surface crochet

I've been keeping busy. I made squares for Share a Square - sent those off but forgot to take a picture. I made some rectangles for injured soldier ghans but also forgot to take a photo of those before sending off. :-(

A few people have asked me about surface crochet. I haven't done a video on it yet, but Kim Guzman has a nice one you might want to have a look at. There are also a number of text and photo tutorials. I found this one that I thought was clear. If that doesn't do it for you, just Google surface crochet.

Just briefly, what you do is make a slip knot, but don't put it on your hook, just hold it underneath your piece. Insert your hook from the top, through the material you've made, and put the knot on your hook. Draw it through. (Now don't draw the tail and everything through. Stop at the slip knot.) Insert your hook at the next spot where you want your design to go. Yarn over (from the back). Your yarn is always held underneath the work. Pull through the work, and through the loop on your hook, which makes a slip stitch. You might want to pull on your slip knot tail just to make sure the knot doesn't poke through.You will be able to see the outline of the design on the back as well but it won't look the same.

When you are finished with your design, weave the tails in carefully. It will probably not be the same color yarn but should not show through too much if you are careful.

You also have to be careful that you are not pulling in your piece as you choose where you want to insert your hook.

Although this method uses the slip stitch, I don't see any reason why you couldn't get a more 3-D look by using a single crochet or some other stitch. I haven't tried it, but perhaps I will do so soon.

I can envision many fun uses for this. I guess the only down side, if you want to call it that, is that it is worked over single crochet, which takes a bit more time and yarn to work since it is a short, closed stitch.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie