Friday, April 28, 2006

Spiral Stitch

Hi Everyone,

I'm all packed and ready to leave for my trip to England to attend "EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED".  This  very exciting crochet event, being organized by Pauline Turner of Morcambe, England, is sure to be lots of fun.  I am sure that I will have lots to tell about this fiber journey when I return. I will not be posting while I am away, so I thought that I would give you another technique to play with.  This is called a spiral.  The sample above is made in all double crochet, but once the technique is mastered, you can add popcorns, puff stitches or even bullions to give your spiral lots of texture.  I am sure that you will come up with some ideas of your own.  Besides being lots of fun, Spirals are great for making hats, pillows and bags.  I also use them to add interest to my free form crochet projects.

The instructions are below.

The Spiral is basically worked as a circle, increasing every round, always having one

stitch more between increases each round, and changing colors as you work:

 

To Begin, make a loop with the first color and work 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1dc into the loop,

 

drop color 1, drawing up the loop so as not to lose it,   join 2nd color (in the same loop), work sc, hdc, dc

 

with 2nd color, drop color 2, drawing up loop so as not to lose it, con’t this with a 3rd

 

and then 4th col, always working in the same beg loop.  Tighten original loop so you now have a circle with 4 segments,

 

each in a different color (3 sts each color, 12 sts in all). Place a long , different

 

colored thread in your work to carry as a marker for beginning of rounds.  This

 

marker indicates beginning of round, not beg of color.   Continuing with the 4th

 

color work 2 dc into each st in color 1( this is first inc row), Leave color 4 and pick

 

up the loop of color 1 and work 2 dc into each st in color 2.  Leave color 2, pick up

 

color 3 and work 2 dc into each st in color 2 etc.  Carry on working with each color,

 

until you reach the next color. You will be inc 12 sts each round, having 1 more st

 

between inc each time.    Work till desired size is reached.   At this point you can end

 

off  the segments by working a hdc,, sc, slip st.   Or you can leave the uneven edges

 

to be worked into your free form piece.

 

 

Have fun,

 

Margaret

 

 

No comments: