Extended Half Treble

Well what do you reckon to this little guy. May I introduce Diego. He was a prize from a competition, run by the wonderful inahurry website owned by my lovely friends. They are a fabulous website which enables you to find great gifts for children and babies, in a hurry. What a brilliant concept. Definitely worth knowing this one. I reckon we’ve all been in that situation when you need something for a little bod in your life and don’t have time to surf the web for hours on end! I know sometimes we have children’s parties that can creep up on us. Well here’s the answer. Welcome to The Busy Parents Club!!

So the reason he is sitting on my blanket, is because my lovely friend asked me to hand embroider the chosen name from the competition winner on his little paw. Rather chuffed with the outcome. Loving the colour combo of Mr Diego, so just had to carry it through to the name tag.

And as a result, I then just had to use this fab colour in this weeks blanket! What do you think? I’m loving it. I reckon the powdery blue works really well with that dark blue and deep red! I wonder if it would be a good colour combo for a boys blanket? Now there’s a thought! Well hope Diego has found his way to his new home and his owner is keeping him safe and happy.

So on to the wonderful world of crocheting. Oooo did everyone have a happy #grannysquareday2018 this week? It crept up on me this year, so it was a quick rummage through the yarn basket and hey presto a rainbow granny square was born. I couldn’t not do a rainbow one now could I!! I used purely Sublime wool, which you all know I just love!! It’s mega soft. It’s currently being used as a rather nice mat on my bedside table for my watch and glasses. Thinking it might just have to stay!!

So once again, another week has passed by of our wonderful 6 week holiday! Can’t quite believe how quick it’s gone!! It seems to have been quite a full week, with one thing or another. But all good. We’ve had some good walks into town, with one trip involving us bumping into 11 people we knew!!! Not bad going for a half an hour town trip!! I only wanted to pick up new school uniform and some toothpaste! Love it!! Wouldn’t have it any other way! I did sneak in a quick trip to the wonderful Melbourne Coffee Bar in Lichfield. They do the most amazing coffee and the lady who runs it is just lovely!! She makes the most amazing turmeric drink! Fab for anyone that suffers with pain – I think she even makes a porridge too! Well she was rather chuffed with my purple reusable cup that gets taken most places with me. So it ended up being famous on her Instagram page!! Yey!!! Happy days!!! Don’t forget to visit if you are next in town!

Love our route into town, we walk past these mega reeds. They are so elegant, with their height and strong colour!! My daughter was fascinated by them. I wonder if you could crochet one! Now that would be a challenge.

This weekend we had a lovely trip to Baddesley Clinton. It’s a beautiful old house surrounded by a moat. The lovely volunteers were ever so nice in there, helping my daughter with her trail. And the gardens are just exceptional!

I had serious rainbow flowers envy!! Look at those colours!!! Just incredible!!

Talking about colours!! So this week I had a peak at all my sock yarn. Couldn’t resist making this little pile of socky yarn loveliness!! I reckon I’ve got enough to keep me going for a while!! Most of these were from one of my fabulous local yarn shops The Knitting Corner – they’ve not only got West Yorkshire Spinners, but Opal and Sirdar. A few of the others are from WoolWarehouse and not forgetting the super wool festival I went to Woolj13 in May! (Can’t wait to go back there again.)

So on to the blanket. Hmm, August seems to be turning into the Half Treble month! So last week we saw the lovely Paired Half Treble stitch. Which was a super textured little stitch and easy to work up. This week I have chosen the Extended Half Treble Stitch. (ExHtr) It’s ever so easy to do, it’s basically your usual Half Treble Stitch with an extra little bit at the beginning. So nothing to worry about. I bet you will whip this up in no time. Hope you like it!

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.

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.

Extended Half Treble (Exhtr) – So to work this stitch, yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook again and pull back through the stitch. (3 loops on your hook) Ok so yarn over your hook and pull through the first loop. Now yarn over your hook again and pull through all 3 loops.

Supplies –

So this week I have chosen a wonderful powdery blue from my all time favourite snuggly soft Sublime range. Oh I just love this wool. It’s an incredible mix of a baby cashmere, merino and silk. It’s a fab ‘go to’ double knit wool, that is just mega to work with. You roughly need about 30g/40g of yarn. Don’t forget your scissors, blunt ended tapestry needle and of course your 4mm crochet hook.

Ok so here we go …

1 – Right then, start by attaching your new yarn on the right side of your blanket and chain 3. (This acts as 1htr.) *Now work 1Exhtr in your first stitch. To do this yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook again and pull back through the stitch. (3 loops on your hook)

Ok so yarn over your hook and pull through the first loop. (3 loops on your hook)

Now yarn over your hook again and pull through all 3 loops.* And that finishes your first Extended Half Treble stitch.

Now continue along the row with 1Exhtr repeating ** across the row.

Finishing with 1Exhtr in thr last stitch. (200)

2 – Ok so row 2. Start by turning your blanket and chaining 3. (This acts as 1htr.) Now work 1Exhtr in the first stitch.

Right so now work 1Exhtr in each stitch across the row, finishing with 1Exhtr in the last stitch. (200)

3 – For the last row, turn your blanket and chain 3. (This acts as 1htr.) Now work 1Exhtr in the first stitch then 1Exhtr in each stitch across the row, finishing with 1Exhtr in the last stitch. (200)

And there you have the Extended Half Treble Stitch. I do think it’s a handy one to know and gives you a different variation on a well known stitch. Hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks instalment of Year of the Stitches.

Happy hooking everyone!

🌈Xx