the side of your work that is facing you.

Here is a completed back post stitch:

You can recognize it by the tiny shelf in front of the stitch made by the top loops of the stitch you worked around.  This is how it looks after working the back post stitch facing you.  And here’s the little shelf:

Although I may likely not be the first person to think of this, I was pretty shocked and amazed at myself for getting the puzzle to finally click in my brain!

Comment and tell me I’m not the only one to suffer from cerebral flatulence, or let me know if this helps clear the fog!