2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 3 Pineapple Stitch

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The Pineapple Stitch 🍍 

Hello all, I hope everyone has survived the rather windy weather this week. Crikey it’s been windy!!! And now it’s snowing too!!! Definitely nights that require a crochet hook in one hand and a cuppa in the other. Blankets and slipper socks are very close to hand at the minute!!

This week, I was lucky enough to be able to go on a school library trip with my daughter. She was so excited that I could come and be part of her special day. My lovely mother-in-law came and babysat the little man for me, so I was off on a trip with my girl!!!! It was so weird walking to school without the pram. My daughter is such a poppet, she pretended to be the pram so I wouldn’t miss him!! Bless her. So anyways, we headed out in a 60 children caterpillar to the local library, where the children listened to stories and then were able to choose one to take home. The excitement on their little faces when using their library cards, was a picture. They were so well behaved.

The stories they choose varied from fairies to monsters, quests to cars. No one child had the same book. I wonder which books were read that very same night? I know ours was – front to back! We love stories in this house. I just love being carried away into a whole other world of fantasy and fiction. I tend to get carried away in the moment when I read. It’s so magical!! The endless possibilities and the unknown endings – just brilliant!! My Dad once told me that books are like your friends – they are always there to keep you company. It’s so true!! (I always keep my books close by.)

Before my children, I used to read quite a lot, but as our house was starting to look like a book shop, my husband bought me a kindle. (I do buy special books in hard copy though!!) My time to read my own books, is a little bit sparse at the minute, but reading a story book to my children happens quite a few times a day. Some of my all time favourite stories are still my cherished children’s books, such as the Faraway Tree and the Naughtiest Girl in School and the one and only – BFG. Oh and of course the incredible Harry Potter!!!! This particular magical world came into my life when I was at university and I can safely say, it’s never left!! I will never forget being in a fitting room with my sister in law, a couple of days before we went on a family holiday. The cubicle next door were discussing the ending to the fifth Harry Potter book, which I was keeping for the flight!!! Oh my – she very kindly asked them to stop as I was currently in the cubicle next door with my hands over my ears – humming!!! Funny!! She was a life saver!!! So yeah, books are such a big part of our lives. I can’t wait to share these legendary books with my children!!! Yey!!

So this week, I would like to dedicate my colour of yarn to the pages of all those special books. It’s a slightly off white colour, which holds all those precious moving words. So my yarn had to be the beautiful Sublime cashmere/merino wool, which is so beautifully soft and one of my mum’s favourite yarns. It’s a very light cream colour, which also goes well with my Gran’s stunning blue colour from last week.

Right so onto the stitch. This week I have chosen a fantastic stitch called the ‘Pineapple Cluster’. It’s such a cool stitch as it’s a little cluster of stitches to make a beautiful little round bump, with a delicate twirl on the top. I really hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. It would be a great stitch to make a baby blanket out of as it give so much texture.

Stitches –

So here’s a bit of a recap on 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.

Pineapple Cluster (Ps) – So *yarn over hook, then insert your hook into the stitch/space, yarn over hook and pull loop through.* Repeat ** 3 more times, then yarn over your hook and pull through the first 8 loops on your hook and then yarn over your hook again and pull through the last 2 loops on your hook. This completes one pineapple cluster.

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.

Supplies – 

Ok, so as this blanket is being made with Double Knit wool, you need your 4mm hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle. Your yarn needs to be of double knit weight, but can be any colour or type you like. You roughly need about 40grams.

Here we go …

1 – Insert your hook into the first space and chain 3.

 

Then work one Pineapple Cluster Stitch into the same space, then chain 1.

For this row you are going to be working your pineapple clusters in the space inbetween the V stitches below.

So to work a pineapple cluster you need to start by *yarn over your hook, then insert your hook into the space, yarn over hook and pull a loop through.* Repeat ** 3 more times.

 

Then yarn over your hook and pull through the first 8 loops on your hook. You should now have two loops on your hook.

For the last bit of the stitch, yarn over your hook again and pull through the last 2 loops on your hook. This completes one pineapple cluster. Then yarn over your hook again and pull through the loop to make 1 chain stitch.

*Then work a pineapple cluster in the next space in between the V stitches and chain 1.* Continue ** across the row until the last space.  In the last space work 1 pineapple cluster and then 1 treble stitch to finish the row.(100 Ps)

2 – Now turn your work and chain 3. Then work a pineapple cluster in the space in between the tr and ps below and chain 1.

*Then work a pineapple cluster into the next space and chain 1.* Continue ** across the row until the last space. Work 1 treble stitch into the last space in between the tr and ps. (100 Ps)

3 – Now turn your work and chain 3.

Then work 1 pineapple cluster into the first space and chain 1.

*Then work a pineapple cluster into the next space and chain 1.* Continue ** across the row  in each space.

Now work 1 treble stitch into the last space inbetween the ps and tr stitch. (100 Ps)

Now fasten off and sew in your ends using your needle. And there you have it. Well thank you for reading my blog and I hope you have enjoyed this weeks instalment on the Year of the Stiches blanket!! Any questions or queries, just shout. Looking forward to sharing next weeks stitch with you. It’s beautiful!!

