Overlay mosaic crochet
It has been quite a while since I have posted anything. It isn't because I haven't been working on anything new, it's just that nothing is quite ready to share yet. I am currently getting ready to run another amigurumi CAL but I haven't finished checking everything properly in my pattern. I also have another pattern that needs to have corrections typed up in and needs to be tested. In addition, I was recently asked if I wanted to design something in mosaic crochet for a CAL. I’d never tried out the technique before so I jumped at the chance to learn a little about it and to design something for the CAL (more details on the CAL to come later on once I know more about it). In the meantime, I thought I'd have a go at some mosaic crochet and share my results on my blog.
There are 2 main techniques that people use to do mosaic crochet – inset and overlay (there are some other methods I have found too but these are the most common methods). I had a go at both methods and decided I would try out overlay crochet for my CAL contribution. Overlay mosaic crochet is fairly simple and involves just 2 stitches – single crochet and double crochet and two different colours of yarn that are alternated in rows (although you can add in more colours if you wish). The trick to creating interesting patterns is fairly simple. All of the single crochets are worked in the back loop only (except at the start and end of each row which are worked in both loops) and all double crochets are worked into an unworked front loop in the stitch 2 rows below. This front loop double crochet is known as a “mosaic double crochet” (mdc). The other thing about this type of mosaic crochet is that all stitches are made in on the right side of your work. This means that at the end of each row you need to cut your yarn and start with a new colour. The front of your work will have your nice pattern but the wrong side of your work will look like alternating stripes of the colours that you use. You are left with lots of ends. However, the clever people who came up with these techniques also came up with cunning ways to deal with all the loose ends so that you don’t have to weave them all in. If you want to see a video on how to do this type of crochet, I would recommend the videos by Tinna Thorudottir Thorvaldar. So far I have just watched the first one where she shows a basic pattern known as “apache tears”. However, she also has videos on how to read a mosaic crochet chart and two different ways to deal with all the loose ends plus many other mosaic crochet videos. My little sampler following her video is shown below. I didn’t do as many rows as she does on her video, just enough to see the pretty pattern beginning. I really like the effect of using lots of different colours.
For my basic square in rows I decided to make a modified version of the apache tears pattern so that it would fit my square constraints. I haven’t yet decided how I will incorporate this square and the others for my stitch challenge in my final design so they have not yet been made in wool, just in scraps of cotton yarn.
Basic instructions
Note: I have written this set of instructions as if I was using just 2 colours. In reality, as you will see in the photos, I used whatever scraps of yarn I had available and ended up using 3 different colours
With Colour A, ch 11
Row 1 Sc in the 2nd ch from hook and each ch across, fasten off Colour A. (10 sc)
Row 2 With RS facing and a sl knot of Colour B yarn on your hook, make a standing sc in the first st, working in BLO, sc in the next 8 sts, working in both loops again, sc in the last st. Fasten off Colour B. (8 blsc, 2 sc)
Row 3 With RS facing and a sl knot of Colour A yarn on your hook, make a standing sc in the first st, *working in the unworked front loop in Row 1, mdc in the next st, working into the sts of Row 2 again {skipping the st behind the mdc just made}, blsc in the next 3 sts* 2 times, working in both loops again, sc in the last st. Fasten off Colour A. (6 blsc, 2 mdc, 2 sc)
Row 4 With RS facing and a sl knot of Colour B yarn on your hook, make a standing sc in the first st, working in BLO, sc in the next st, working into the unworked front loop in Row 2, mdc in the next st, working in the sts of Row 3 again {skipping the st behind the mdc just made}, blsc in the next 3 sts, working into the unworked front loop of the next st in Row 2, mdc in the next st, working in the sts of Row 3 again {skipping the st behind mdc just made}, blsc in the next 2 sts, working in both loops again, sc in the last st. Fasten off Colour B. (6 blsc, 2 mdc, 2 sc)
Row 5 With RS facing and a sl knot of Colour B yarn on your hook, make a standing sc in the first st, working in BLO, sc in the next 2 sts, working into the unworked front loop of Row 3, mdc in the next st, working in the sts of Row 4 again {sk st behind mdc just made}, blsc in the next 3 sts, working into the unworked front loop of Row 3, mdc in the next st, working in the sts of Row 4 again {sk st behind mdc just made}, blsc in the next st, working in both loops again, sc in the last st. Fasten off Colour B. (6 blsc, 2 mdc, 2 sc)
Row 6 With RS facing and a sl knot of Colour B yarn on your hook, make a standing sc in the first st, *working in BLO, sc in the next 3 sts, working into the front loop of Row 4, mdc in the next st,* 2 times, working in both loops again, sc in the last st. Fasten off Colour B. (6 blsc, 2 mdc, 2 sc)
Rows 7-10 Repeat Rows 3-6.
While I have put some written instructions in for my square above, it is more common in mosaic crochet to have a chart for people to follow. The chart for the little square that I made above can be seen below:
The square is worked from right to left, bottom to top with RS facing for each row. Odd numbered rows were made using Colour A and even numbered rows with Colour B. the ^ in a square indicates that the stitch was a single crochet worked in both loops. The x in a square indicates a mdc worked 2 rows down (which is why the square below the x is always in the same colour as the square with the x and not the same as the colour in that row). All of the other squares that do not have a symbol in them are single crochet stitches worked in the back loop only.
I haven't quite figured out how to make a chart for my stitch challenge squares yet (other than the above one of course) but it looks like it can be done. Hopefully it will be a nice straightforward process... we will see when I have a chance to work on the challenge next week.