corner to corner afghan tut | Anastacia Knits

corner to corner afghan, day 3

November 5, 2008 at 5:00 pm (corner to corner afghan tut, free patterns)

If you are just stopping in, please see day one and day two.

Today we are going to decrease.

I’m going to show you how to decrease AND do a color change, all at the same time!

You can see in the above photo the start of the color change. I ended the old color (the pink) and I’m starting the new color, the blue. I have a slip knot on my hook, and I’m slipping it through the chain space.

Here’s the first shell in the new color completed:

And here we are, a little farther along:

Now, when we get to the end of this row, we’ll continue in the same color. So, when we get to the corner, we’ll chain one, turn, slip stitch back the way we came, and in that chain space, we’ll continue shelling across as usual.

If you DECREASE on one side, and continue INCREASING on the other, you’re creating a bias fabric: in other words, a rectangle. If you decrease both sides, you’ll create a square.

Congratuations! You’ve learned how to make a shell stitch, corner to corner afghan.corner

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corner to corner afghan day two

November 5, 2008 at 4:55 pm (corner to corner afghan tut, free patterns)

Today I’ll show you how to change colors various ways within the corner to corner afghan. Photos are all clickable if you’d like to see larger views, and any questions please ask me!

So today we are changing colors. There are different ways of doing this. The technique is all the same, it’s the location that’s different – and thus, the finished look.

First – changing colors whenever we run out of yarn. You’ll change colors like any other color change in double crochet:

yarn over hook, insert hook in chain space and pull through yarn (three loops on hook), yarn over hook and pull through one loop (two remaining loops), drop old color/cut old yarn color, pick up new color, yarn around hook, pull through remaining two loops: one loop left on crochet hook. And continue making your shells as usual.

That is my least favorite way of changing colors in this pattern/stitch – it’s OK, but I think it looks a little messy. We can do better.

Change colors as before, but this time, complete a full shell. Instead of slipping into the next chain space with the old color, pick up the next color, and continue with the new color.

My favorite way of changing colors is at the end of a full row, for a nice, clean color change.

Finish your last shell with your old color, but in the last double crochet of the shell, change colors. Now chain 6 with the new color, and continue as usual.

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corner to corner afghan part one

November 5, 2008 at 4:51 pm (corner to corner afghan tut, free patterns) (afghan, charity, free pattern, free tut)

Diagonal Shell Stitch Corner to Corner Afghan Tut

By request, here’s how to make the corner to corner shell stitch afghan. All photos are clickable.
Use any yarn of choice, and appropriate size hook. I’m using scraps of worstened weight yarn and a 5 mm hook. Finished size can be adjusted depending on how big you make it (which is why it’s a favorite pattern of mine) or how much yarn you have, etc.

Chain 6.

In fourth chain from hook, make one double crochet. In the next two chains, make one more double crochet in each of the two chains. This means you have the turning chain where you skipped your first few chains, and 3 double crochets. This forms your first shell block.

Chain 6.

Make one double crochet in the fourth chain from hook & in the next 2 chain spaces.

Now, turn that first shell a bit, and slip stitch into the very first chain space (where you skipped the very first stitches). Chain 3, and make 3 double crochet into that chain space.

Do you see what we are doing? Each row adds one more “shell”.

Chain 6, double crochet into the 4th chain from the hook & into the next two chains. Turn work, slip into chain space that you skipped on the row before. Chain 3, and make 3 double crochets into the same chain space.

Slip into next chain space, chain 3, and make your 3 double crochets as before.

And just keep going, for as long as you want, changing colors whenever you like/run out of yarn.

The rest of this series will include how to turn the square into a rectangle, and how to do the decreases.

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