Crochet stitch challenge #6 - Strawberry stitch
Introduction
Welcome to my 6th self-imposed "stitch challenge". As I mentioned last time with my post on the strawberry stitch, there is not really a standard way to make this stitch. For the purposes of this stitch challenge, I'm going to use my own method for making the strawberries rather than one of the other two more common methods for it. Because this stitch pattern requires you to have some plain stitches in between the strawberry stitch (usually 3 stitches between strawberries within a row), it was relatively easy to do the corner to corner and stitches in the round versions of this stitch pattern since the increases and decreases could be done in the stitches at the sides. With all of these methods, I carried my yarn under my stitches for each colour when not using them for a stitch.
Strawberry stitch in rows
This is almost identical to the small square I did last week for showing the differences between the strawberry stitch tutorials using my own method (labelled method #1 in my blog post). The only difference was that I reversed rows 2 and 4 so that the row with 3 strawberries appears first. It doesn't really make a difference which way round you do this when you are making an even number of strawberry rows in your square so I thought it would be fun to do the 3 strawberry row first this time around.
With green 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 st, *(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}. Hdc in the next 3 sts* 2 times. Make a strawberry stitch in the next st, hdc in the last st, changing to green in the final pull through. Ch 1 and turn. (3 "strawberry" stitches, 8 hdc)
Row 3 Sc in each st across {carrying the red yarn along 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 3 sts, strawberry st in the next st* 2 times, hdc in the next 3 sts, changing to green in the last pull through of the final st. Ch 1 and turn. (2 strawberries, 9 hdc)
Row 5 Sc in each st across {carrying red yarn or cutting before you do this and re-starting}, 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 but do not change back to red yarn at the end of row 5.
Rnd 10 Sc evenly around all the sides of the square making sure you have 12 sts per side {NB: I had to be a little creative with stitch placement to get 12 stitches at the top and bottom since there are 11 stitches in my foundation row}
Strawberry stitch worked from corner to corner
With green yarn ch 2
Row 1 Sc in the second ch from hook, ch 1 and turn. (1 sc)
Row 2 3 Sc in the first st, changing to red in the ch 1 and turn. (3 sc)
Row 3 2 Hdc in the 1st st, (popcorn st in the next st, changing to green in the ch 1, sc4tog in the first 4 dc of the popcorn st, changing to red in the final yarn over and pull through {first strawberry st made}), 2 hdc in the last st, changing to green in the ch 1, turn. (4 hdc, 1 strawberry)
Row 4 2 Sc in the first st, sc in the next 3 sts, 2 sc in the last st, changing to red in the ch 1, turn. (7 sc)
Row 5 2 Hdc in the first st, hdc in the next st, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next 3 sts, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next st, 2 hdc in the last st, changing to green in the ch 1, turn. (9 hdc, 2 strawberries)
Row 6 2 Sc in the first st, sc in the next 7 sts, 2 sc in the last st, changing to red in the ch 1, turn. (11 sc)
Row 7 2 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, 2 hdc in the last st, changing to green in the ch 1, turn. (10 hdc, 3 strawberries)
Row 8 Sc in each st across, changing to red in the ch 1, turn. (13 sc)
Row 9 Hdc2tog, *strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next 3 sts* 2 times. Strawberry st in the next st, hdc2tog, changing to green in the ch 1, turn. (8 hdc, 3 strawberries)
Row 10 Sc2tog, sc 7, sc2tog, changing to red in the ch 1, turn. (9 sc)
Row 11 Hdc2tog, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next 3 sts, strawberry st in the next st, hdc2tog, changing to green in the ch 1, turn. (5 hdc, 2 strawberries)
Row 12 Sc2tog, sc in the next 3 sts, sc2tog, ch 1 and turn. (5 sc)
Row 13 Sc2tog, sc, sc2tog, ch 1 and turn. (3 sc)
Row 14 Sc3tog, ch 1. (1 sc)
Rnd 15 Sc evenly around the square (12 sc per side)
Please note that after I finished this square I realised that I hadn't balanced the placement of the strawberries. You could easily add an extra strawberry in row 13 by doing the following:
Alternative Row 13: Ch 1 changing to red, hdc2tog, strawberry st in the next st, hdc2tog, changing to green in the ch 1, turn. (2 hdc, 1 strawberry)
Strawberry stitch in Rounds
Begin with green yarn with a magic ring
Rnd 1 4 Sc in magic ring, join to the first st with a sl st. (4 sc)
Rnd 2 Ch 1, 3 sc in each st around, join to the first st. (12 sc)
Rnd 3 Change to red in the ch 1, hdc in the first st, *(hdc, strawberry st, hdc) in the same st, hdc in the next 2 sts* 3 times. (Hdc, strawberry st, hdc) in the next st, hdc in the last st, join to the first st with a sl st. (16 hdc, 4 strawberries)
Rnd 4 Ch 1, sc in the same st and the next st. *3 Sc in the next st, sc in the next 4 sts* 3 times. 3 Sc in the next st, sc in the last 2 sts, join to the first st. (28 sc)
Rnd 5 Change to red in the ch 1, hdc in the same st, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next st. *(Hdc, strawberry st, hdc) in the next st, hdc in the next st, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next 2 sts, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the next st* 3 times. (Hdc, strawberry st, hdc) in the next st, hdc in the next st, strawberry st in the next st, hdc in the last st, join to the first st with a sl st. (24 hdc, 12 strawberries)
Rnd 6 Change to green in the ch 1, sc in the same st and the next 4 sts. *4 Sc in the next st, sc in the next 8 sts* 3 times. 4 Sc in the next st, sc in the last 4 sts. Join to the first st with a sl st. Fasten off and weave in the ends. (12 sc per side)
The photo below shows a comparison of all three squares I made for this stitch challenge. I really love how they all turned out. The back of each square is flat and the strawberries all stand out nicely on top. I am thinking I might redo the last few rounds of the corner to corner version though so that I add in that last strawberry just so it looks a little more balanced.
