Surface Crochet, Part Five - Cut Outs and Add Ins

Unbelievably I am still continuing the Surface Crochet theme! (and there's still at least one more area to cover after this.) This week I really am taking a leap into the unknown. I have just a few lines in a book on this technique and absolutely no idea what results we'll end up with. The instructions I have are for working on net so let's just start there and see where we finish!

 I am suppose to start by outlining my 'shape' in Surface Chain stitch. I discovered that cutting out my shape in paper and sticking it to the net with double sided tape made things much easier!

Now I remove the net from inside the shape. (Voice of Experience: Don't cut too close or your stitches will fall out!)

The next stage is to cover the chain stitches with Surface Double Crochet Spike stitches. It occurs to me that there are two ways that we might do this.

From the Outside to the Inside,

or from the Inside to the Outside!

So from the inside out, bring your loop up inside,

then grab a loop from the outside,

pull it back to the inside, grab another loop,

and pull it through the first two loops on the hook.

repeat around!

From the outside in, bring your loop up on the outside,

grab a loop from the inside,

drag it back to the outside and grab your third loop.

So that is the 'Cut Out'. Doesn't it remind you of the buttonhole and blanket stitch that is made in embroidery? So I thought perhaps I could make a very large button hole this way into a base of double crochet stitches. (SC-USA)

Now for the 'Add Ins' part. There are two ways (I can think of) to do this! The first is simply to work more crochet stitches inside our chain-stitch-outline. 

A bit like I did in this earlier example.

 

Alternately you add in a piece of fabric.

You might have seen pieces of mirror added to fabric with a very similar embroidery technique.

At first glance this sounds like a technique you can only use on net and canvas, but with a little imagination I don't see why we can't use it on a crochet base.

Well that's my offering for this week. I hope you've been having a go yourself and that I've been encouraging you to experiment. The next post will look at some surface crochet techniques that have traditionally been used in rug making. Till then Have Fun!

Surface Crochet, Part Four - Double Crochet Stitches

I've got two different stitches to show you today. Surface Double Crochet (Sc-USA) which adds height, and Surface Double crochet Spike Stitch. I'm so excited about their possibilities that I may have got a bit carried away experimenting!

Surface Double Crochet

Once again my instructions will make more sense if you work upwards in this order.

Pull up your starting loop at 'Position 1', then reinsert the hook and pull up another loop ('Position 2'). This is one of those times that another pair of hands would come in handy! You might find it helpful if you hang on to the tail.

Insert the hook in the next hole, 'Position 3', and pull up a loop, pull through the two loops on the hook. This is the first Double Crochet Stitch.

Reinsert the hook in the same hole, 'Position 4', and pull up a loop.

Insert the hook in the next hole, 'Position 5', and pull up a loop, pull through the two loops on the hook. This is the second Double Crochet Stitch.

 Continue in this way!
I hope you can see from the example below the difference in height between the surface Chain Stitches in red and the surface Double Crochet in green. I've used the same sized yarn and hook.

Surface Double Crochet Spike Stitch

I have found this called 'extended surface double crochet' in just one book. So I feel quite justified in naming it myself; spike stitch seems to make sense to me!

 This is the stitch order.

Pull up your first loop at 'Position 1' and the second at 'Position 2'. 

Drag/stretch that second loop over to 'Position 3', and pull up a third loop.

Pull that third loop through the two loops already on the hook. That's your first stitch made.
 

There are many of ways to vary this stitch.
The first examples are of different widths. I even tryed varying the angle of the spike in the purple one.

Here they are laid out in stripes.

 

Then I tryed them laying them 'back to back'. That's the navy example. For the light blue sample I worked a line of surface double crochet down the middle.

 That got me thinking about how I could combine surface double crochet with the spike stitches. Admittedly it's quite hard to see in the photo, but the top sample has a row of double crochet on the bottom. The lower one has a row of chain stitches on the bottom.

Now I tried 'dove-tailing' them together. I alternated long and short spikes so that they fit together like jigsaw pieces or perhaps a zip. The zip idea got me thinking so I ran some zigzag chain stitches down the middle of the green sample. Otherwise it's exactly the same as the pink/blue version.

I could have carried on but I thought I'd leave you to do some experiments of your own!

My next post on this subject will be a little bit different to the others. I'm not even sure what to call it yet. So I hope you will join me to see what it is!!

Surface Crochet, Part Three - Twisted Chain.

 Surface Chain Stitch starts to get interesting in this post! 
I've seen this stitch called Twisted Surface Chain and also Zigzag Surface Chain. It's exactly the same as it's embroidery cousin.

   

My instructions will make more sense if you work upwards, placing your stitches in the order as shown.

Pull up a loop in 'position 1'.

Pull up another loop in 'position 2'.
 

Pull the loop through to make the first stitch.

Now drag the loop over to 'position 3' and pull a loop through to create the next stitch.

 
Repeat this process!

Altering the distances between the stitches and the length of the stitches can create some pleasing effects! (Gosh! I've suddenly started sounding all old fashioned!)

 These examples are all the same except that the distance distance between 'position 1' and 'position 2' has been made wider in the dark blue and narrower in the red.
 
In these examples 'position 1' and 'position 2' are at the same height. 

I love these zigzag stripes.

 

 You get a slightly different finish when working on net rather than canvas.

(You get the same effect when working diagonally on canvas.)

I hope you've enjoyed this post. In the next one I'll be experimenting with Surface Double Crochet Stitches. (SC - USA)

                                            P.S. Happy New Year!!