Category: tutorials and techniques

Selvedge stiches – what are they all about?

What are selvedge stitches?

Selvedge stitches are simply the first and last stitches in any crocheted or knitted row. There can be 1, 2 or 3 selvedge stitches at the beginning and end of a row. In the following, I’m going to assume that the selvedge is a single stitch (just for ease of writing).

Why are these stitches special?

  • If you work a project in pieces that need to be assembled, the selvedge stitch will be your seam allowance. This means that this is an extra stitch that is not part of the stitches needed to, say, work a specific width.
    Check your pattern to see if the selvedge stitches are included in the stitch count – normally they are.
  • A stitch at the very beginning or very end of a row often behaves differently from other stitches.
    • In knitting, this stitch, which has a companion on only one side, is often looser than the other stitches, or simply a bit wonky.
    • In crochet, the first few stitches in a row are very, very often tighter than those that follow.

So, do you need to treat selvedge stitches differently?

In knitting, it depends.

I know knitters who work their selvedge stitches in the main stitch pattern and still get straight edges.

However, most knitters need to give the selvedge stitches a special treatment to avoid their being too loose.

You can decide always to work this stitch as a knit stitch, to make a garter selvedge.

You can systematically slip the first or last stitch in the row, to make a chain selvedge that is a bit tighter.

There are many methods, and often the pattern will suggest how to work the selvedge stitches. Try the suggested method and see what you think! Everyone knits in a very personal way – perhaps the recommendation in the pattern is not what works best for you.

Also, think about how this selvedge will be used: are you going to seam pieces together, pick up stitches or simply leave the edge as it is?

In crochet, you must decide on a selvedge treatment.

When you start a crochet row, the hook needs to be at the height of the first stitch – and you must find a way to get it there!

There are many ways to do this, classic or innovative, simple or complex.

I’ll be back to show you some, of course!

And how do you like to work your selvedges?

Overlay/one-row mosaic crochet tutorials

Does the Rhombique bags look a bit scary technique-wise? Are you unsure about whether you will know how to work the stitch pattern?

I have two tutorials for you – just click to read!

Mosaic crochet in the round: basic principles – Newsletter April 2019
Mosaic crochet in the round/One-row mosaic crochet: reading charts – Newsletter May 2019

Blocking – questions and solutions!

What is blocking?

Blocking is the last step to make your crochet (or knit) project a work of beauty.

When the last stitch has been made, and the yarn fastened or bound off, blocking will give your work its desired shape, will even out your stitches and will reveal the splendour of your lace.

There are different ways to block your work, but in all cases you will:

  • add moisture to your work,
  • give it its shape, and
  • wait for it to dry.

Do I have to block my finished project?

There are no obligations in crochet (or knitting)! Sometimes, you might not want to block your work. If you like it the way it is, you can definitely skip this step.

But very, very often, the result will be so much more satisfying after blocking.

If you make a lace shawl (even with a simple stitch pattern), I do recommend that you block your finished project carefully – it’s only with blocking that your stitches will open up and show their true beauty.

If you make a garment or any other object with pieces to assemble, putting them together will be so much easier and give better results if you block your pieces first.

I am partial to blocking, for sure!

How do I do it?

There are two main ways to add moisture to your work:

  • wet it in water, or
  • steam it.
1) Steam blocking

This is a great method for small pieces!

Pin out your work on a surface that can take moisture, pointy pins and heat (if your work is small enough, your ironing board is a great option).

Hold your steam iron an inch or two over the fabric – do not touch it with the iron! – and use as much steam as possible. Take care not to burn yourself!

Make sure everything has cooled down and dried before removing your pins.

2) Wet blocking

There are many ways to do this. What I describe below is my preferred method.

Let the finished work soak in water for at least 20 minutes, to make sure the yarn is wet to its core.

Be careful: if it’s a project with two or more colours, you must be aware that there is a risk that the colours may bleed, even with a quality yarn. If your yarn is wool, alpaca or another animal fiber, add some vinegar to the water to fix the colours. If it’s cotton, linen or another plant fiber, you can try using salt. Watch the colour of the water carefully to spot any bleeding, and don’t let your work soak too long.

Personally, if I plan on using contrasting colours, I make a small, striped swatch before starting my project, with the colours I want to use. I soak this swatch in a white bowl and leave it to dry on a white towel, to spot any potential bleeding. If there is a problem, I prefer to know it before I start my project so I can adjust my colour choices if needed. Better to know it beforehand than after having completed the entire project!

Once your work is soaked through, take it out of the water with care, pushing it into a rough ball that you can support with your hands, so that it doesn’t stretch out of shape. Press it with your hands without wringing, to remove some of the water.

The next step is to put your work on an absorbant towel, patting it out a bit (without pulling too much), and roll up the towel with your work inside. To remove as much water as possible without wringing, I walk on the towel roll!

When you carefully unroll the towel, your project should still be slightly damp but not soaked – this is perfect for the next step, which is to pin it out.

