There are two new stitch tutorials up!  First:

the mirrored chevron

This is NOT the same chevron stitch that appears in our inspirational CAL blanket.  I’ve altered it so it will lie completely flat.  Next up:

surface chains

I’ve seen this recently online but I first found it in an old Better Homes and Gardens book called “Complete Book of Knitting, Crochet & Embroidery.”  It’s a neat stitch that you do after you’ve worked the main fabric and would be a great addition to all sorts of projects!

As you may have guessed, both of these stitches work with our other CAL stitches, and I’m definitely going to use both!  So, to recap, here are the “fancy” stitches that will work for our CAL so far (excluding regular dc and hdc):

• bobble stitch
• catharine wheels
• full star stitch
• granny stripes
• mirrored chevrons
• surface chains
• woven DCs

To reiterate, if you’re participating in the CAL it is up to you which stitches to use for your blanket — you can always replace what you don’t like with regular dcs!  I will be posting exactly what I will be doing next, however, for those of you who want more direction.  I’m honestly not sure about the woven DCs — they look so cool but to be most effective they should be done in one color, and I’m not sure that I want such a thick stripe of one color in my blanket.  You are free to use it if you like, but I think I might pass.  I will have to use it for something else though — it would make a fabulous cushion or perhaps a bag!

So, has anyone been trying out these stitches in preparation for the CAL?  Some of those stitches are tricky.  I’ve practiced lots myself, making all these tutorials!  I hope you guys are as excited as I am — I can’t wait to get started!  My yarn should be in soon.  If you’ve bought some yarn already, you can share it on the Ravelry group page in a discussion thread so we can all see and admire!

OK, I’m done for the night.  Those tutorials and this post have taken a long time!  If you try the new tutorials and find that something doesn’t make sense or I could have done something better, please let me know!

As always, thanks for stopping by!