what you can do with it:

The counterpane stitch is so named because people used to make counterpanes, or bedspreads, with it.  The fabric produced is both soft and elastic.

how to do it:

This stitch is unfortunately not used much these days, so instructions on it are hard to find, but I found it in an old book!  This stitch is very similar to the half-double crochet stitch in method and in size (so use 2 turning chains when making this fabric).

chain any length. yoh, insert hook in third ch from hook, yoh, pull through the ch and through one more loop on your hook (this is easiest when done in 2 separate movements instead of trying to do it all smoothly in one), yoh, pull through last 2 loops.  You’ve made a counterpane stitch!  Continue to the end of row, ch2, turn.