Crochet Strawberry stitch
This "stitch" is actually a pattern of stitches rather than a single stitch and uses at least 2 different colours. I was inspired to try out this stitch again after making a small square with the Tunisian strawberry stitch. However, since it has been a couple of years or so since I last used the crochet strawberry stitch in something, I couldn't remember exactly what I'd done or where I'd found a tutorial on it. When I was looking up how to do the stitch again I discovered that there isn't a consensus on how to do the stitch. It looks as though people have seen the Tunisian strawberry stitch and tried to replicate the look using crochet. I also found my old notes in my notebook on how I'd made the strawberry stitch for my children's road mat blanket. While my method was similar to one of the other methods I found, it wasn't exactly the same either. I must admit, after looking at all the methods, the Tunisian crochet version looks like the best way to make strawberries since you don't have to carry your yarn in each row since you do a return pass for each row and can keep your colour changes to one side. All of the crochet methods require some carrying of your yarn colours in each row.
I figured that since there wasn't any set way of doing this stitch that I would make a small square of each to compare. I present to you all three methods in this blog post so you can decide which you like the best. To distinguish them all in the photos, I've used a different shade of green (4 Seasons Marvel 8 ply yarn) for each method - method #1 "green", method #2 "cadium" and method #3 "lime". You can make your squares as big or small as you like and generally your foundation row has a multiple of 4 plus 3 stitches (this does not include any extra chains to make your first stitch). For this blog post, I've decided to keep the foundation stitches the same and the placement of the strawberries the same. Each method begins with 11 single crochets regardless of how the subsequent rows are made. I've also used sewing pins when doing most of the photos for the end of rows as these squares can curl a little before they're finished (unlike the Tunisian strawberry stitch that doesn't seem to curl at all).
Method #1 - my version using a mixture of stitches (green)
I'm starting off with explaining my method for making strawberry stitches just because I really like how it turns out. For this post, I've made it using the same colours and colour placement that I used for my Tunisian strawberry square. However, in the past I've made it so that there is more green in it (doing the colour changes like you see in the second method) or by using brown in between the strawberries to make them stand out even more. My method is based on the second method that uses popcorn stitches for the main part of the strawberry with double crochets on either side of the strawberries. However, my version was one I originally made to go with a road mat blanket using the Happy Berry road mat CAL. The basic square in this CAL uses a half double crochet as the main stitch for most squares. Therefore my version uses half double crochets between the popcorn stitches.
Instructions for method #1
With green yarn ch 12
Row 1 Sc in the 2nd ch from hook and each ch across. Ch 1 (changing to red in the ch 1) and turn. (11 sc)
Row 2 *Hdc in the first 3 sts, (popcorn in the next st, changing to green in the ch 1 at the end of the popcorn stitch {you need to make sure your popcorn stitch is not too tight at this stage}, sc4tog in the first 4 dc of the popcorn st, finishing the st by pulling through with red instead of green) {first strawberry made}* 2 times. Hdc in the last 3 sts, changing to green in the final pull through. Ch 1 and turn. (2 "strawberry" stitches, 9 hdc)
Row 3 Sc in each st across {carrying the red yarn under your stitches or cutting your yarn and rejoining when you get to the other end}, change to red in the final pull through of the last st, ch 1 and turn. (11 sc)
Row 4 Hdc in the first st, *strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next 3 sts* 2 times, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the last st, changing to green in the last pull through of the final st. Ch 1 and turn. (3 strawberry sts, 8 hdc)
Row 5 Sc in each st across {carrying red yarn or cutting before you do this and re-joining your yarn}, changing to red in the last pull through of the final st. Ch 1 and turn. (11 sc)
Rows 6-9 repeat rows 2-5.
