Stitch square challenge #9 - crocodile stitch
Introduction
I'm a week late posting this stitch challenge as I got myself slightly distracted creating my little Christmas Angel patterns which went up just over a week ago. Even though I usually design a pattern after I've done my stitch challenge, this time I released a pattern before the stitch challenge as the pattern was all ready to go before as the original draft of the pattern was done about a year ago.
This stitch challenge was slightly more challenging than normal when it came to rounds and corner to corner since you need a certain a reasonable number of stitches in dc or hdc to work your crocodile stitches on and to give a gap between stitches. I reduced the size of my front post stitches from FPdc to FPhdc so that they didn't spread out too much and I worked my crocodile stitches around the post of hdc rather than dc stitches.
I quite like how these have turned out, especially the version in the round. As usual, the version in the round has come out a little larger than the other squares but I'm not worried about that at all.
Like all of my stitch challenges, a brief outline of what I did is given below. I have not checked any of this very well for errors so there may be a few mistakes.
Crocodile stitch in rows.
This was a nice simple thing to do. For most of my squares in rows I have started off with approximately 10 stitches which is equivalent to what is required for 2 crocodile stitches. I thought about offsetting the crocodile stitches but ultimately ended up just having them in rows because it was easier and quicker at the time. Instead, I added variation by using a picot in the middle of the crocodile stitches worked in Row 6 and just used a ch 1 in the middle of all the other crocodile stitches.
With pink yarn ch 11
Row 1: hdc in the 2nd ch from hook and each ch across, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Row 2: Sk 2, 5 FPhdc around the post of the next st, ch 1, turn, 5 FPhdc around the post of the next st {first crocodile st made}, ch 1, sk 2 sts, crocodile stitch around the posts of the next 2 sts, ch 1, sl st into the last st, ch 1 and turn.
Row 3: Hdc in each st from Row 1, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Rows 4-5: Hdc in each st across, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Row 6: *Sk 2 sts, crocodile st {with picot} around the posts of the first 2 sts, ch 1, sk 2* repeat across (2 crocodile sts)
Row 7: Hdc in each st from Row 5, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Rows 8-9: Hdc in each st across, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Row 10: Repeat row 2
Row 11: With RS facing, sc evenly around each side of the square (ch 1 in each corner). Fasten off and weave in the ends.
Crocodile stitch in rounds (to make a square)
I decided to do my crocodile stitches for this part in a contrasting colour (which made it easier to see my stitches in the non-crocodile stitch rounds) and to work them as I went rather than waiting until I had finished the square to add them in.
With purple yarn, make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 4 sc into magic ring, join to the first st with a sl st. (4 sc)
Rnd 2: Ch 1, 3 hdc in each st around, sl st to first st. (12 hdc)
Rnd 3: Ch 1, hdc in the first st, 3 hdc in the next st, *hdc in the next 2 sts, 3 hdc in the next st* 3 times, hdc in the last st. Sl st to the first st with a sl st, change to a contrasting colour, ch 1 and turn. (20 hdc)
Rnd 4: With RS facing working backwards around the square *add a crocodile stitch in the middle 2 sts of the side, ch 1, sc in the middle sc of the next corner* all around finishing in last corner sc, change to the first colour and start working in the opposite direction again. (4 crocodile sts, 12 ch, 4 sc)
Fasten off your contrasting colour
Rnd 5: *Ch 1, 3 hdc in the middle sc of the corner st, hdc in the next 4 sts* 4 times. Join to the first st with a sl st. (28 hdc)
Rnd 6: Ch 1, hdc in the first st, *3 hdc in the next st, hdc in the next 6 sts* 3 hdc in the next st, hdc in the next 5 sts, sl st to the first st. (36 hdc)
Rnd 7: Ch 1, hdc in the same st and the next st, *(2 hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc) in the next st, hdc in the next 8 sts* 3 times, (2 hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc), hdc in the next 6 sts. Join to the first st with a sl st. (12 hdc, 1 ch per side)
Fasten off your first colour.
Rnd 8: With RS facing *make a crocodile st around the posts of the 2nd and 3rd sts of the side, [ch 1, sk 2, make a crocodile st around the posts of the next 2 sts] 2 times, ch 1, sc in the ch 1 sp* 4 times. (3 crocodile sts, 1 sc per side)
Fasten off and weave in the ends.
Crocodile stitch corner to corner.
For this little square I decided to make the hdc part separate from the crocodile stitches and to use a contrasting colour. I figured that way I would be able to change direction for my crocodile stitches at each end and that it would look quite nice that way.
Basic background square:
Ch 2
Row 1: Hdc in the 2nd ch from hook, ch 1 and turn. (1 hdc)
Row 2: 2 Hdc, ch 1 and turn. (2 hdc)
Row 3: 2 Hdc in each st across, ch 1 and turn. (4 hdc)
Row 4: 2 Hdc in the first st, hdc in the next 2 sts, 2 hdc in the last st, ch 1 and turn. (6 hdc)
Row 5: 2 Hdc in the first st, hdc in the next 4 sts, 2 hdc in the last st, ch 1 and turn. (8 hdc)
Row 6: 2 Hdc in the first st, hdc in the next 6 sts, 2 hdc in the last st, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Row 7: 2 Hdc in the first st, hdc in the next 8 sts, 2 hdc in the last st, ch 1 and turn. (12 hdc)
Row 8: Hdc2tog in the first st, hdc in the next 8 sts, hdc2tog, ch 1 and turn. (10 hdc)
Row 9: Hdc2tog in the first st, hdc in the next 6 sts, hdc2tog, ch 1 and turn. (8 hdc)
Row 10: Hdc2tog in the first st, hdc in the next 4 sts, hdc2tog, ch 1 and turn. (6 hdc)
Row 11: Hdc2tog in the first st, hdc in the next 2 sts, hdc2tog, ch 1 and turn. (4 hdc)
Row 12: Hdc2tog 2 times, ch 1 and turn. (2 hdc)
Row 13: Hdc2tog, ch 1 (1 hdc)
Row 14: sc evenly all around the square, making sure there are 12 sc per side.
Crocodile stitches were added to Rows 3, 6 in one direction (pointing towards Row 1) and to Rows 8 and 11 (pointing towards Row 13).
