Year of the Stitches – Week 18 Grannie Stitch

Grannie Stitch

Well hello long weekend!! I definitely feel like we are all ready for this one. Still can’t quite believe it’s May though!! The blossom is out in full force around us. This beauty is on our door step! There’s something about tree blossom isn’t there that just makes you feel so good! Think it’s because it is so uplifting with such colour and new life after the long wintery months.

We are lucky to have another stunning blossom in our back garden. Amazingly, considering how big it is now, survived the trip from our old house a few years ago. The tree is quite happily snuggled up now in our garden. It was given to me by my dear dear Godmother for my 30th birthday. Such a wonderful present, as she knew how much I love my garden and the fact that it blossoms every year on my birthday. She sadly passed away a few years ago. So terribly sad. Such a wonderful lady.

She made the most incredible chocolate cake. It was kept in a large Tupperware box under the counter in the kitchen. Soon as you walked in the door you would check if the box was full or not and if it was, you were in for a treat!! It was always washed down with a glass of milk!! So in true PipsRainbow style, here’s one I made in tribute to my dear Godmother Sue!!

Don’t you just love this time of year!! I think the best time is in the evenings when you’re walking home. Everyone is relaxed and happy!! The sun is still out and the birds are chirping!! Roll on the summer!!

So I hope everyone’s blanket is going well. Mine seems be being used as a bandage here!! It definitely gets a lot of use in our household and not always as a blanket!!

So last week, I had a little mishap with a ball of wool. It did used to resemble a skein! Hmm! I think I might need my Dad’s help on this one!! He is my wool sorter extraordinaire!!

I did manage to wind some of the wool up into a ball. My poor husband is always on hand with my precious wool winder. See, crocheting is just the best! It brings people together!! Haha! I’m sure my husband would much rather sit and chill of an evening. The one thing I do love about crocheting is how versatile it is and the ability to be able to crochet literally anywhere in the world! I reckon we should start that on instagram! Photos of crocheting in random/interesting places!! Let’s do it! Hashtag #icancrochetanywhere. This photo was taken in a waiting room. It was hiding in my bag, but as soon as I sat down out it came!! I did manage to stop and look around the waiting room, slightly shockingly I was the only one not on my phone! I wonder – is that what the world is coming to? No one looked up until their name was called! No one spoke to anyone! Heyho! I think that’s why I love crocheting so much! #icancr ochetanywhere. Maybe, the more we talk about it and crochet in public, the more people will pick up a hook and go for it!! I wonder if we could have a National Crochet Day! How mega would that be!! Right I think I might be rambling now!! Hmmm ok, on to the blanket!

 

Supplies

Ok, so the colour. This week I’ve decided we had better have a sunshine colour!! It’s been a beautiful weekend for sun, so here’s hoping that it stays!! This is a ball of Sublime yarn that my mother brought me from the wonderful Blacksheep Wool shop. I think I have spoken about it before, but it is on my ‘to go to’ list!!! Mum absolutely loves it there, so totally needs a visit from a little old me!! It’s in Warrington, so not a crazy distance. This one is a lovely rich yellow, it’s almost golden to be honest! Looks mega next to the plum from last week. So as always you need about 30g of double knit yarn, a 4mm crochet hook and a blunt ended tapestry needle. Ooo and don’t forget the scissors.

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.

So this week I have decided to use the one and only Grannie Stitch. Now I know that this will be old news to a lot of you, but some it might not be. It’s such an easy and well known stitch. So I felt it needed to go in! I do have a lot of love for the Grannie stitch, as it was the very first stitch I really knew and used to make my very first crocheted item!! Well, kind of an item – it was a Grannie square coaster, but by golly I was proud of it!!

So without further ado, I give you the Grannie Stitch in all its glory!! Year of the Stitches Week 18 off we go!!

Ok so here we go

1 – Right, so first things first, attach your yarn onto the right side of your blanket. So chain 3 (acts as 1tr), then work 1tr in the same stitch. Now miss 2 stitches and work 3tr in the next stitch. Right so now *miss 2 stitches and work 3tr in the next stitch.* Repeat ** across the row.

When you come to the last 2 stitches in the row, work 2tr and then 1tr in the last stitch. (200)

2 – Right so turn your blanket and chain 3 (This acts as 1tr.) So miss this first stitch and second stitch, then work 3tr inbetween the Grannie stitches below.

Now work *3tr in between the next Grannie stitches below and repeat ** across the row.

Ok so at the end of the row work 3tr in the last space inbetween the Grannie stitches and then work 1 tr in the top of the chain 3 stitch from the row below. (200)

3 – For the final row, turn your blanket and chain 3 (acts as 1tr.) Work 1tr in the same stitch.

Now work 3tr stitches inbetween each of the Grannie stitches in the row below.

Now work the last Grannie stitch, so 3tr stitches inbetween the last Grannie stitch and the chain 3 stitches. (200)

And there you have it! The Grannie Stitch. It just had to be added to the blanket!! Well hope you all enjoy your long weekend and have some lovely calming moments for crocheting!!

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

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Year of the Stitches – Week 16 Pike Stitch

Pike Stitch

Well, what a lovely week. Been rather sad that my little lady has gone back to school, but she has settled back in really well, so that’s good. I’ve had a mega busy week with crocheting. Feel like I have got one hundred and one jobs on the go at the minute and they all seem to be needing to finished very soon!! I seem to have made a serious amount of slipper socks this week. They seem to be coming out of my ears!!

