Crochet uses about one-third more yarn than the same piece knitted. Crochet is unique, as most of the stitches done by hand cannot be accomplished by a machine. Crochet is reversible, sometimes with different patterns on each side. For every knitters there are 10 people who crochet. For every crocheters, there are 10 people who do tricot crochet.
It is easiest to learn and see new stitches with a lighter coloured yarn, or working with two colors in alternating rows. Experiment with a variety of yarns and colors; make samples with these to get the feel of the yarn.
This is an opportunity to be your own designer. Dishcloths and scarves are nothing more than squares and rectangles, and can be made in any stitch of your choice. If you learn to make increases and decreases or work in short rows you can add more shape to a basic square or rectangle.
Release your creativity. Railway Knitting samples or small projects of 10 to 15 stitches can be made on a regular crochet hook. For wider projects afghan hooks come in various lengths from 8 inches to 16 inches.
Double-ended hooks are used for working in the round, or for two-sided projects. Hooks come in steel, aluminum, plastic, or wood, and some have a cable attachment for wider projects. A few ivory or bone hooks have survived from the 19th century. The most influential part of the hook size is its diameter, marked in millimetres. The smaller hooks such as 1. Sizes 4 to 6. Hook diameter can run up to 25 and 50 mm for mega crochet.
Make a sample or swatch: Test your yarn, your hook size and the stitch pattern by making a small square or rectangle. The ball band will suggest a needle or hook size for the yarn. For Railway Knitting, choose a hook 2 to 3 mm larger than the recommended size, as the fabric you make is thicker than regular knit or crochet.
If the yarn will shrink, wash your sample in the washer and dryer to see by how much. Trace the sample dimensions onto a piece of paper before washing, and again after drying it. If it is too stiff or too small, make another sample with a larger hook or a more open, lacy stitch. Make yourself comfortable: Sit in a comfortable place, with good lighting. Take a break about every 20 minutes to stretch your shoulders, your hands and fingers.
The hardest part of learning to crochet is the first row. Next is keeping the same number of stitches in every row, and third is counting the rows and stitches.
Crochet begins with a slip stitch placed onto a hook, and a row of chained stitches. The chain row has a front side and a back side; when this chain row hangs down vertically from the hook held horizontally, the front of the stitch will look like a V and the back side will have a bump called a camel hump.
Each V below the hook each counts as one stitch the loop on the hook does not count as a stitch. Make this first row loose enough to be able to insert your hook into it later. A very tight chain is useful as a drawstring; if you chain tightly, use a larger hook to make this first chain and then change to a size smaller for the rest of the project. The working yarn will travel into and through the stitches you make in each row.
To make a chain stitch, wrap the yarn around the hook YRH like a scarf around the throat, coming around the back of the hook, then under the chin of the hook, and pull the yarn through the loop on the hook. When you have a chain the length you want, begin your first row, called the foundation row in Railway Knitting.
This row is a base row, and differs slightly from the rest of the rows to come. The aim is to pick up and collect loops in a forward pass row by working into the chain stitches so that you end up with the same number of loops on your hook as the number of stitches in the chain.
The single loop on your hook is the first stitch of the forward pass row. It comes out of, or lives in, the first chain beside the hook. Position your chain row horizontally, front facing you. Insert your hook under the top loop of the second chain from the hook, YRH, and pull this yarn through the chain. You now have 2 loops on the hook.
Continue to pick up loops this way until the end of the chain. You will be working from east to west if you are right-handed and from west to east if you are left-handed. Count the loops on the hook. If this is correct, continue to the second part of the row. To remove all the loops off the hook, one at a time, the second part of the row is called the return pass. This is worked the same as a chain row, which captures and locks each loop into place like linking rail cars, on its way back to the end where you started your first row.
Begin the return pass by hooking the yarn YRH and pulling it through the first stitch. This removes the end stitch from the hook. From here on you will yarn over YRH and pull through two stitches each time.
The first of these stitches is part of the chain; the second stitch is a vertical loop. At the end of the row you will have one stitch left on the hook, which is the first stitch of the next forward pass row.
As you tighten it up again, the working yarn will show itself coming out of the back end of the last stitch worked. On the forward pass the travelling yarn will have one loop lying above it, the last vertical stitch worked. On the return pass, there are two loops lying above the travelling yarn and the last stitch worked is a horizontal chain.
If in doubt, count the completed rows below each side of the stop. When two trains meet at the Hornepayne station, one train will always pull out before the second arrives, making sure no passenger goes the wrong way.
You can work any combination of these options into a pattern repeat. The loops on the hook are the front vertical and back vertical parts of the stitch created on the forward pass. The return pass created a horizontal chain with sideways Vees and camel humps.
These are the upper horizontal, lower horizontal and back horizontal parts of the stitch. There is a narrow gap between the front and back vertical bars of the same stitch, there is a wider gap between two vertical stitches.
All of these areas present opportunities to create a pattern by repeating the same hook insertion. These stitch options will be described in the next section. Fabric at the first stitch end of the forward pass will tend to be loose. You can pull on this first stitch each time you reach that end, to tighten it up. The last stitch of the forward pass can be picked up with two threads on the outside of the stitch, the front vertical, and the lower horizontal, which curves like an arch from the bottom of that stitch to reach the centre bottom of the return pass of the previous row.
This will create an edge that appears like a row of chain stitches. Fabric at this edge of the row will often be tighter than the starting edge. Work this end stitch a bit more loosely to compensate. The completed fabric piece may still lean left or right depending on the stitches used. Work an edge of single crochet stitches around the full outside edge to finish the fabric. This will draw the looser edge in.
The finished last stitch forward project is often blocked, pinned to shape and dampened to its preferred dimensions. Working a stitch in the new row will change the appearance of the previous row. The workbook begins with the basics and then invites you to experiment with techniques such as Tunisian Mobius, Tunisian Delink and Tunisian Wobbel.
The clear instructions will provide crocheters and knitters of all skill levels the opportunity to imagine and create. Explore and discover for yourself how much fun Railway Knitting can be. Whether she is on board a train or a ferry, or at a community event, Dela encourages others to pick up a hook and some yarn and try a few stitches. Her user name on Ravelry is Lifecare. Dela is retired and lives in Victoria, BC, Canada. Support our self-published authors and buy directly from FriesenPress.
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