Week 6 Top Tips

Hints and tips to help you with this week

Week 6

This week, we'll be adding the final surface crochet details (hooray!), sewing on the wheels (if you've not already done this), filling in the four corners of the blanket with the elf hat and bell panels, and finishing it all off with a neat border which includes two fun new stitches: sparkly star stitch and reverse double crochet (AKA crab stitch or reverse single crochet in US terms) for the finishing touch.

I hope you enjoy finishing off your blankets in time for Christmas! 

Below, you'll find my top tips for this week. These are designed to accompany the written pattern but don't forget to refer to the video tutorial for a thorough demonstration of this week's techniques.

The written pattern and video tutorial are available here.

Top Tips

  1. 1
    When sewing on the Train Wheels, you can use one long thread of a single colour and make a few small stitches through each segment of the same colour.
  2. 2
    When crocheting the Elf Hat Panels, remember to drop your yarns to the wrong side (back) of your work.
  3. 3
    In Round 1 of the Border, the main thing is for your stitches to be spaced evenly around the blanket, without causing pulling or puckering to the edge. The exact stitch count per side does not matter.
  4. 4
    When working all rounds of the Border, it can be helpful to place a stitch marker in each corner space so that you can locate it easily, especially for rounds worked on the opposite side to the previous round.
  5. 5
    Some rounds of the Border are worked into the third loop only (TLO) of the stitches from the previous round. To find the third loop, first locate the front and back loops on the top of the stitch. The third loop is located beneath the back loop on the back of the stitch. It can help to bend your work forwards slightly to find it.
  6. 6
    Take care not to miss working into the htr (hdc in US terms) stitches immediately after the corner chain spaces. The tops of these stitches may be slightly covered up by the stitches will have just made into the chain space.
  7. 7
    Note that the tops of your htr (hdc in US terms) stitches will be oriented towards the opposite side of the stitch after turning your work, compared to rounds where you did not turn before starting them. If you are right-handed, when viewing a htr (hdc in US terms) stitch from the front, the top of the stitch projects slightly towards the right of the post (or to the left, if you are left-handed). However, when viewing a htr (hdc in US terms) stitch from the back, the top of the stitch projects slightly towards the left of the post (to the right, if you are left-handed). This is most significant when working around the corners of your blanket.
  8. 8
    Note that there are slightly different instructions for forming a star stitch depending on where you are making it: the first star stitch of the round, the first star stitch of the second to fourth sides of the blanket, and all the other star stitches along each side (i.e. after a previous star stitch). They all follow essentially the same steps but take note of where to insert your hook each time.

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