I’ve put the finishing touches on the children’s pattern, so will be posting that soon. Seems funny publishing it with the weather being so nice this week. But I think some of you might want to get ahead with presents and the oncoming Christmas craziness.

All my slipper socks have been made up in the fabulous West Yorkshire Spinners yarn! It’s so lovely to work with and the colour mixes are mega! Look at this one!!

The children’s pattern is for 4 different sizes, so hopefully you will find a size you need. I have borrowed a few children’s feet for drawing around, to work out sizes and scales of patterns, so big thank you to all the little bods! Very much appreciated!! I love making the children’s ones as they are ridiculously quick to make up.

I have also started a new shawl for a present. Really chuffed with how it’s going. Sadly I have had to lay done my own two shawls as this one is needed for the middle of May! Ekk! That birthday is fast approaching, but hopefully I will do it in time. I’m going to use my seaside shawl pattern, so it will be nice to see the finished product in a different yarn and colour. This one is from Araucania and it’s the Botany Lace range it’s extra fine merino wool so I am using a 3.5mm hook. I bought this from the fabulous shop at Curborough called The Knitting Corner. Another little haven of yarn that I like to visit!! They were so helpful when I wasn’t sure what to get for the shawl and what colours! My son had a lovely time babbling to the knit and natter group they have there! Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

As it’s my birthday next week, I managed a sneaky trip to a new shop called Sitting Knitting in Mere Green yesterday. I have been longing to go there ever since I was told about it. My girl and I were dropped off for a quick nip in, while the boys stayed in the car. So I knew I only had a little time, but gosh it was worth it. Wow! They have some beautiful yarns in there and they even dye their own yarn which is incredible. Can’t wait to go back and explore some more. As it was my birthday I bought these three to make another shawl for myself. I know I might not get to make it for a while, but will be lovely to when I do. It’s a mix of mulberry silk, baby alpaca and extra fine merino wool and it’s from the Mirasolperu company, Sulka Legato from Peru. It is a rather luxurious yarn from the Peruvian Highlands. So pretty mega. Can’t wait to get stuck into it. We did end up buying some buttons too, as my daughter has been collecting them since she was about two!!

So onto this weeks stitch. It’s a fab one called the Pike Stitch. It creates quite a loose weave, which would be wonderful for a throw or a blanket.

It uses quite an unusual stitch called the extended double crochet, which basically means that it is going to be taller than the chains from the previous row. I really hope you like it. I can definitely see me using it in a blanket one day.

Supplies

Right so this week I have chosen a wonderful dusty pink yarn. This time of year the trees are usually full of the beautiful pink and white blossom. Today I walked back home and found our beautiful tree in front of the house covered in little pink buds!! Yey!! Here comes spring. Can’t wait to see it in full bloom.

The yarn is from the wonderful Wendy range of 100% merino wool bought from our lovely local wool shop, Knitique. It’s a lovely little shop in Tudor row. They have the full range in there. I used this wool for my husband’s scarf that I made for him for Christmas. It’s ever so warm and soft. They also have my all time favourite yarn, Sublime, with every colour you can imagine! So it’s always a firm favourite place to visit when i’m in town. So as usual I have used about 30g of this DK yarn, but you can use any kind of DK yarn you wish. You will need your 4mm hook, scissors and a 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.

Double Crochet (dc) – Right so insert your hook into your stitch, yarn over your hook and pull back through. (2 loops) Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops on your hook.

Extended Double Crochet (exdc) – Ok so insert you hook through the stitch, wrap your yarn around your hook and pull through the stitch, now yarn around your hook and pull through the first loop only. (2 loops) Now wrap your yarn around your hook and pull it through both the loops. So you now have 1 loop left on your hook.

Ok so here we go …

1 – Ok so we are starting on the right side again. Attach your new yarn and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Then chain 1, miss a stitch and work 1 extended double crochet in the next stitch. (exdc) Ok so to crochet a exdc, insert your hook into the stitch and yarn over hook, pull through (2 loops) then yarn over your hook again and pull through 1 loop (2 loops). Then yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. This completes your first exdc.

Now *chain 1, miss a stitch and work 1 exdc* and repeat ** across the row. (200)

2 – Ok so turn your blanket and chain 1 and work 1exdc into the same stitch. Now chain 1 and miss a (1 exdc & 1ch) stitch.

Ok so now work *1exdc into the next exdc stitch, chain 1 and miss 1 chain.* Repeat ** to the end of your row ending with 1exdc second chain 3. (200)

3 – So you are going to repeat row 2. So turn your blanket and chain 1 and work 1exdc into the same stitch. Now chain 1 and miss a (1 exdc & 1ch) stitch. Ok so now work *1exdc into the next exdc stitch, chain 1 and miss 1 chain.* Repeat ** to the end of your row ending with 1exdc second chain 3. (200)

4 – And once again you are going to repeat row 2. turn your blanket and chain 1 and work 1exdc into the same stitch. Now chain 1 and miss a (1 exdc & 1ch) stitch. Ok so now work *1exdc into the next exdc stitch, chain 1 and miss 1 chain.* Repeat ** to the end of your row ending with 1exdc second chain 3. (200)

And there you have it – the pike stitch. It’s a beauty isn’t it! Can’t wait to try it out on a blanket. I reckon it would be lovely in different coloured rows.

I hope you have enjoyed this week Year of the Stitches Instalment. Please let me know if you need any help with anything.

Happy hooking everyone.

🌈Xx

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