Changing Tides – Week 8

It’s Week 8 which means we’re half way through our blanket crochet along in terms of time, although we still have a lot of stitches left to do! 🙂 🙂

Here’s this weeks round-up of blankets from Instagram…

This week we’re returning again to the ‘Pebble Lace’ rounds. Yes, it’s time for those yarn eating, time consuming bobbles once more! 🙂 I know many of you have a love-hate relationship with these stitches… but they ooze texture and are a staple stitch in this blanket so do enjoy them. Remember there’s no rush… you don’t have to do them all in one go and I think they’re really worth the time and effort in the end… 🙂 🙂

And this week these ‘Pebble Lace’ stitches are inspired by the chalk boulders on my local stretch of coastline. These huge pieces of chalk have fallen away from the cliffs and over time the action of the tides has smoothed them…

And we end the week with a contrasting splash of blue, just like when we look up at the blue skies above the chalk cliffs on a sunny day!

Our little Salty has fallen in love with this blanket! Whenever I put my blanket down or leave it, Salty will find her way onto it! I think she’s really enjoying all the textures… 🙂 Have any of your pets started to notice those textures in this blanket?

For those of you who have purchased the PDF pattern on Ravelry it has now been updated to include Week 8 in both UK and US terms…

Ravelry – Changing Tides Blanket

Here’s a reminder of the abbreviations in UK Crochet Terminology. US terms are at the bottom of this blog post.
ch: chain, ch-sp(s): chain space(s), dc: double crochet, dtr: double treble, dtr7tog: double treble 7 together (see below), RS: right side, ss: slip stitch, st(s): stitch(es), tr: treble, WS: wrong side

dtr7tog: double treble 7 together: Wrap yarn around hook twice, insert hook into stitch, yarn over hook and pull through (you will now have 4 loops on the hook), yarn over hook, pull through 2 loops, yarn over hook again and pull though 2 loops (you will now have 2 loops on the hook), repeat from the start 6 more times (each time you will gain an extra loop), at the end you will have 8 loops on the hook, yarn over hook and pull through all the loops on the hook.

These rounds are a repeat of our previous Pebble Lace rounds but be aware that in Round 48 because we are starting with an odd number of stitches, we’re missing 2 sts at the beginning of each side rather than 1 st as in previous weeks.

And here’s the YouTube tutorial…

Round 48 (WS) Join Yarn C to any corner ch-sp, 3ch, (1tr, 2ch, 2tr) in same corner ch-sp, * 2ch, miss 2 sts, 1dc in next st, continue with (2ch, miss 1 st, dtr7tog in next st (close this with 1ch and push the cluster to the back (RS) of the work), 2ch, miss 1 st, 1dc in next st) and repeat to end of side, 2ch, miss final 2 sts, (2tr, 2ch, 2tr) in corner ch-sp, repeat from * on next three sides ending final side with 2ch, miss 2 sts, ss to top of first 3 ch, turn [28 dtr clusters on each side]

Round 49 4ch (counts as 1 dc and 3 ch), 1dc in top of next dtr cluster (not in the 1 ch made to close the cluster), * (3ch, 1dc in next dtr cluster) to last cluster on this side, 3ch, miss 2 ch-sps, 1dc in final 2 sts, (1dc, 2ch, 1dc) in corner ch-sp, 1dc in next 2 sts, repeat from * on next three sides ending with 1dc in final st (after final corner ch-sp), ss to first ch, turn

Round 50 3ch (counts as 1 dc and 2 ch), miss 2 sts, * (2tr, 2ch, 2tr) in corner ch-sp, 2ch, miss 2 sts, 1dc in next st, (2ch, dtr7tog in 2^nd ch of 3 ch going under both top strands (close with 1ch), 2ch, 1dc in next dc st) and repeat to end of side, 2ch, miss final 2 sts, repeat from * on next three sides, after final dtr7tog make 2ch and end with ss to first ch of beginning 3 ch, fasten off, turn [29 dtr clusters on each side]

Round 51 (RS) Join Yarn B to the left tr st on any corner ch-sp and repeat Round 49

And that’s Week 8… hope you have a good week ahead and Happy Crocheting! 🙂

PATTERN IN US TERMS

Abbreviations in US Crochet Terminology
ch: chain, ch-sp(s): chain space(s), dc: double crochet, RS: right side, sc: single crochet, sl st: slip stitch, st(s): stitch(es), tr: treble, tr7tog: treble 7 together (see below), WS: wrong side

tr7tog: treble 7 together: Wrap yarn around hook twice, insert hook into stitch, yarn over hook and pull through (you will now have 4 loops on the hook), yarn over hook, pull through 2 loops, yarn over hook again and pull though 2 loops (you will now have 2 loops on the hook), repeat from the start 6 more times (each time you will gain an extra loop), at the end you will have 8 loops on the hook, yarn over hook and pull through all the loops on the hook.

These rounds are a repeat of our previous Pebble Lace rounds but be aware that in Round 48 because we are starting with an odd number of stitches, we’re skipping 2 sts at the beginning of each side rather than 1 st as in previous weeks.

Round 48 (WS) Join Yarn C to any corner ch-sp, 3ch, (1dc, 2ch, 2dc) in same corner ch-sp, * 2ch, skip 2 sts, 1sc in next st, continue with (2ch, skip 1 st, tr7tog in next st (close this with 1ch and push the cluster to the back (RS) of the work), 2ch, skip 1 st, 1sc in next st) and repeat to end of side, 2ch, skip final 2 sts, (2dc, 2ch, 2dc) in corner ch-sp, repeat from * on next three sides ending final side with 2ch, skip 2 sts, sl st to top of first 3 ch, turn [28 tr clusters on each side]

Round 49 4ch (counts as 1 sc and 3 ch), 1sc in top of next tr cluster (not in the 1 ch made to close the cluster), * (3ch, 1sc in next tr cluster) to last cluster on this side, 3ch, skip 2 ch-sps, 1sc in final 2 sts, (1sc, 2ch, 1sc) in corner ch-sp, 1sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * on next three sides ending with 1sc in final st (after final corner ch-sp), sl st to first ch, turn

Round 50 3ch (counts as 1 sc and 2 ch), skip 2 sts, * (2dc, 2ch, 2dc) in corner ch-sp, 2ch, skip 2 sts, 1sc in next st, (2ch, tr7tog in 2^nd ch of 3 ch going under both top strands (close with 1ch), 2ch, 1sc in next sc st) and repeat to end of side, 2ch, skip final 2 sts, repeat from * on next three sides, after final tr7tog make 2ch and end with sl st to first ch of beginning 3 ch, fasten off, turn [29 tr clusters on each side]

Round 51 (RS) Join Yarn B to the left dc st on any corner ch-sp and repeat Round 49