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

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2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 2 V Stitch

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V Stitch

Well hello. I hope everyone is getting back into the swing of things after all the festivities. Feels like it was ages ago!! This week seems to have flown past in our house. It’s been good fun though. It’s consisted of school runs, washing, swimming, farm trip, play dates, road trip and a rather cheeky night out with the hubby! Thai food, wine and cocktails. What’s not to like!! I’ve even managed quite a lot of crocheting! But the highlight of the week was a trip up north with my wonderful Dad, to give my sister, whose at uni, a rather quick but big squidge and to see my dear Grannie. Grannie is now in a care home and unable to get around which is so sad to see. So I want to dedicate my yarn colour to her this week.

She has always adored a beautiful pale powdery blue colour. I remember in her house, her whole bedroom was this light, subtle blue. It seemed to adorn every corner. She even had many clothes in the colour and no word of a lie, nearly all her nighties were pale blue! Well, why not! My Grannie was a true knitting trooper. I think I have said before that she taught me to knit, but she didn’t crochet. Her sister did, mainly lace work, which, wow, hats off to her! Gutted that I never saw any of her work. But my Gran would knit jumpers, slippers socks, anything really. There was always a big bag of wool by her side and knitting needles were always jumping around on a mission to finish a project. My Grandad was adamant that she could fall asleep and still Knit! I hope I can do that with crocheting – think how much you would get done!!! So yeah, this week my yarn is a pale blue super soft cotton from the wonderful King Cole range. Here’s to you Gran! Happy days and precious memories.

So this week we are going to be adding 3 rows of a lovely stitch called the V Stitch. It’s a beautiful stitch that’s used quite a lot in shawls and blankets as it’s quite decorative, but still simple at the same time. It uses the treble stitch but in a slightly different way.

So a quick recap on 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.

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.

Supplies –

Ok, so as this blanket is being made with Double Knit wool you need your 4mm hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle. Yarn needs to be of double knit weight, but can be any colour or type you like. Roughly 40/50g.

Right so at the minute your blanket looks like this and you have 200 stitches in each row.

1 – So first of all join your new yarn by pulling it through the first stitch with your hook and then chain 3. This acts as your first tr stitch.

Now *miss a stitch and work 2tr into the next stitch.* Repeat ** across the rest of the row until you get to the last 2 stitches. (Don’t forget to see the recap at the top if you are unsure on how to do a treble crochet.)

 

For the last 2 stitches, don’t miss a stitch. So work 2tr then in the next stitch work 1tr in the last stitch. (200)

2 – Now turn your work and chain 3. This acts as you first tr stitch.

Then work 2tr inbetween the 2 treble stitches from the row below to create the V stitch. *Now miss a stitch and as before work 2tr in between the 2 treble stitches below.*Repeat ** all the way across until the last few stitches.

So when you come to the last V, work the 2tr stitches as usual.

Then work 1tr into the last space in the row. (200)

 

3 – 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.

The picture below shows the last 2tr being worked in the row to create the V stitch.

As before, work 1tr into the last space in the row. This completes your 3 rows. (200)

Now fasten off and sew in the ends using your tapestry needle.

Well done. You have completed week two of Year of the Stitches blanket. Hope you enjoyed the stitch – I love this stitch. I have actually made a foot blanket for my Grannie in 3 evenings, with this stitch. It’s so quick to work.

In true Grannie fashion, I have used up all my bits and bobs and double stranded a V Stitch blanket using a 8mm hook. Hopefully it will make its way up to her soon and keep her feet warm.

If you did want to have a go at a V stitch blanket. You need to start off with an even amount of chain stitches of the width you want it to be, say 200 for example. Then add two more on so 202. Remember to do your chain stitches in a bigger hook size, to reduce the risk of that kink we’ve talked about before.

1 – So you have a chain of 202 stitches. Now work 1tr into the 4th chain from the hook. *Then miss a stitch and work 2tr into the next stitch.* Repeat ** till the end of the row. For the last two stitches miss a stitch then work 1 tr into the last stitch, then turn your work. (118)

2 – Firstly chain 3, then miss a stitch and work 2tr inbetween the 2tr stitches below. This creates the V stitch. Now repeat ** across the whole row. As before, for the last stitch work 1tr into the last chain space. (118)

Now repeat row 2 until the blanket is the length you wish. As mine is a foot blanket it’s only about 70cm long and about a metre and a half wide. Now for changing colour, I changed colour randomly on each row. As I was using lots of bits and bobs, I didn’t want to have the worry of running out of yarn. Think it gives it a nice natural effect. But obviously you could change your yarn colour every 3 or 4 rows or even make a blanket in one colour.

Hope you have enjoyed week 2. Can’t wait to see all these wonderful blankets grow. So exciting. As always, if you need any help just give us a shout.

Happy hooking everyone.

🌈Xx

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