Back Raised Treble 

Well hello. One week on from Easter – anyone got any chocolate left? We still seem to have loads for some reason. My poor daughter was ill over the Easter break, so hasn’t had a chance to devour any real chocolate yet, but I have a feeling, a devouring session is about to commence!

Hope you have all had good weeks. We have been up in Criccieth in Wales for the week with family. It is such a lovely place to holiday in. Great for families as well as there is quite a lot to do. We spent many a happy week camping in Bala as a child, so it all felt rather familiar!!

We had lots of trips out, which was lovely, but oh my – Welsh roads are so windy!!! I completely lost the ability to crochet whilst in the car!!! It just wasn’t gonna happen. I mean I have crocheted on most journeys for years, no bother! I still took it with me every day, but only managed a couple of stitches here and there. Wales – you’ve beaten me. Oh well, I did manage to get a bit of crocheting done in the evenings.

So my two beautiful children woke up on Easter morning to find these two dangly ducks waiting for them. I think I introduced them last week, but if not, this is Henry and Penny. They were made by crocheting 2 dk strands of wool together. I followed the Fabulous Toft pattern. It’s such a quick and easy pattern to do and it matches the little duckling that I made a few years ago. I was particularly chuffed with Henry’s wings, where I mixed Toft fudge dk wool with a beautiful variegated dk wool and silk mix from Sublime. The colours in it work well with the background of the brown. You can’t beat a bit of multi wool stranding – does make me think of my Gran though!

So each day on our holibobs, we went off in our family car convoy, searching for adventure and new places to explore. We found some pretty cool places, but I think one of the highlights of the week for my daughter, was the Bunny farm we visited. She was in her element feeding the rabbits and goats and holding some little Jack Russell puppies. But the most exciting moment was when a little lamb was sucking on her finger. How she squealed! Super cute!!

We had many trips to the coast line, to hear the sea and waves. The first day we went to Criccieth beach and I can’t tell you how cold it was! It was blowing a hoolley, yet there we were, in our massive coats, hats and gloves, finding pebbles and shells! So utterly utterly British!!

My son just wanted to be in the sea. Luckily he had his wellies and full waterproof suit on – I on the other hand, did not! He didn’t seem to mind. Bless him. Really looking forward to the summer with these two and the British sandy beaches that are on our list to explore!!

We had a beautiful sunny walk in one of the National Trust places called Bodnant. It’s a private house, but the gardens have been opened up to the public via the National Trust.

There were so many flowers and so many stunning views to take in.

I’m not sure why, but one my favourite spring time flowers is the Rhodendrum. I think it stems from visiting gardens with rows and rows of them all lined up down the side of the track and playing hide and seek in amongst them. I used to imagine each bush had its only fairy kingdom where different creatures lived! Oh to be 6 again!!

Just look at the colour of that flower!!

The two youngest in our party, did find some seriously sploshy puddles to jump into!!

Bodnant is definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

And of course on every holiday, you have to make room for a spot of tea and scone!! And golly, it was worth it. If I was able to crochet there and then, I would have been in heaven. We found this fantastic cafe in Criccieth called No 46 Coffee Shop. It was wonderful in there, everything was homemade and seriously good!!! They even had little shelves of things you could buy and low and behold there were crocheted animals amongst them! I spoke to the guy and apparently they were made by a lady from the church. I just find it so fascinating when the love of crocheting just appears when you are least expecting it. I will never forget having a 20 minute conversation with our lovely post lady, who turns out, has been crocheting for years!!! Love that she is the one who delivers all my yarn parcels to me!!

So during our trips to the lovely No 46 in Criccieth, we did have a week long discussion about whether you put cream or jam on first onto your scone. My argument is that you put the cream on first as it’s acting as if it was the butter and then the jam. Just like a piece of toast, but there were a few others around the table who highly disagreed with me and were adamant it’s jam then cream. But to me that just looks so messy and you can’t spread the cream properly as it’s sloshing around on top of the jam!! Funny!! A discussion that I fear will go on for many holidays to come!! So if you fancy having the same discussion as us in a seriously wonderful cafe, then you need to get yourself down to No 46 in Criccieth!!

So my main crocheting project this week, once I had finished the Year of the Stitches blanket, was my Bergere de France shawl. I am so chuffed with how it’s developing. I’ve made up the pattern with 14 rows of stitches that will keep repeating throughout the shawl. The colour change of the Beregere yarn cake is incredible! I think that seen as I have crocheted most of it by the sea and that the yarn is the colour of the sea, then it is only apt that my shawl will be named the Seaside Shawl. Will keep you posted on how it’s going and will definitely be posting the pattern on here soon.

So this was our morning view out of the window of the cottage. It was pretty impressive!! Where the mountains and the sea meet!! Love the colours of the sky!!

So all in all we had a wonderful Easter break. Hoping you all did too. Right so we had better get onto the blanket.

Supplies –

Right so this week I have chosen a wonderful sublime deep blue coloured yarn. It is such a strong and fabulous colour. It’s to represent the beautiful sea we saw this week. I have used about 30/40g of this DK yarn, but you can use any kind of DK yarn you wish. You will need your 4mm hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle.

Stitches –

Chain stitch (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Back Raised Treble Crochet (brtr) – Yarn over your hook and insert your hook in the back around the stem of the treble in the row below from your right to left. Now complete the stitch the usual way, so yarn over your hook and pull back through, then yarn over and pull through 2 loops. Now yarn over again and pull through the last 2 loops. And there you have it.

Ok so here we go …

1 – So this week we are going to be starting on the wrong side of the blanket. So the popcorn stitches should be facing away from you. Attach your new yarn into the first stitch and chain 3. Then work 1tr into the same stitch. Now work 1tr in each stitch in the row. (203)

2 – Turn your blanket and chain 3.

You are now going to work 1 back raised treble crochet (brtr) into the same stitch. To do this place your yarn over your hook and you are going to insert your hook around the stem of the treble in the row below from your right to left.

So you are working in the back of the stitch.

Now complete the stitch in the usual way, so yarn over your hook and pull back through.

Then yarn over and pull through 2 loops. Now yarn over again and pull through the last 2 loops. And there you have it your first brtr.

Now repeat 1brtr into each stitch across the row. (203)

3 – Turn your work and chain 3. Then work 1tr in the same stitch. Now work 1tr into each stitch across the row. This will keep the back of your blanket nice and smooth. (203)

4 – So in this last row we are going to be working back post trebles again. Start by chaining 3, then work 1brtr into the same stitch. Then work 1brtr into each stitch across the row. In the last stitch you are still going to work 1brtr, there isn’t any need to go around the chain 3 stitches from the previous row. Now fasten off and sew in your ends. (203)

Well I hope have enjoyed this weeks stitch. Don’t forget to have a go at the blocking method from last week if you haven’t already.

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx