Crochet Blog – Page 6

Year of the Stitches Week 51 – Waffle Stitch

December 23, 2018 No Comments

Happy Christmas Eve Eve lovely ones!!!! Yey!! Whoop whoop! Sooooo excited!!! It’s nearly here!!! There is some serious excitement going on in our house!! After some seriously late nights, I have managed to finish all the big jobs before I picked my girl up on Thursday. So we started the festive season with some serious Christmassy fun. Yesterday, we baked, painted, made, wrapped and crocheted. That’s some serious craftiness!! My list of ‘to do’ is definitely getting a lot smaller. Think I just need to concentrate on the food now. Still making little crocheted things, but nothing huge. Decided to whip up a little pair of rainbow slipper socks for daughter. They match my pair!!

I also finished my Dad’s hat yesterday, which I am rather chuffed with. I used my Weekend Hat pattern for this one.

So in true PipsRainbow fashion, my daughter, son and I have made our Christmas crackers for this year’s Christmas table. Hoping they will go down well. It’s was such a lovely idea of my daughter’s. They have both added little things within the cracker and she has even personalised them for each person. I bought a kit off amazon, as she was desperate for the proper cracker sound, but guessing you could make them with card without the crack bit. So my crochet hook has been going again ten to the dozen, as she thought we could make treats and pop them in a little christmas stocking for each person! Ekk!! Nearly finished them. Here’s one of them. Think I had better get a wiggle one with these!!!

We made these holly chocolate shortbread biscuits to pop inside. Some have been eaten though!!

I’ve even colour personalised each stocking for each person. I wonder what they will make of them. Wish we’d thought of this a little earlier, but what’s a Christmas without a last minute rush on the crochet hook!!!! Here’s my to do pile!!

Right we had better get onto the blanket and this weeks stitch. Now I know I say it most weeks, but this one is mega and oh so simple!! It’s rather fancy!! It’s called the waffle stitch and it’s a combination of 2 linked extended double crochet stitches and a chain stitch. Now we’ve seen the extended double crochet stitch before, so this is only a little bit different.

Stitches –

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

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.

2 Linked Extended Double Crochet ( 2 linked exdc) – Insert your hook in the first stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through the stitch. Then insert your hook into the next stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. (3 loops) Now yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then yarn over your hook and pull through the last 2 loops.

Supplies –

Well it just had to be red didn’t it this week. And this one is definitely a Christmassy red!!! Reminds me of red berries and mulled wine. This one is from the wonderful Extra Fine Merino range from Sublime and it is oh so soft!! You will need about 30g of double knit yarn and then a 4mm crochet hook, some scissors and a blunt ended tapestry needle to sew in your ends.

Ok so let’s go …

1 – Right then so start by attaching your yarn into the right side of your blanket and chain 2.

Now work a 2 linked extended double crochet in that first and second stitch. So to do this insert your hook into the first stitch, yarn over and pull through.

Then insert you hook into the second stitch, yarn over and pull through. You will now have 3 loops on your hook.

Then yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops.

Then yarn over and pull through the last 2 loops. This completes the 2 linked exdc. Now chain 1.

Now *work a 2 linked exdc over the next 2 stitches and chain 1.*

Repeat this ** across the row.

At the end of the row work a 2 linked extended double crochet in the last 2 stitches and then instead of working 1 chain, work 1dc in the last stitch. (200)

2 – Right then turn your blanket and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 2 linked exdc in the next stitch and ch1sp. Then chain 1.

*Now work the next 2 linked exdc. Insert your hook into the middle of the exdc stitch from the row below (where the arrow is pointing.)

Yarn over your hook and then insert your hook into the ch1sp, yarn over and pull through. (3 loops)

To finish the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops and then yarn over your hook and pull through the last 2 loops. Then finish by chaining 1.*

Repeat this ** across the row.

At the end of the row, work the last 2 linked exdc stitch and chain 1, leaving 1 stitch. And then in the last stitch work 1dc stitch. (200)

3 – So in this last row, chain 1. Now work your first 2 linked exdc stitch in first stitch and ch1sp. Then chain 1.

*Now work 2 linked exdc in the middle of the next exdc stitch from the row below and the next ch1sp. And then chain 1.*

Repeat this ** across the row.

At the end of the row, work the last 2 linked exdc stitch in the last 2 stitches and then work 1dc in the last stitch as well. Then fasten off and sew in your ends. (200)

And there we have the magnificent Waffle Stitch. Really hope you have enjoyed week 51 of my Year of the Stitches CAL. One week to go!!! Will be quite sad to see the back of this CAL. It has been so much fun to create and share with you.

Well Merry Christmas everyone!! Wishing you all a wonderful day filled with love, happiness, excitement, fun, laughter and above all, wool!!!

