sc edging

The project we're working on has an (sc1, ch2) edging on one edge of a terrycloth dishtowel. And, we'll finish by working an edging around the part we just crocheted.

But before we work on that, let's look at a knit blanket with a single crochet edging.

To make it easier to add a crocheted edging, I used a chain stitch selvage when knitting. -- I.e., knit the last stitch of every row and slip the first stitch of every row purlwise with yarn in front -- on both right and wrong side rows.

To make the single crochet edging:
Start with a single loop on the hook, just as you did when starting the edge for the terry towel dish towel. I used a size 10 needle for the knitting part and a size H crochet hook for the crochet part. (Though .... a size J crochet hook might have been more appropriate since a J hook is the same size around as a size 10 knitting needle -- both 6mm.)

Make a single crochet into each (double) loop of the chain stitch selvage and a single crochet into the bottom/top of each stitch from the cast on/bind off edge.

To turn a corner and make it lay flat, single crochet 3 times in the same place. The first picture shows a corner with the extra stitches and also a sc in the process of being created later in the round.

When you get back to the first stitch worked, you need a way to join the edge together. The answer is the slip stitch. (The slip stitch can also be used as an invisible stitch.)

Most stitches are worked by slipping the hook under both loops at the top of a stitch (unless you want a ribbed effect). For a slip stitch (sl st), place the hook under the back loop only as in the pic. Yarn over. Then draw the yarn through both loops. NexStitch has a video of the stitch plus other uses for the slip stitch.

In England, the slip stitch is sometimes called a single crochet stitch.

Finish off the piece essentially as you would a piece of knitting or crocheting. Elongate the last loop and snip the loop in half. Then weave the loose end in. NexStitch has a video on weaving in ends. I dislike needles and so use a crochet hook to pull the yarn through.

If this were crocheted back and forth, I would do exactly as the video shows (except for using a hook instead of a needle). Since this is crocheted in the round, I wove the yarn under the first few stitches of the round instead of the last few.

Here is the finished piece, not yet blocked. The slip stitch join is in the upper right hand corner. The bottom of the picture shows what the wrong side of a single crochet stitch looks like.

Finally, here is an excerpt from the American Thread Company booklet describing the slip stitch.

a buttonhole

A horizontal crocheted buttonhole is generally made in a row of sc's simply because sc's have a little height but not much. And so, the buttonhole would have a little height but not much. The bottom of the buttonhole is the top of the last row. (Skip as many sts as the buttonhole is wide.) It doesn't have to be a row of sc's as it is here. It could be a mesh or a row of dc's or ....

The top of the buttonhole is made with ch sts.

Here's what the mesh from last week looks like -- unstretched and unblocked. I ended up with 15 sts across. My button is just over 5 sts in width. Then, for this go-around, this is what I did next:

Turn, ch2, sc across.
Turn, ch1, sc4 (I did ch 1 instead of ch 2 to give the edge a more rounded look - a decrease at the beginning of the row as discussed in the previous post. I'm going to end the row with another decrease, sc2tog, to give the other corner a rounded look as well.)

The next question is how many ch sts to make to create a buttonhole.

The general answer is "however many sts skipped". However, at least for me, ch sts stretch more than sc sts. The second picture shows this.



For the third picture, I did 1 fewer ch st than I skipped in the previous row.





And here's the final picture.

The final row is:

Turn, ch 1, sc 4, ch 4, skip 5, sc 4, sc2tog.



However, I want the top narrower. So I frogged the buttonhole row and the sc row before that and worked another mesh row (to take the st count down to 9 from 15.):

Turn, ch2, skip 1, *skip 1, dc, ch1* across, ending with skip 1, double crochet together next st with the third st after that.

(The last step in the dc2tog is shown in the pic.)

Then, the final two rows are
Turn, ch 2, sc across
Turn, ch 1, sc 1, ch 4, skip 5, sc2tog.

After finishing the buttonhole row, it's time to cut the thread and weave in loose ends. NexStitch has a video illustrating this. (I use a crochet hook instead of a needle to draw the yarn or thread under the tops of stitches or through their posts.)

