Meeting Highlights: Specialty Stitches

Here’s a quick thank you to those who volunteered for tasks at the September Expo.  Those of you who volunteered to review a yarn store can mail in your review forms or scan and email to ctclist.  Our fiscal year starts in January.  We will be emailing out membership forms later this year so you can mail in your dues.  What will you get for your membership dues?  For starters, you’ll get a copy of the membership list and a summary of those yarn store reviews.  We need everyone’s help and participation to keep our guild moving forward.

Here’s another reminder that there will be a charity meet-up at Bruegger’s in Sun Ray shopping center from 9am to noon on Saturday, October 20th.  Beginners are welcome; you’ll have a chance to work on a single stitch, making a swatch that will eventually make its way to an afghan  For more into, see the blog post.

At the October meeting, Maxine led us through a quick explanation of linked, extended, and post stitches; provided a variety of swatches using these stitches; and she turned us loose to pursue new stitch patterns on our own. 

Linked stitches will eliminate that annoying space at the beginning of a row of double crochet.  When doing a linked stitch, you do not yarn over.  Instead, you use one of the horizontal bars (or chains) of the previous stitch.  Check out the October project gallery to take a look at Melanie’s sweater.  She used link stitches at the beginning of each row.  The linked stitches provide a sturdy seam without unwanted holes when setting in sleeves and assembling a garment.

You can extend any stitch other than a chain or slip stitch.  An extended stitch does not begin with an extra yarn over.  Instead, after you insert your hook and pull up a loop, you yarn over and pull through that one loop alone, then continue with the stitch as usual, doing a yarn over and pulling through loops as needed for the stitch.  Extended stitches result in a softer fabric and add about a half stitch in height; in other words, an extended double crochet is slightly taller than a regular dc and slightly shorter than a treble.  That beginning loop is used when making foundation stitches, particular those that include a chain between stitches.

Post stitches lend texture to your fabric.  In the right combination, the end result can be crocheted cables or a firm ribbing.

You can find out more about these stitches at crochetpatterncentral.com and at crochet.about.com.

Our next regular meeting will be Saturday, November 10^th at Prospect Park United Methodist Church.  We will learn all about the good, the bad and the ugly of joining stitch motifs.