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!!