CAL: week 5

I hope everyone enjoyed the break in difficulty we had last week — those bobbles weren’t too bad, were they?  This week we’re doing a bit of a chevron/ripple that I’m calling the “mirrored chevron,” so let’s get started!  Don’t forget, we’re using US terms.

Last week, we finished with row 29:

row 30

With new color, dc across

row 31

For this row and the 3 following rows, the turning chains do NOT count as the first stitch as they have previously been doing.

Change to a color you have a lot of.  Ch 1.  In the first stitch, bring up a loop.  Bring up a loop in the second stitch as well:

Yarn over and draw through all 3 loops on hook:

That counts as our first stitch.  It’s essentially my way of making sc decreases without just skipping a stitch entirely, as some books and patterns recommend.  In the next st, make a hdc.  In the next st, make a dc.  In the next st, make 3 tr.  In the next st, make 1 dc.  In the next st, make 1 hdc:

We’ve made a “mountain!”  Now it’s time to decrease again, only this time we’re going to pull up loops from the next 3 stitches, not 2; yarn over and pull through to finish the st:

In next st, make a hdc (the start of another “mountain”)… Continue this way, making the mountains and decreasing, until the end.  It should look like this:

At the end of the row, you should just have 2 stitches left to work into for your last decrease instead of 3.  We’ll do the same as we did in the beginning and pull up loops from the 2 stitches, preparing the decrease:

row 32

With your next color, finish the decrease of row 31.  Ch 1 (again, this does NOT count as your first stitch like it usually does).  This row is the same process as row 31 only we’re just using sc.  Pull up loops from the first 2 sts:

Yarn over and finish the stitch:

Sc in next 2 sts, then sc 3 in the middle treble of the row below:

Sc in next 2 sts, then make another decrease over the next 3 sts, just like we did in the last row:

Continue this until the end.  It should look like this:

At the end, you will only have 2 sts, left, so do like we did in the last row: pull up loops from last 2 sts, yo, pull through to finish st.  Yes, go ahead and finish the stitch.  We’re not changing colors yet!

row 33

With the same color, repeat row 32, but do not finish the last decrease stitch because we will change colors now:

row 34

With the same color as row 31, ch 3.  This does not count as your first stitch!  Make a tr into the second st.  That counts as your first stitch.  dc in the next st, hdc in the next one:

sc 3 in next st, hdc in next st, dc in next st:

Now we’re going to decrease over the next 3 stitches.  Make a treble into each of the 3 stitches but do not pull the last loop through any of them.  When you’ve done that, yarn over and pull through all loops on your hook and it’s a treble decrease:

You’ve got it now; continue until the end.  It will look like this:

At the end, there are only 2 sts left so we will just decrease with 2 unfinished trebles.  Do not finish, we’re changing colors:

row 35

This is a normal row of hdc, so ch 2.  This does count as your first stitch again, so make your first hdc in the top of the dc in the row below:

At the end, remember that the ch 3 of the row below didn’t count as a stitch, so make your last hdc in the top of the treble (but don’t finish, we’ll change colors):

I’d check to make sure you have the correct stitch count at this point.  Should be the same number you started the blanket with.

row 36

Make a normal dc row.

row 37

Make a normal hdc row.

We’re done for this week!  I had to take this last picture on the floor because the whole thing no longer fit on my white paper, which is what I’ve been using for all the close up pictures.

Also, we’ve now completed all of the stitch patterns we will use in this blanket!  I was considering doing surface chains but I figured we’ve got enough eye-catching stuff going on as it is.  Feel free to add them if you like, though, if you’re looking for a little extra something!  Just make sure you do them on the front of the work.  These might be good for any scraps we have at the end.

Anyway, as usual, if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask!  And again, I look forward to seeing your pictures on facebook and Ravelry and Instagram (#nyaccal)!  Everyone’s doing a fantastic job so far and I love seeing all the color variations/palettes everyone’s got going!  I’m having a blast and I hope you are too!

Thanks for stopping by!