Year of the Stitches Week 38 – Up and Down Stitch

Up and Down Stitch 

Well hello lovelies, how are you all? Hope you have all had good weekends. Ours has been quite a quiet one in the grand scheme of things. We seem to have been under the illness umbrella again this week. We’ve had a serious amount of snot, coughing, ear ache and conjunctivitis this week. So it’s been a bit of a tough week again. Saying that we’ve had a lovely family outing and a wonderful family get together for my sisters’s birthday, so I reckon the  name for this weeks stitch is rather apt – the Up and Down stitch. A week of Ups and Downs!!

One thing I did love doing was publishing my little Conky the Conker pattern. Rather chuffed with him. I’ve already had an order off someone for him.

We had a lovely trip to the SeaLife Centre this weekend. My son hasn’t been before, so his eyes were on stalks! Guessing it’s a bit of a sensory overload in there as there’s so much to see, smell and hear. He loved it! Think the penguins were his favourite – they came up so close to the glass to see him. He was just mesmerised.

Loving the clown fish tunnel too. This was at the start, so he kept on trying to run back to it! Think we will definitely be going back there.

So it was my sister’s birthday party this weekend too. Now when there’s a party, there is always cake!! Well you can’t have a party and make a wish without a cake now can you! So this year I made my sister, my favourite Chocolate Malteser cake from the wonderful Mary Berry. She is just the creme de la creme of all bakers – the Queen of bakers if you like. I can safely say I haven’t made one of her recipes that hasn’t worked!

And no birthday would be complete without a crocheted pressie. So here’s my second V stitch Grannie Blanket for my lovely sister. She’s back to university this week, so hoping this little blanket will come in handy. I’ve made it up with all sorts of bits and bobs from my Grannie’s and Nanna’s wool stashes and even my Mum is going to add some rows, so it really is a family affair. If you fancy making one for yourself, the free pattern can be found in the pattern page.

Awww – a pair of Grannie Blankets. I wonder what my Gran would have made of them.

Right then, onto this weeks blanket stitch. So I have chosen the Up and Down stitch. Hee hee – Now is it me or is that a cool name for a stitch! I mean who thought of that! I reckon the stitch namer was having a bad day that day!! Poor stitch, you think of some of the other names – Pique, Wattle, Iris, Offset Filet Stitch and this one is called the Up and Down Stitch!!!! Love it!! Jokes aside the reason it’s called this is because it literally goes up and down – Up with the trebles and Down with the doubles! Funny. So it’s ever so simple this week. And it’s a good one to know, as it’s quite a tight stitch, but does have this very delicate subtle texture.

Supplies

This week I have used a rather deep purple colour from the Wendy mention wool range. It’s a lovely range, I made my husband’s scarf last year in this. It is quite a deep colour though. Hoping you can make out some of the pictures, as think with the dark colour, it doesn’t show the texture and pattern as well. Definitely something to remember when you are choosing your colours with certain stitches. So you will need about 30g of DK yarn and don’t forget the 4mm hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle to sew all the ends in.

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.

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.

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 – So first things first, we need to make a nice straight edge for our Up and Down stitch. So, attach your new yarn into the first stitch on the wrong side of your blanket. Now chain 3 and work 1htr in the first stitch.

Now work 1htr in the next 2 stitches. Then work 1dc in the next stitch. (You are working your way up the one side of the little point from the previous row.)

Now miss the 2chsp (The 2chsp is where the arrow is pointing in the previous photo.) Then work 1dc in the next stitch and then 1htr. You have now worked your way over the first little point from the previous row.

*Now work 1htr, 1dc, miss 2chsp, 1dc then 1htr* then repeat this process ** across the row.

In the last stitch work 2htr. You now have a nice flat edge for this weeks stitch. (200)

2 – Right then, so let’s get started with the Up and Down stitch. So once you have turned your blanket, chain 3. Then work 1tr in the first stitch. Ok so work 1dc in the next stitch.

*So now work 1tr, then 1dc in the next stitch.*

Repeat this ** across the row.

In the last stitch work 1dc. (200)

3 – Right then, so turn your blanket and chain 3. Now work 1tr in the first stitch.

Then *1dc in the next stitch and then 1tr.* Repeat this ** across the row. So you are basically working them alternatively. So if the stitch below is a double then you should be working a Treble. So if you forget where you are, you can work it out that way

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

 

4 – So basically we are now repeating row 3. So turn your blanket and chain 3. Now work 1tr in the same stitch.

Now work *1dc then 1tr.* Repeat this ** across the rest of the row.

Work 1dc in the last stitch. (200)

I hope you have all enjoyed this weeks Year of the Stitches Instalment. It’s definitely an up and down kind of a stitch!!! Funny.

Hope you all have good weeks and looking forward to introducing next weeks stitch to you.

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

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V Stitch Foot Blanket

Grannie’s V Stitch Foot Blanket

Well hello Monday goers. Here we are again at the start of a new week. Thought I would bring you some yummy yarny crocheting in the form of this lovely foot blanket. It’s one of my favourite little blankets that I made in the winter and as you can see it’s a firm favourite in our family. It finds itself living in different places in the house, but seems to like living here in between a very old carriage blanket and my Year of the Stitches Blanket.