The next step is an edging, to give it a more finished look. The next post is on edging, in general, and also the slip stitch.

Decreasing, Increasing, and Cluster Stitches

To make a more rounded top to the kitchen towel hanger, we'll do some decreasing at the beginning and end of a row.

The previous decreases in the kitchen towel hanger pattern were spaced out across the row. They were the easiest type of decrease -- skip a stitch or two before working the next st -- perfect for a mesh. The effect was more like "gathering" in sewing. The decreases for the next part of the pattern are more solid.

Rather than discuss button holes and decreasing in the same post, I decided to create a separate post on decreasing -- and, while I'm at it, on increasing and also the cluster stitch.

Increasing is easy to do in crocheting. One doesn't have to worry about which way the increase will lean (as one does in knitting). All one needs to do is crochet (single crochet or double crochet or ...) two or more times into the same stitch.

Increasing at the beginning of a row is a little more tricky. When working a dc row, one often starts out the row by doing a ch 3 to substitute for the first dc of the row. (The first 2 chains of the ch 3 serve as the body or post of the st. The last chain serves as the top.) To increase at the beginning of a dc row: ch 3 then dc in the last st of the previous row (instead of the next to last st). This produces a single increase. For a double increase, ch 3 then dc twice (instead of once) in the last st of the previous row.

Decreasing is a little harder to do. But, again one doesn't have to worry about which way the decrease will lean (as one does in knitting). But, I'm going to talk about cluster sts first.

To make a cluster stitch of 3 triple crochet sts (as in the diagram at the right from a booklet from the American Thread Company), start a triple crochet st but do not do the last step. Two loops remain on the hook. Then start another triple crochet st in the same st but do not do the last step. Three loops remain on the hook. Then start a third triple crochet st in the same st but do not do the last step. Four loops remain on the hook. To complete the st, yo (as in the picture) and pull the yarn through all loops. The stitch is complete, and just one loop remains on the hook. The pattern at the right could be written as:

*cs (3 tr), ch 2, skip 2*, repeat * to *

with cs standing for cluster stitch and 3 tr showing that 3 triple crochet sts are combined to form the cs. (But, there are very few standard abbreviations in crocheting or, for that matter, very little in the way of standard terminology.)

NexStitch calls a st like this a popcorn, bobble, or puff and reserves the term cluster st to one that creates a decrease. (The link is to a video of a cluster st.)

Decreases are made as follows: (This time, I'll use an example of decreasing in double crochet. But, "triple" or "single" could be substituted wherever the word "double" appears in the directions.)
-- To double crochet 2 sts together, start a double crochet st but do not do the last step. Two loops remain on the hook. Then start another double crochet st in the next st but do not do the last step. Three loops remain on the hook (as in the picture). To complete the st, yo and pull the yarn through all loops. The stitch is complete, and just one loop remains on the hook.

Here is a video from NexStitch on decreasing.

Some abbreviations:
sc2tog -- single crochet next 2 sts together
tr2tog -- triple crochet next 2 sts together
dc3tog -- double crochet next 3 sts together.
Directions for dc3tog: Start a double crochet st but do not do the last step. Two loops remain on the hook. Start a double crochet st in the next st but do not do the last step. Three loops remain on the hook. Start a double crochet st in the next st but do not do the last step. Four loops remain on the hook . To complete the st, yo and pull the yarn through all loops. The stitch is complete, and just one loop remains on the hook.

To decrease at the beginning of a dc row, ch 2 (instead of 3), then dc in the next to last st of the previous row. The ch 2 is a substitute for the post of the first dc -- in this substitute for a dc2tog.

Kitchen Towel Hanger, continued

We've now finished the first 3 rows of the kitchen towel hanger:

Row 1: Sc 1 into cloth, *ch 2, sc 1 into cloth* to end.
Row 2: Turn, ch 2, sc 2 in each ch sp across, sc 1.
Row 3. Turn, ch3, dc in next st in previous row, *ch 1, skip 2, dc 1* across, dc 1.