Stretch it out on an appropriate surface (one that can take humidity and pins). There are specific foam blocking mats, but you can find other things that work. For the past 15 years or so I have used big boards of high-density foam, an insulation material I found in a DIY store.

Little by little, put in your pins, stretching your work as desired. Sometimes, it will be enough to cover your blocking surface with a (not super-soft) terry towel and pat the fabric out with your hands – the slightly uneven surface of the towel is enough to keep everything in place. But often you will need pins or other tools (see below for examples) to be able to stretch out the fabric properly, open up the stitch pattern and keep everything in place.

A tape measure is useful to check measurements and symmetry (if symmetry is required, of course!).

When everything looks good, leave it to dry!

Can’t I just iron the whole thing?

I strongly advise against ironing by putting your iron down on your work – except if you want to smash and flatten out your stitches. If you work with a synthetic fiber, you might melt it with your iron. If it’s a natural material, you risk burning it so that it definitely loses its softness and elasticity.

But of course, there is no rule without exceptions. If you are careful, you can try ironing a linen swatch, or put a small motif in acrylic between two pieces of cotton fabric and iron it (without ever touching the synthetic fiber with your iron) – the result might be a nice surprise!

Tools for blocking

You don’t need any sophisticated tools for blocking (water and pins are enough), but there are things that make the processes quicker and easier!

1) Blocking wires
Click here to see the blocking wires in the shop!

It’s time-consuming and sometimes difficult to pin straight edges, such as the edges of a stole, the sides of a triangular shawl or large squares. Blocking wires can be a great help. You can put them through a straight selvedge or through chain spaces in a border. The blocking wires are held in place with pins (but you will need many fewer of them) or comb blockers (see below).

The wires are not completely rigid, and some are more flexible than others. They can be used for larger rounded shapes.

Click to see the blocking wires in the shop.

2) Comb blockers
Comb blockers in the shop.

Take care not to stab yourself! But comb blockers (often called knit blockers, but they work great for crochet projects, too) are super-helpful when blocking swatches or squares, or to hold blocking wires safely in place.

Each blocker or comb plays the part of several pins in a straight row – they speed up the pinning process a lot when used appropriately.

Click here to see the Knit Pro comb blockers available in the shop.

3) Pins

This is your basic and universal tool to hold your pieces in place when waiting for them to dry. Take care to use only shiny (rust-proof) pins when pinning projects in light colours, to avoid any staining. I am very partial to pins with rounded (pearl) heads, since they are softer on my fingers, and easier to see, so that I’m sure to remove them all before moving my blocked and dry project. This is of highest importance if you have taken advantage of your husband’s overnight absence to block a shawl on his side of the bed, believe me.

Click here to see the pearl-headed pins in the shop!

And how about you? What do you think about blocking, and how do you like to do it?

Half double crochet – watch those loops!

In this series on working through one loop only, we have come to the last stitch, the half double crochet (hdc).

Previously, we explored the double crochet and the single crochet.

The half double crochet is so much more than a compromise between those two. It deserves our full attention, for two reasons (according to me).

First, it might be the stitch that has the best potential for this kind of stitch pattern. Not too tall, not too squat, the hdc combines drape and subtlety when worked in one loop only.

Second, because it’s the stitch that is the most misunderstood when it comes to working in one loop only, and with which I see the most confusion and mistakes when it comes to the different loops it holds.

But it’s not hard to identify these loops when you know what to look for – and that’s what we’re going to discuss in this tutorial!

This is a swatch in solid hdc worked back and forth. We are about to start a new row. Everything looks great – it’s so easy to see both loops in the previous row! Except that, no, those are not the loops we’re looking for.

In order to see the two loops at the top of the stitch – those very loops that we have been discussing for awhile now – you must tilt the work towards you to see the row from above. The back loop is at A, and the front loop at B.

To insert your hook in the front loop, you need to aim for the loop indicated by the arrow, not the one below.

The first few stitches in the row of hdc flo have been made. At the base of the stitches, a loop is still clearly visible. It’s the “third loop,” resulting from the yarnover made at the beginning of each hdc in the previous row.

Now let’s make a few hdc blo. As explained above, you will need to tilt the work towards you to be able to see the back loop hidden behind.

At the beginning of the row in progress, you can see how a row of V’s lying on their side remains at the base of the stitches just made. The upper leg of each V is the front loop, and the lower leg is the third loop.

Not only can this third loop decorate the surface of your fabric – you can, of course, work into it!

The stitches made by inserting the hook in the third loop completely hide the top of the stitches – there is no free loop remaining at the bottom of the current row.

However, when we tilt the work towards us, we can clearly see the tops of stitches turned to the back.

In the following video I show how to work into the different hdc loops, and discuss the resulting stitch patterns.

How do you use half double crochets worked through one loop only? Do you find theses stitches useful, interesting or completely irrelevant? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

This is the last tutorial in this mini-series on inserting your hook under one loop only. However, there are many ways to insert your hook to obtain different fabrics. We’ll continue to explore them in the next tutorial.

See you soon!