When I designed this blanket, I had a few specific ideas in my head. I wanted it to be warm, but not too heavy. I also knew it needed to have the lovely fluid drape that a blanket can give, as I knew it would be placed over a bed or someone’s feet or lap. Thus why I used quite large hooks for the tasks and choose the magnificent, yet oh so simple V stitch. My first of these blankets was for my dear Grannie. She was in a care home at the time and her feet were getting cold. She had spent her life keeping our feet warm with knitted slipper socks, so it was about time we kept her feet nice and toasty. I visited her with my Dad and started the blanket that evening. It took me 3 evenings, so it’s ever so quick to make up. Unfortunately she passed away the next day, so I never got to give it to her. But it is now known in our house hold as the GG Blanket. So that’s nice. It even gets lent out to family members aka my sister, for camping trips or snuggle needing events!!

Supplies –

Now you can choose to make this blanket in either Aran weighted wool or 2 double knit wools worked together. I love using up all my different odds and ends and mixing lots of yarns, so I choose to use 2 double knit yarns. My Gran did this a lot. She even used to undo unwanted jumpers and reuse the wool for other projects, so I think she would have approved of this one. Just remember when you are using multistrands of wool, all you need to do is work with them as if they are 1 ball of wool. It’s ever so easy, so nothing to worry about. Here’s a little snuggle pod I was making with 3 balls of wool!

So mine weighs about 600g and I have used the 2 strands of double knit wool method. So probably looking at about 12 balls of dk yarn, as they are usually in 50g balls. If you are using Aran, then you will need roughly about 7-8 balls of wool. Obviously it depends on your tension and how big or small you fancy making it. You will also need a 7mm and an 8mm crochet hook, scissors and a blunt ended tapestry needle.

Level – Easy

Blanket Size – 53inches wide and 23inches tall.

Stitches – 

Slip knot – Firstly fold over the yarn to make a loop. Insert your hook through the loop and grab the working yarn (long piece) and pull through the loop. Hold the tail and the working yarn and pull tight to create a knot.

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.

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.

V Stitch – To make a V stitch, you need to work 2 Treble crochet stitches inbetween the two trebles stitches in the row below.

Ok so here we go … 

1 – To start the blanket you need to chain 120 stitches. Now remember when you are starting a blanket off, always use a hook size 1 whole size bigger for the chain stitches. So we are using a 7mm hook for this blanket, so work your chain stitches with an 8mm hook. Otherwise you will get a delightful curve on your blanket before you have even started. It helps you to have a nice straight edge to your blanket. So first things first make your slip knot.

Then work your 120 chain stitches.

Now that you have chained all of your stitches, change back to your normal crochet hook which is a 7mm hook. (120)

2 – Right so turn your blanket and chain 3. This will give you the height for your V stitch. Now in the 5th chain from the hook work 2tr stitches. (Don’t forget there is a recap at the top if you have forgotten how to work a Treble Stitch.) So you are working into the 5th chain from the hook – because 3 stitches are acting as your first tr stitch and one stitch you are missing.

Now *miss a chain stitch and work 2tr into the next stitch.* Repeat ** across the rest of the row.

Now work 1tr Stitch in the last chain stitch in the row. (120)

3 – Now turn your work and chain 3. This acts as your first tr stitch. Now you are going to work your V stitch inbetween the 2 treble stitches from the row below. This is where the arrow is pointing.

To work your V stitch, work your 2 trebles stitches here.

*Now miss a stitch and as before work 2tr inbetween the 2 treble stitches below.*Repeat ** all the way across the row.

So when you come to the last V, work the 2tr stitches as usual. Now work 1tr in then top of the chain 3 stitches from the row below. (120)

This completes your row. (120)

4 – Now turn your work and chain 3. This acts as your first tr stitch. Then *work 2tr inbetween the V stitch below (Inbetween the 2 tr stitches)*.

Repeat ** across the row. Now if like me you are using up lots of odds and ends of yarn, at some point in each row, balls of wool will run out. So I have created this blanket with colour changes randomly. Obviously you don’t have to change mid row, you can always change at the ends of the row or not at all. Up to you! But if you do then here’s how. So start your first tr in the next V stitch by yarn over hook, insert into your stitch, yarn over your hook then pull back through. So at this point, you are going to use your new yarn. So place the new yarn over your hook.

Now finish the tr stitch as usual, so pull the new yarn through the first 2 loops.

Then yarn over your hook and pull through the last 2 loops. Now work another 1tr in the same place to finish the V stitch.

Now carry on working V stitches as usual. At the end of the row, work 1tr in the top of the chain 3 stitches. (120)

5 – Now turn your work and chain 3. This acts as your first tr stitch. Then *work 2tr inbetween the V stitch below. (Inbetween the 2 tr stitches.)*

At the end of the row work 1tr in the top of the chain 3 stitches. (120)

6 – Now repeat row 5 until you are happy with the height of your blanket. For my foot blanket, I have worked 42 rows, but feel free to do as many or as little as you like. Once you have finished, fasten off and sew in all of those rascally ends.

Look at all those lovely V stitches. Love the colour change in this one.

You can see here the size of the 42 rows. It will fit easily at the end of a single bed or just as a simple lap blanket that lives on the back of the sofa.

So there you have the wonderful V Stitch Foot Blanket. Really hope you like this one. Great for a really quick blanket to make for someone. Might be nice for a Christmas present for someone or even a big bod off to Uni. Would be great to go at the end of a single bed too!!

Well, happy hooking everyone.

🌈Xx

(Free Crocheted Pattern brought to you by PipsRainbow.)

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