Simply Crochet - UK (2020-04)

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Crocodilestitchis a brilliant

crochettechniquethat

formspetalshapesor‘scales’

(hencethename).Thescales

areworkedinoverlapping

layerstocreatea unique3D

effect.It’ssurprisingly

simpletomaster,usingonly

chainsandtreblestitches;

it’swhereandhowyouwork

thesestitchesthatcreates

theintriguinglook.

Crocodilestitchcanbe

workedineitherrowsor

roundstocreatebothflat

and3Dfabrics,suchasbag

frontsorhats.Theeffectis

especiallycuteon projects

for children.

It’sa ratheryarn-hungry

technique,soit’sbetterfor

smallermakesthatwould

benefitfrom having a tactile

quality.

ONEOFMANY

Therearelotsofdifferent

waystodocrocodilestitch,

andwe’llshowyouone

methodthatshouldarmyou

withtheskillsyouneedto

takeonanycrocodilestitch

pattern.We’llexplain

everythingyouneedto

knowandthenyoucanuse

yournewskillstomakeour

super-simpleChristmastree

decoration on page 81.

Where do I start?

Tolearncrocodilestitch,we’llworka

smallpracticepieceinrows.Youcanuse

anyyarnandanappropriatesizeofhook.

We’reusinga DKyarnanda 4mmhook.

Youcanworkcrocodilestitchinnumerous

ways,buttherearealwaystwotypesofrow

workedalternately:baserowsandscale

rows.Thebaserowcreatesa structureof

stitches(usuallytrebles,althoughyoucan

usealmostanystitch)andchainspaces

(usuallyoneortwochains,butyoucanuse

more).Thescalerowsinvolveworking

stitches(usuallytrebles,althoughyoucan

usealmostanystitch)intothebaserowina

specificwaytocreatethescaleshapes.

Step 1 Incrocodilestitchfabrics,eachscale

is usuallyoffsetsothatit sitsaboveandin

betweentwoscalesbelow.Forstraight

fabrics,thismeansincreasinganddecreasing

byonescaleeachtimetomaintainthelook,

asshownhere.Forotherprojects,youcan

utilisethisnaturalshapingquality to create

elegantslopesinthefabric.

Step 2 We’llstartbymakinga foundation

row– thisis similartothebaserowand

shouldhavethesamestructure,butit’s

workedintoa foundationchain.Forthe

crocodilestitchmethodwe’regoingtowork,

thefoundationchainneedstobea multiple

of 6, so we’re going to chain 12. Now ch3,

Evyue

weshowyou

the

techniquyou’ll

needto

make beautiful

things

Workshop

ChiTms Tre p 1

Start with a foundation row

ADDA 3DEDGETOPROJECTSWITHTHISEASYTECHNIQUE

Crocodile stitch

whichcountsasthefirsttreblestitch,and

trebleinthe3rdchainfromthehook – this

countsas2trinthesamech.

Step 3 Nowmake2 chains,skip2 chains

below and work 2 trebles into the next chain.

Step 4 RepeatStep2 acrosstothelastchain.

Youshouldhave5 pairsoftrebles,each

separatedby2 ch.You’vefinishedthe

foundationrowandyou’llbe ready to make

your first scale row next.

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