The sedge stitch

Introduction

This stitch pattern is one of those that inspired me to start my stitch challenge. Back in 2015 or 2016 I joined a CAL to make a baby cardigan using the sedge stitch. The yoke of the cardigan was made using half double crochet stitches and I'd wondered why it wasn't made using the sedge stitch... until I realised that there wasn't an easy way to increase and decrease using the sedge stitch since it was made up of (sc, hdc, dc) in the same stitch - not an easy thing to increase at corners or to decrease when making the sleeves. The designer had figured out a way to do a decrease for the sleeves by doing a sc2tog (the sc2tog was not a traditional sc2tog as you were skipping stitches and just doing the decrease over the single crochets in the sedge stitch) but finding a way to mimic the 3 hdc in a stitch to make the yoke curve was probably a bit too tricky to do easily. It's not like you could just make 3 sedge stitches into the same stitch or you'd end up with too many stitches. You'll see later on when I do the stitch challenge post for the sedge stitch, wattle stitch and Suzette stitch how I've figured out a way to do increases and decreases and I guess it is kind of cheating but I think it works quite well. Like the wattle stitch, you're adding 3 stitches into the same stitch or chain from the previous row except this time the 3 stitches are (sc, hdc, dc) in the same stitch and in subsequent rows you are working only in the single crochet stitches. Because of this, the rows usually end with a single crochet in the last stitch without the hdc and dc so that your edges are straight. 

Anyway, the notes below show how I made my little sedge stitch square:

Ch 11

Row 1   (Sc, hdc, dc) in the 2nd ch from hook, sk 2, *(sc, hdc, dc) in the next ch, sk 2* 2 times, sc in the last st, ch 1 and turn.

Rows 2-8  *(Sc, hdc, dc) in the first st, sk 2* 3 times, sc in the last st, ch 1 and turn.

The final round (rnd 9) adds a single crochet border so that it can be included in the stitch challenge - 12 sc per side.

The photo below shows 8 rows of sedge stitch. Next week I will post a comparison of the sedge stitch with the Suzette and Wattle stitches from the previous 2 weeks. I really enjoy making all three of these stitch patterns because they give lovely patterns.