Method #2 - dc main stitch version (cadium)
This is the method I originally followed when I was trying to figure out how to make the strawberry stitch. I've seen a couple of different versions of this - one that sticks to just using 2 colours (with green between the strawberries) and one where a contrasting colour (white) is used between the strawberries as a way to make them stand out even more. While I have seen a chart on how to do the strawberry stitches this way (which I am not sure is originally from the source where I found it so I am not sharing the link), the chart does not exactly match the method used in videos for this. While my method (#1) uses a sc4tog in green at the top of the dc stitches of the strawberries, the sc4tog in this method is actually made between the dc of the popcorn stitch - presumably this is why it is a sc4tog and not a sc5tog. It is actually easier to make the sc4tog between the dc than into the dc. In either case, you need to make sure you don't pull your popcorn stitch too tight or you will find it difficult to make the sc4tog. The other difference between this method and mine is that there is an additional ch 1 when making the strawberry stitch. You finish the popcorn st with a ch 1 and you finish the sc4tog with a ch 1. Neither of these ch 1 spaces count as a stitch and should be ignored in the next row when you make your stitches.
Instructions for method #2:
With green yarn ch 12
Row 1 Sc in the 2nd ch from hook and each ch across, turn. (11 sc)
Row 2 Ch 3 {counts as first dc}, dc in the next 2 sts, changing to red in the last yarn over and pull through. (Make a popcorn st in the next st changing to green in the last pull through, sc4tog between the dc of the popcorn just made, ch 1 to close) {first strawberry stitch made. NB: the ch 1 at the end of the popcorn and the sc4tog do not count as stitches}, dc in the next 3 sts, changing to red in the last pull through of the last dc. Make a strawberry stitch in the next st, dc in the last 3 sts, ch 1 and turn. (2 strawberry st, 9 dc)
Row 3 Sc in each st across {carrying the red yarn in your work or cutting your yarn and rejoining when you get to the other end}, change to red in the final pull through of the last st, ch 1 and turn. (11 sc)
Row 4 Ch 3 {counts as first dc}, changing to red in the last ch. *Strawberry st in the next st, dc in the next 3 sts* 2 times. Strawberry st in the next st, dc in the last st. Ch 1 and turn. (3 strawberry sts, 8 dc)
Row 5 Sc in each st across {carrying the red yarn or cutting it before you do this row and re-joining in the next row}. (11 sc)
Rows 6-9 repeat rows 2-5.
Method #3 - all hdc version (lime)
This method seems to me to be the closest to the Tunisian strawberry stitch in terms of how the "strawberries" are made. From Row 2 onwards once I added the red yarn I carried the colour that I was not using in my stitches so that it would always be where I needed it. The designer of most of the squares I used to make my children's road mat blanket used this method when she designed a strawberry square as an additional square after her CAL had finished. However, by the time she designed her square, I had already made my squares using the earlier method I describe (method #1).
Instructions for method #3
With lime yarn ch 12
Row 1 Sc in the 2nd ch from hook and each ch across, ch 1 and turn. (11 sc)
Row 2 *Hdc in the first 3 sts, changing to red in the last pull through, 5 hdc in the next st changing to lime in the last pull through of the 5th hdc* 2 times. hdc in the last 3 sts, ch 1 and turn. (19 hdc)
Row 3 *Hdc in the first 3 sts, hdc5tog* 2 times. Hdc in the last 3 sts, ch 1 and turn. (11 hdc)
Row 4 Hdc in the first st, changing to red in the last pull through, *5 hdc in the next st, changing to lime at the end of the last st, hdc in the next 3 sts changing to red at the end of the last st* 2 times. 5 hdc in the next st, changing to lime at the end of the last st, hdc in the last st, ch 1 and turn. (23 hdc)
Row 5 Hdc in the first st, *hdc5tog, hdc in the next 3 sts* 2 times. Hdc5tog, hdc in the last st, ch 1 and turn. (11 hdc)
Rows 6-9 repeat rows 2-5 once more.
The photo below shows a comparison of the 3 small strawberry squares that I have made using the methods above. As you can see, they all come out about the same size. I have to say that, after making all three squares, I prefer to make the strawberry stitches using the first 2 methods even though it can be a little more fiddly.
