2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 6 Raised Popcorn Stitch

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The Raised Popcorn 🍿 Stitch

Hi everyone, well what a wet and dreary week. I hope you have all had good weeks. I’ve been busy making my wonderful mother-in-law some slipper socks for her birthday. I’m pleased to say I got them finished and they are hopefully keeping her tootsies warm as we speak.

I’ve finally managed to get the pattern all written up for them, but it just needs another check before I will pop it on here. The pair I have made for myself seem to be keeping my feet very snuggly and warm.

Once again we have had a sad week as we have said goodbye to one of the families and one of my dear friend’s Mum. She had been fighting her illness for so long and was such a strong person. Can’t quite believe it really. It was so terribly terribly sad. She was so full of life and had had so much fun. It was clear to see at her celebration of life, how many friends and family she had around her that were dear to her. What an amazing lady!! Listening to the stories about her made you want to go off on an adventure straight away. Wow! She had had a few herself. So I would like to dedicate this weeks yarn to a wonderful lady, who brought so much fun and love into the world. Here’s to you!! Sending so much love to her closest and dearest. We are thinking of you.

So I have chosen a wonderful bright warm yellow, which I think is rather apt for her. It is from the lovely sublime merino wool range again.

Stitches –

Chain (ch) – To make a chain stitch, make a slip knot on your hook and then place the yarn over your hook and pull through the loop. Repeat this action to make a row of stitches.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

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.

Raised Popcorn (rp) – So chain 1, then work 6tr stitches all in the next dc stitch 2 rows below. Then remove your hook from the loop and reinsert it back into the chain 1 space worked before the 6tr stitches. Then collect up the loop from the last tr stitch and pull through to complete the raised popcorn stitch.

Supplies –

So again you need to choose a double knit yarn of any kind. You roughly need about 30g/40g. Don’t forget your scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle. And of course your 4mm crochet hook.

Ok so here we go … 

1 – Ok so start off by joining your new yarn by inserting your hook into the first stitch and pulling the new yarn through.

Now start by chaining 1 and dc into the same stitch.

Then work 1dc into the rest of the stitches. (201)

2 – *Now turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1 dc in the same stitch.

Work 1dc in the rest of the stitches in the row. (201)*

3 – Repeat ** for row 3. (201)

4 – Right so in this row chain 1 and work 1dc into the same stitch. Then work 1dc in the next 3 stitches. Now it’s time to work a raised popcorn stitch (rp). So to do this chain 1.

Then you are going to work 6tr stitches into the stitch 2 rows below. Can you see in the photo below where the stitch is you are picking up? It’s 2 dc rows below.

So this is showing your first tr stitch.

Right so carry on with tr stitches to complete the 6tr stitches in the same stitch. Now remove your hook from the loop and insert it in between the chain 1 space at the start of the stitch.

Now place the loop from the last tr stitch you worked over your hook and pull it through. This completes your first raised popcorn (rp) stitch.

Ok so now you are going to work 5dc stitches. You can see in the photo below where I have started the first if these 5dc stitches.

And now you are ready to start your next rp stitch. So *chain 1, work 1rp stitch then 5dc stitches. *

Repeat ** till you have completed the row. (After the last rp, work 5dc stitches as normal.) (238)

5 – Now turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc into the same stitch. Then work 1dc in each stitch in the row. This is being worked on the wrong side of your blanket. Once you have completed the row, fasten off your yarn and sew in your ends. (238)

And there you have it. Your raised popcorn stitches are complete. Now you may have noticed that our stitch count has jumped! This is because of the raised popcorn stitch being worked lower in the rows, so another stitch was included in the top to keep the structure. Don’t worry as next week we will get the stitch count back down again. I tried it without the extra stitch and it didn’t seem to work as well. Hope all that makes sense. You should end up with 39 lovely raised popcorn stitches in your row.


Thank you once again for reading my blog and having a go at my Year of the Stitches blanket. Hope you have enjoyed this weeks stitch. Please let me know if you are unsure of anything! And don’t forget to share pics!!

Happy hooking.

🌈Xx

 

 

 

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2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 5 Double Treble Stitch

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The Double Treble Stitch 

Hi everyone. It’s been a very sad week for our family. My dear Grannie passed away this week. So sad. Not quite sure how to put it all into words or what to say. I am currently writing this, whilst snuggled under the foot blanket I made for her. Unfortunately, she never got to have the blanket, but it’s now known officially as ‘GG’s blanket’ according to my daughter. (Hmmm, I seem pretty attached to it!)

My dear Gran was 96 years old. She had 2 children, 6 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. What an amazing lady. Family was very important to her. Gran used to keep all our feet warm with her wonderful slipper socks. She was so chuffed when she found out that I was going to carry on making them for everyone. I feel very honoured to do so. She always used to say that there was a little corner for everyone. I was never sure where my corner was, but I definitely think I’ve found it now in PipsRainbow. I definitely feel at home here.

So this week I’d like to dedicate my yarn colour to my very special Grannie. It’s a lovely calm peaceful lilac colour from the King Cole cotton soft range. She loved this colour. I’d say it was second best to the pale blue I used on week 2.

Stitches – 

Chain stitch (ch) – To make a chain stitch, make a slip knot on your hook and then place the yarn over your hook and pull through the loop. Repeat this action to make a row of stitches.

Double Treble Stitch (dtr) – A double treble is quite a tall stitch. So yarn over hook twice, insert hook through the stitch/space and then yarn over hook again. Now pull the yarn through the stitch. There will now be 4 loops on the hook. Now place the yarn over the hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then yarn over the hook again and pull through the next two loops. Haha, now place the yarn over the hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. Phew! It’s a bit of a long process, but a lovely stitch with the height that it gives.

Supplies –

So again you need to choose a double knit yarn of any kind. You roughly need about 30g. Don’t forget your scissors, blunt ended tapestry needle and your 4mm hook.

So here we go …

1 – First of all, join your new yarn by inserting your hook into the first stitch and pulling the new yarn through.

2 – Then chain 4. Now to make your first dtr you need to wrap your yarn over your hook twice.

Then insert your hook through the next stitch, yarn over your hook, then pull back through. This will give you 4 loops on your hook.

Now yarn over your hook and pull it through the first 2 loops. This will give you 3 loops on your hook.

Now yarn over your hook again and pull through 2 loops on your hook. This will leave you with the last 2 loops.

Finally the last stage of the dtr, yarn over your hook and pull through the last 2 loops. This will leave you with 1 loop on your hook, ready to start the next stitch.

So carrying on working 1dtr into each stitch across the row.

And in this last stitch, work a dtr as normal and fasten off and sew in ends as usual with a tapestry needle. Make sure you know which is the right and wrong side. The next row you do will be worked on the wrong side for next weeks stitch. So if you find it difficult to tell. Don’t sew in your ends, till you are about to start next weeks stitch. (201)

And there you have it. One row of double treble stitches. As this is quite a tall stitch, we are only going to only work one row. Feel free to do more, but work an odd number as next weeks stitch, needs to start on the wrong side of the blanket.

Hope you have all enjoyed this weeks stitch. Any queries or questions, just give us a shout.

I dedicate this weeks stitch and yarn to my Grannie. Here’s to you – Gran. I will miss you so very very much. You will always have a special place in my heart.

Forever your granddaughter.

🌈Xx

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