Week 10 – Half Treble Stitch 

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

For all those mothers out there – I salute you! For all those who are about to be mothers or want to be mothers – I wish you the best of luck. And for those very unfortunate ones who have lost their mothers, I send you so much love and know that you will be holding all your memories close to your hearts today!

Mother’s Day is one of those days where we all seem to be in a world of love and flowers! Our mothers are so terribly precious to us. They come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing is for certain, they all have one thing in common – their love for their children. It is a love that you can’t quite describe. It comes over you like a tonne of bricks in that split moment that you find out that you are going to be a mother. A sudden desire to protect and to love this little person is unimaginable! Each mother and child bond is different and will show their love to each other in different ways.

My own mother is a remarkable lady. She is definitely one of a kind. She is kind and generous and so thoughtful. My dear Mum, I wish she knew how much she means to me. She has always been there for me. And now I feel we share a bond that has grown over the years, oh and a serious love for wool!! Mum came back from her hols the other day. She managed to persuade Dad to take a detour on their route home to the wonderful BlackSheep shop. Apparently it’s an incredible haven of wool, with bundles of yummy yarn all over the place!! I haven’t been yet, but it is definitely on my ‘needs must’ visit list!! It sounds incredible!! She loved showing me her little bundles of yumminess the other day! And I even got a few sneaky individual balls for my blanket! Yey!! Mum, love you always, love you forever!

My mother-in-law is another incredible person. She has known me since I was 16 and means so much to me too. I will never forget when my daughter was little, she gave me a piece of advice that I have endeavoured to follow. She said ‘the right way, isn’t always the easy way’. It is so true! Parenthood is definitely a fun ride with lots of fun along the way. Thank you for all you do. You are so very very special to us!!! Love you always.

We’ve spent the day at Calke Abbey, which is a wonderful National Trust place. It has a super house you can visit and the gardens are particularly great. There are tunnels that you can go through and explore!! The kids love them! There’s even a grotto to make a wish in!! I think my Dad just loved all the old trees!!! Definitely a place to visit if you’re in the area.

My daughter is always a fan of a good old map!! She loves showing us the way to go!! Bless.

So whatever you do today, I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families.

Well hello to the warmer weather too. Goodness it was cold last week, wasn’t it. So pleased to finally have some warmer days. I don’t know if you do, but I can’t crochet if my hands are cold!! It’s all about the layers isn’t it!! This week seems to have flown by!! (I’m sure I say that each week, but it has!!!) I do have a little confession to make. Now I know most of you will understand this, but others may think we were bonkers! I may have sat on a bench, with my lovely crocheting friend outside our local yarn shop – Knittique!!! We were waiting for it to open!! To be fair, it was a nice day, bar being rather chilly! I think the shop owners may have thought we were a bit bonkers!! They have some lovely yarn in their shop and luckily for me, a huge range of sublime merino wool, which as you all know, I love!! Hmm, ok so I also may have gone back the next day too with another crocheting friend!! Haha!!! What am I like!! Let it be noted, I will never say no to a trip to a yarn shop!!

So this week I have chosen a simple but very useful stitch. Some of you will have already used it many times in lots of projects, but as it’s such a great stitch I thought it had to feature in the blanket. Now because last weeks stitch was a shell stitch, it left a curved edge. So we need to use a few different stitches in row 1, to create our straight edge again. Then rows 2 -4 are our new htr (half treble) stitches.

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.

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.

Half treble (htr) – A half treble crochet is basically one less movement than a treble. So yarn over hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Supplies –

So again you need to choose a double knit yarn of any kind. I have chosen a fantastic purple colour from the fantastic sublime range. It’s a bright beautiful colour and is definitely one of my daughter’s and my favourite colours. The colour reminds me of a beautiful flower I found in Cornwall this time last year. It was our first family holiday together as a four, so definitely a holiday I won’t forget. The colour of these flowers were just gorgeous and with the back drop of the sea, was quite a sight!!

You roughly need about 30g. 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 first things first we need to get back to a straight edge on our blanket. So to do this we need to work a few different stitches that have different heights. So start off by joining your new yarn through the chain space and chain 4 stitches. Then work 1dtr into the same stitch. We used this stitch in week 5, but if you are unsure, just check the stitches information above.

Now work 1 tr into the next 2 stitches.

Then work 1htr into the next 5 stitches. A htr is a half treble crochet. It’s basically one less movement than a treble. So yarn over your hook, insert through the stitch, yarn over hook, pull back through stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Ok so now we need to work *1dtr into the chain 1 space. Now work 1tr into the next stitch, then work 1htr into the next 5 stitches, then 1tr into the next stitch. * Repeat ** across the row.

In the last chain space work 1dtr but then also work 1tr into the same space. This will make our stitch count up to 210.

2 – Ok so in this second row we are now going to start the half trebles stitches. So first of all turn your work and chain 2. This will give you the height for a half treble stitch. Now work 1htr in the same stitch. So to do this yarn over hook, insert through sstitch, yarn over hook, pull back through stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Now work 1 htr in each of the stitches across the row. (210)

In the last stitch in the row, work 1htr. (210)

3 – For this row you are going to repeat row 2. So turn your work and chain 2. Then work 1htr in the same stitch. Then work 1htr in each stitch across the row.

It is such a simple, yet versatile stitch. And quick to work as well.

Once you get to the end, work 1htr in the last stitch to complete the row. (210)

4 – And once again you are repeating row 2. So turn your work and chain 2. Then work 1htr in the same stitch. Then work 1htr in each stitch across the row.

So complete the row by working 1tr in the last stitch and fastening off. Don’t forget to sew in your ends. (210)

And voila, your half treble stitch rows are complete. And we have also worked a lovely flat row ready for our next weeks stitch. I hope you have enjoyed this weeks instalment of Year of the Stitches. Any questions, just shout and I will try to help best I can.

Have a lovely rest of your Mother’s day.

Happy hooking!!

🌈Xx