The pattern will, in most likelihood, not work out exactly. So, you can fudge by skipping only 1 st before making the last two dc's of the row or else by ending dc, skip 1, dc.

The ch 2 at the beginning of Row 2 is a substitute for a sc. The ch 3 at the beginning of Row 3 acts as a substitute for a dc. The last st of Row 2 (and also Row 3) is made into the last of the ch sts that started the previous row.

To continue:
Repeat Rows 2-3 until there are somewhere around 10 sts across (between 9 and 15), ending with a Row 3. The picture shows the first repeat of Row 2. The first of 2 sc's is being worked into a ch sp.

Then, we will switch to a different kind of mesh. This mesh doesn't have sc's in alternate rows (which gave the piece the sturdiness needed due to a rapid decrease in width). Instead, each row of the next mesh will have dc's and chain spaces only -- and will keep the same width.

Row 1: Turn, ch 3, *ch 1, skip 1, dc 1* across.
The ch 3 at the beginning of the row serves as a substitute for a dc. The ch 1 creates a ch sp (chain space). So, even though the row starts out with 4 ch sts, it's really a dc substitute plus a ch.
Row 2: Turn, ch3, dc 1, *ch 1, skip 1, dc 1* across, dc 1.
The last dc of the row is made into the last of the 3 ch sts that served as a substitute for a dc in the previous row. The rest of the dc's can either be made into a chain space or into a ch st (whichever, as long as it's consistent). It's much easier to dc into a ch sp than into a ch st.

Repeat these 2 rows for around 5".

For the next step, we'll decrease again -- in preparation for a buttonhole. The next post discusses decreasing, in general terms. The post after that will be on the buttonhole.

Double Crochet

For the next row of the kitchen towel hanger, we'll use double crochet stitches.

The double crochet stitch is about twice the height of a single crochet stitch. (It is called a triple or treble crochet stitch in England and several Commonwealth countries and is then abbreviated tc or 3-c.) In American notation, it is abbreviated dc. The photo at the right is from the American Thread Company booklet and describes the stitch.

In the photo, you can see both the right sides of dc sts (the top row) and the wrong sides (the bottom row).

NexStitch has a video of the stitch. The video shows the dc being made in a chain st (with the hook being put under just one loop of thread). In the pattern we're working on, the dc is made on top of a sc and so (since we want a flat effect instead of a rib effect), put the hook under both loops at the top of the sc in Step 2 below.

The single crochet stitch took 2 steps to complete. The double crochet stitch takes 4 steps. As with most, if not all, crochet sts, one starts with a single loop around the hook -- and ends with a single loop around the hook.

Step 1. Yarn over (yo). That is, wrap the thread around the hook (from the back over the hook to the front). There are 2 loops on the hook.

Step 2. With the yarn in back, put the hook through the top of the desired st (-- or into a chain st, or chain loop, or terry cloth as you did for a single crochet st), yo, and draw the thread through. There are now 3 loops on the hook.

The picture at the right shows the yo in Step 1 and the hook through the top of the stitch that I wanted to dc into. (I skipped 2 sts between dc's because that's what the pattern I'm making calls for.)

Step 3. Yarn over and draw the thread through 2 loops on the hook. There are now 2 loops on the hook.

Step 4. Yarn over and draw the thread through 2 loops. There is now only 1 loop on the hook, and the double crochet is complete.

The picture at the right shows the yo in Step 4. You'll notice that bottom half of the stitch is already made.

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Now to get back to the terry cloth dish towel that we were working on. Row 3 is a row of dc's and ch's -- to give an open mesh effect -- as can be seen in the second and third pics. Here are directions for Row 3:

Row 3. Turn, ch3, dc in next st in previous row, *ch 1, skip 2, dc 1* across, dc in last st.

To explain these steps:
Turn -- Turn the fabric so that now the RS is facing you. We were working on the WS.

Ch 3: Chain 3, as a substitution for a dc.

dc in next st in previous row: Don't dc in the last st of the last row but rather one stitch over. (Sometimes, one just writes dc instead of dc 1.)

*ch 1, skip 2, dc 1* The pattern that is repeated across the row is to first chain 1, the double crochet in the 3rd stitch over from the last stitch crocheted into (to skip 2 sts).

