I designed this Africa inspired pattern originally in summer 2015 partly by accident. I started crocheting a chevron pattern, but got bored and added some diamonds between the rows to make the pattern more interesting and varying to crochet. It may be good to get bored sometimes, especially when it comes to creativity.
This pattern repeat can be used for many purposes, for making a bag, blanket or a rug for example. It is also easy to adjust, both when it comes to width and height. Hope you enjoy crocheting this pattern!
To get the right feeling, in the background and below pictures from Atlas mountains in Morocco from a gorgeous place called Kasbah Bab Ourika, from Cool Crochet Workshop in Spring 2015 organised by Wood and Wood Stool. How I would love to travel back there again, enjoy some mint tea and crochet in a good company. :-)
Some general instructions
In this tapestry crochet technique, you work back and forth normally on both sides and all the stitches are crocheted into both loops.
• This cushion is crocheted with half double crochets and widening the motif and decreasing the width are made one stitch at a time each row with changing the color. Stitches are never added or decreased in this technique, because it uses the natural stitch pattern of half double crochet. The only thing changing is the color. You see a chart for the cushion below (it is for right-handed crocheter, if you are left-handed and have trouble in making it as a mirror image, just send me an e-mail). I hope the chart also helps you on the way. The chart shows the right side of the work and the half square at the beginning of each row means ch 2.
• When crocheting tapestry crochet, you carry along the resting yarn inside the stitch. When switching color, make the final yarn over with the new color. When working with this technique carry along the resting yarn during each stitch when crocheting the right side of the work. When crocheting the wrong side, don’t carry the resting yarn inside during the first stitch after a color change.
• Remember to always keep the yarns on the wrong side of the work.
• When changing color, pull gently the yarn that you leave when taking the new color on the hook. It tends to be a bit loose otherwise.
• Stretch the piece gently sideways every now and then to make sure that the yarn carried inside the stitches is not too tight.
• I also have the habit of making so that I crochet one hdc into the same stitch as ch 2 at the beginning of each row. At the end of the row I jump over the last hdc of the row and make the last hdc into the ch 2 (2nd stitch) of the previous row (see the pictures below). I think this way the edges become quite even.
Instruction
Materials: For this project I used Mini kierrätysontelokude (eco-friendly recycled thin ribbon yarn) from Lankava Yarn House in two colors. You need one coil (1 kg, appr. 335 meters) in two contrasting colors. I used off-white as background color and black as motif color for this project and ended up using appr. 700 g off-white and 500 g black yarn.
Gauge: 10 cm x 10 cm is appr. 10 stitches x 8 rows
Hook size: 6
If you want to make your cushion wider/narrower one pattern repeat is always 8 stitches. Below is a bag I made with the same ribbon yarn (leftovers from the cushion, but I needed to start another coil off-white to finish the project). You find a short instruction on how to make a bag at the end of this presentation. On my blog you can also find pictures of a few other projects I have made with the pattern.
You also need strong fabric for the back of the cushion (I used thick Egyptian cotton), a sewing machine, strong thread (I used Gütermann M 782) and a tapestry needle and a pair of scissors for the project.
Abbreviations (US crochet terms):
sl st slip stitch
ch chain
hdc half double crochet (half treble in UK)
I also use terms background colour/bg color (white in the chart), motif colour (peach in the chart), RS=right side of the project and WS=wrong side of the project in this pattern.
Ch 53 + 2 (counts as ch2 at the beginning of the first row). Start following the chart.
1. (RS) Crochet 1 hdc into each ch = 53. Ch 2 at the end of the row and do so at the end of each row during the whole project.
2. (WS) Crochet 1 hdc into each stitch.
3. (RS) Time to join in the other color. Crochet 2 hdc with the bg color but make the last yarn over with the motif colour (picture 1 below). Crochet 1 hdc with motif colour but make the last yarn over back to bg colour (picture 2). Remember to carry along the resting color inside the work during each stitch as always on the RS (picture 3 below shows where I keep the other yarn traveling inside the stitches, in the upper part of the stitches of the previous row). Continue with * 2 hdc with the bg color, 3 hdc with the motif color, 2 hdc with the bg color, 1 hdc with the motif color* altogether 6 times and end the row with 2 hdc with bg color.
4. (WS) Crochet 1 hdc into the same stitch as ch 2 but make the last yarn over with the motif color (1st picture below). Remember to lift the bg color to the wrong side before taking the motif color on the hook (see the arrows in the 1st picture). Crochet 1 hdc more with the motif color but make the last yarn over back to bg color (picture 2 below). Crochet 1 hdc with the bg color without carrying the motif color inside the stitch and then crochet 1 hdc more with the bg color and carry the motif color inside the stitch. Make the last yarn over of the 2nd stitch with the motif color. Continue with 2 hdc with the motif color, 2 hdc with the bg color, 2 hdc with the motif color and 2 hdc with the bg color according the chart. In the 3rd picture below (on the background in the glide show) you see how this row looks like. Due to all the color changes there is some play with the yarn whenever crocheting the wrong side. The yarns do get entangled too and I have the habit of sorting them out after each row.
10. (WS) Crochet according the chart, but in order to move the motif color to the right place for the next row, let the motif color to travel inside 3 stitches after the last stitch made with the motif color (see picture below).
11. (RS) New pattern repeat starts from this row. Crochet the same way as row 3.
12.-91. Crochet according the chart. Cut the yarn and weave in the ends.
After finishing I chose to make a cushion of the crocheted piece. I used fabric on the other side to make the cushion lighter (it weighs 4-5 kilo anyway with a couple of feather cushions inside :-)).
I chose the simplest way for closure, no zippers needed when making envelope pillow. I cut out two pieces of fabric, left seam allowance enough to be able to fold the fabric over twice from all the edges. I tend to do that on ironing board and then the pieces are easy to sew with a machine. After sewing I started stitching the pieces together by hand with strong sewing thread in double to make it durable. (I went and asked for advice from a local sewing shop and they recommended me to use this yarn and it has hold beautifully in use.) Here is one instruction on how to sew an envelope pillow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJnPEvjdDo
And then I hope you enjoy your finished cushion. :-) In case something is unclear in the pattern, please contact me. Leave a comment on the blog or send an e-mail to: pirjonpuuhastelut (at) gmail.com.
Below you can also find a few pictures of a bag I made with the same yarn and instructions on how to make that.
I am happy if you want to hook something with this pattern for yourself or your family and friends or for charity purposes. For possible commercial use, please contact me first.
This bag is appr. 40 cm wide and 47 cm high. Start with 45 + 2 stitches. Otherwise follow the chart above, crochet rows 1.-33. Then crochet 2 more rows with hdc:s and with off-white only. Continue with single stitches. I made the first row of sc:s into the back loop of the previous row only and then 2 more rows into both loops. During the 4th row I made the handle by first crocheting 15 sc:s normally into both loops of the previous row, then jumped over the following 15 stitches by crocheting slip stitches, and then I crocheted 15 single stitches into both loops of the previous row again. I crocheted 3 more rows single stitches normally and ended the piece with a row of slip stitches. I cut the yarn and weaved in the ends to the back side.
I made another similar piece, put the wrong sides against each other and crocheted single stitches around the sides and the bottom of the back.