🎄 🧶

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

Year of the Stitches Week 50 – Grit Stitches

December 16, 2018 No Comments

Grit Stitch

Well hello my lovely lovely ones!! How are we all? Anyone getting excited yet? We are in our house!! We’ve kicked off the Christmas season with a spot of pantomime, Father Christmas visiting and Catherdral Carol Services this weekend. It’s been rather busy, but lovely to end it all with a special Christmas service in the cathedral, that my daughter was singing in. It’s such an incredible place, Lichfield Catherdral. Someone was saying they have over 52 services in the month of December leading up to Christmas!! At the minute there are 20,000 peace doves being suspended from the ceiling. All made by local school children. I wonder which one is my daughter’s? Just an incredible view!!

So in our very busy Christmas weekend, we have even managed kitchen Christmas singing and dancing and even snowflake making!! Oh and not forgetting the traditional festivey chocolate and almond biscotti making!! Phew!! It’s all good fun isn’t it! Can’t beat it. Family time and togetherness!! That’s really what Christmas is all about.

The panto this year was Dick Whittington and for once I didn’t know the story line. But in true panto fashion the comedy and entertainment did not disappoint. It was brilliant!! There was definitely a few interesting moments where they had gone slightly off the cuff!! You could see some of the actors were trying to stop themselves from laughing! The dame and his beloved son have been a double act for a few years now and they are second to none!! Seriously funny!!! It was definitely a lovely outing for the 3 of us. My son was keeping his grandparents on their toes at home – I don’t think he will be ready to go to the pantomime for a few years yet!! We did have one special little guest with us though. Master Rudolf.

I think he will be in my daughter’s arms for the majority of the festive season. Still love his very large tummy! Bless him – he has definitely eaten too many mince pies!!!

If you are ever in the area at this time of year I would highly recommend the Lichfield Garrick Pantomine. Next year it’s Cinderella.

What do you think to our snowflake attempts? Think she has done rather well. They are ever so easy to make. Think I like the fact that each one is completely different with just a slight change of a scissor snip!! I definitely remember making them as a kid and having the usual problem of cutting too much off and it all falling to the floor!! Funny!!

So every year I try to make some form of Christmassy yumminess for the family. It’s usually biscotti or red onion marmalade/chutney. The biscotti usually wins, because it doesn’t honk the house out like the chutney does. I covered this year’s biscotti with almond icing and chocolate. So hopefully they will be well received. Yum.

So onto crocheting projects. My crochet hook has not stopped this week. It has been rather bonkers!! Just trying to get all the Christmas presents finished ready to be delivered. A few have already gone out the door, so that’s good. Just a few big ones to do. My main aim to finish my husband’s pressies. Every year I rush around finishing everyone else’s presents and the one person that means so so much to me, gets left to the end!! I had to give him half a scarf last year!! Was not my finest moment!!! Not going to do that this year!!! So he is priority!!! It was a nice scarf though.

Last year I made a crocheted Christmas wreath for our door. I used to make a real one, until one year we had a bit of a situation with the door!! All Christmas we could hear this little noise and had no idea what it was. When it was time to take the decorations down, we realised that it was the wreath on the door scrapping all the paint work off!! Ekk!!! And our door isn’t wood anymore, it’s painted plastic, so you can’t repaint it. So to solve the problem a woolly crocheted one has taken its place and each year I’m going to add a little something.

So this year, it had to be a little mouse for my daughter who was a mouse in her nativity. Thought he was rather sweet.

I have made lots of Podge the Puddings and also started making two little Smiles monsters for my daughter’s teachers. I have decided to share my Podge the Pudding pattern with you next year now. I have written a story to go with him, so hopefully that will be something to look forward to next year.

Right then, so we had better get onto the blanket and this weeks stitch. Now I reckon this is one of my favourite stitches. It’s the wonderful grit stitch. It’s beautiful and I can see me using it a lot. It’s ever so each made up of double crochet and treble crochet stitches. So nothing too complicated. I hope you like it.

Supplies –

So this week I have chosen a lovely pale green from the wonderful sublime range. It’s sooo soft and think the paleness of the yarn helps the detail of the stitch to stand out.

Usual rules apply, so you need about 30g of double knit yarn, a 4mm crochet, scissors and a blunt ended tapestry needle.

Stitches –

Chain (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.

Ok so here we go…

1 – Attach your new yarn onto the wrong side of your blanket. Chain 1 and then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc in each stitch across the row. Remember some of the stitches are chain stitches, so work these in their chain spaces. If it is a Picot Stitch work it around the back, so the Picot Stitch sits at the front of the blanket. You can see in the photo how I am working it around the Picot Stitch so that the little blob sits on the right side of your blanket.

At the end of the row work 1dc in the last Stitch. (200)

2 – Turn your work and chain 1 then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1tr in the next stitch. *Now miss a stitch and work 1dc and 1tr in the next stitch.* Now repeat this ** across the row.

At the end of the row, work 1dc in the stitch that you would normally miss and then work 1dc and 1tr Stitch in the last stitch in the row. (200)

3 – Turn your blanket and chain 1, then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now miss a stitch and work 1dc and 1tr in the next stitch.

*Now miss a stitch and work 1dc and 1tr in the next stitch.* Repeat this ** across the row. At the end of the row, miss the usual stitch and work 1dc in the last stitch. (200)