Finally, the pattern will, in most likelihood, not work out exactly. So, you can fudge by skipping only 1 st before making the last two dc's of the row or else by ending dc, skip 1, dc. -- As was the case in the last row, there are fewer sts across than in the previous row.

Single Crochet -- Part 2

In the last installment, we talked about making single crochet stitches with either no foundation row (just a piece of cloth). In this installment, we'll talk about making single crochet stitches in a chain space.

The first row for the kitchen towel hanger has been worked (on the right side/front of the fabric) -- in the previous post. All the sc's were made into the fabric.

Next ch 1 and turn the work. (The ch 1 is a substitute for the first stitch in the next row -- a row of single crochet stitches.) Single crochet twice into each chain space. In the picture, I've already worked 3 chain spaces and am preparing to sc into the next chain space. (The picture shows Step 1 in making the stitch. Step 2 is done just as before.) When I get to the end, I'll single crochet into the top of the last st (which was the first st of the previous row).

Directions for this row are:

Row 2: Turn, ch 1, sc 2 in each ch sp across, sc in last st.

The final picture shows Row 2 worked all the way to the end.

You're probably thinking that you'll end up with fewer stitches than you started out with. And you'd be right. The number of stitches will be decreased by about a third.

If I had wanted to keep the same number of stitches, I would have done one of the following:
Turn, ch 1, *sc 2 in each ch sp, sc in next sc* across
or
Turn, ch 1, sc 3 in each ch sp across
or
Turn, ch 1, sc in each st across
I would have taken the first option. First of all, it's easier to sc into a ch sp than a ch st. Second, it keeps the sts lined up vertically.

Finally, a word about what the top of a stitch looks like. It looks like a chain selvage on the edge of a knitted garment. When the directions say to sc into the next sc, it means to put the hook under the 2 loops on the top of the stitch (as part of Step 1). Then do Step 2 as usual. It really doesn't matter how you crochet the last st of this row, though, since it will be hidden by the edging.

Here (a rippled afghan), is an example of what a crocheted piece looks like when one crochets in the back loops only instead of both loops.

Single Crochet Stitch

Rather than just presenting different crochet sts, I thought it would be good to start off with a project that uses some basic crochet stitches. Our first project, a kitchen towel hanger, uses chain st, single crochet, double crochet, slip st, and picot st.

For this project you'll need some size 10 crochet thread (This project is great for using up left-over thread.), a size B (2.5 mm) hook, and a terrycloth kitchen towel.

To start off, cut the towel in half. We begin the project by working a single crochet stitch into the fabric of the towel (1st picture). Directions for working a single crochet stitch follow:


The single crochet stitch is abbreviated sc in patterns as in sc 2 in next ch sp (single crochet twice in the next chain space) or sc 3 in next st (single crochet 3 times in next st).

A word of warning: This is American terminology. The British term for the same stitch is double crochet (dc).

As with all crochet stitches, one starts with a single loop on the hook. In the picture at the right, I started with a loop created by making a slip stitch knot around the hook (just as one often does in starting a cast on in knitting).

There are 2 steps to making the stitch.

First, with the yarn in back, draw a loop through. In this case, I used the crochet hook to poke a hole through the terrycloth dish towel. Then I wrapped the thread around the hook and pulled the thread through. (Terrycloth is woven loosely and so it is possible to poke holes through it without snagging the fabric.) There are now 2 loops on the hook.

Second, wrap the thread around the hook again (as in the first picture) and then pull the thread through both loops.

The stitch is complete and one is left with one loop on the hook.

To make the edging, I then did 2 chain sts before making the next single crochet. (Directions for making a ch st are in the previous post.) Directions for this row would be written out as:

Row 1: sc 1, *ch 2, sc 1* to end

The second picture show several repeats of the pattern, ending with a chain 2. The chain 2 forms what is called a chain space. This helps space out the single crochet stitches. The row ends with a single crochet.

Next time, we'll talk about how to single crochet into a chain space and also how to crochet into the top of a single crochet stitch.