Pique Stitch 

Happy Easter everyone!! Hope the Easter Bunny has visited you all. There’s a serious amount of chocolate being stacked up in this household!! Easter hunts have been going on since Friday. But my daughter seemed to have started the weekend with 4 chocolate eggs already! No idea how she managed that! I think she’s going to need to share all those yumminesses!!

My two did find these feathered friends in between the chocolate this morning. There names are Henry and Penny. I made them with a mix of the super sublime and Toft wool, following the fab Toft pattern. They were found chilling together by the window.

I love how Easter has become such a family affair. All over the country, families are getting together for roast dinners and egg hunts. It’s just wonderful. I know some people boohoo all these celebrations and how commercial they are getting. But do you know what, why not, if it brings families together!

I managed to hold out till Friday to start this beauty. Quite proud of myself that I didn’t cave. I’m really chuffed with how it’s coming along. I think it’s going to be a lovely shawl, but one that you can wear as a scarf. I am seriously loving the yarn from Beregere de France. It’s merino wool and is just stunning!

So this week I have blocked my blanket, as I felt like it was getting a bit wibbly wobbly. It’s definitely worth having a go at blocking! All you need is some long glass headed pins and a flat work surface that you can pin them into. I use children’s foam tiles to block mine, but you could just use a large piece of cardboard. Just make sure that it’s clean.

So start of by wetting your blanket in luke warm water. Then layout your blanket flat onto your surface. Smooth it over with your hands, to get rid of any crinkles and then start pinning your blanket out. You want to make sure that where the blanket is curling a bit that you pin it to where you want it to be. I think someone has walked off with one of my tiles!!! I wonder who that could have been!!

Once you are happy with it, you need to leave it over night to set. Once it’s dry you can get crocheting again. Hope you find it easy to do. Why not have a go after this weeks stitch.

Right so onto this weeks blanket. I have chosen a super stitch called a pique stitch. It’s follows the same kind of pattern as a aligned treble cluster. It’s has quite a cool texture which is made up of treble and half treble stitches sitting on top of one another. Hope you enjoy it.

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) – 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.

Double Crochet Decrease (2dctog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)

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.

Pique Stitch (gp) –  Start by placing your yarn over your hook, insert through the stitch, yarn over your hook again and pull through the stitch. Then yarn over your hook again and pull through the first two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and insert back in through the same stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through, then finally yarn over your hook and pull through all 4 loops.

Supplies –

Right so this week I have chosen a wonderful sublime minty coloured yarn. Decided it was a lovely fresh colour for the new beginnings of Easter and Spring. I have used about 30/40g of this DK yarn, but you can use any kind of DK yarn you wish. You will need your 4mm hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle.

Ok so here we go … 

1 – Right so as usual we are working on the right side of the blanket, so all your little cluster & popcorn stitches should be facing you. We are going to decrease the number of stitches in the blanket, as this is quite a full stitch. So firstly attach your yarn by pulling it through the first stitch, then work 1dc into the same stitch. Then work a further 19dc stitches.

Now work 2dctog. (Don’t forget to check above with the stitches information if you’re unsure of how to work a 2dctog.)

Now work *20dc stitches then 2dctog*. Repeat 7 more times across the row, then work the remaining 14 stitches as double crochet stitches. We have now reduced our stitch number from 210 to 203.

(203)

2 – Ok so turn your blanket and chain 3, then work 1htr into the same stitch.

Now it’s time to work a pique stitch which is known as a Gp stitch in the next stitch. *So to work a Gp stitch place your yarn over your hook, insert through the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Then yarn over your hook again and pull through the first two loops, then yarn over your hook and insert back in through the same stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through, then finally yarn over your hook and pull through all 4 loops.*

So repeat this process ** across the whole row. (203)

3 – Right, so turn your blanket and chain 3. Then work 1htr into the same stitch. Now work 1gp into each stitch across the row. In the last stitch work 1htr. (203)

Right so there you have the beautiful pique stitch. I hope you have enjoyed this weeks instalment of Year of the Stitches. Wishing you all a wonderful Easter! Hope you all get to do some crocheting with a yummy piece of chocolate in one hand and your crochet hook in the other.

Have a super rest of the Easter festivities everyone.

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx