In Part I of this two-part series, Annette introduced us to the idea of creating and maintaining our very own stitch dictionaries. In Part II, she shares some of her own entries, and further illuminates why this endeavour is so fulfilling.

So, what's in your box?

A lot of things. Here are

just a few examples of easy variations of very simple stitches.

Crumpled Griddle Stitch

This is, I believe, the most commonly used name for a simple stitch made up of double crochets (UK trebles) and single crochet (UK double crochet). Over any number of stitches (the books say a multiple of two, but I say any number of stitches) you alternate 1 double crochet, 1 single crochet, 1 double crochet, 1 single crochet and so on. You turn your work, and make double crochets in the single crochets in the row below, and, yes, you've guessed it, single crochets in the double crochets in the row below.

You get a slightly bumpy fabric which looks something like this.

Can't you imagine this soft, yet firm, fabric made up into a tailored jacket, Chanel-style?

So, what else can we do with this very simple stitch? We can try some colour, using three different shades. This is a very useful and common way to use colour in crochet, because with three colours, you just carry the yarns up along the sides of your fabric, picking them up as you need them, which of course minimizes the number of ends to weave in when you're finished.

The Crumpled Griddle Stitch can look like this in one of a zillion possible colour combinations:

Looks intricate, don't you think? You don't have to tell anyone how simple it actually is: no more nor less than stripes, one row of each colour – the stitch structure does the rest. Still thinking about my tailored jacket (or why not a loose-fitting tunic, if that's more appealing to you?), I think that a couple of three-coloured rows at the bottom borders of the garment (body and sleeves) would look great. My personal preference would perhaps be to continue working the main part of the garment in the darkest of the three colours – your own preference might be entirely different.

Looking closer at the three-colour combination, I started to wonder what it would look like if I'd alternate only two colours, changing colour in the beginning of every row.

This means you can't just work back and forth, carrying the different colours up as you go – because when you come to the end of a row, the colour you want to switch to is on the other side of the piece you're working on. So what do you do? Cut the yarn at the end of every row and break down in despair when you have to weave all those ends in? (And also run the risk of running out of yarn, since you will use a lot of extra yarn when cutting it so often?)

Of course not. This is crochet. In crochet, everything is possible. If you have a safety pin, that is.

Work one row with colour A. When you have worked the last stitch on the row, put your safety pin in the loop on your hook and secure it. Take out the hook from the loop. Don't turn your work. Instead, go back to the beginning of the row, and through the first stitch, pick up colour B. If you count the turning chain as a stitch, make your turning chain (3, 2 or 1 chain, as appropriate, depending on the stitch you are "replacing" with the turning chain) and make the first "real" stitch in the second stitch in the row below. If you don't count the turning chain as a stitch (which is my personal preference, for various reasons), work your turning chain first, and then the first stitch with colour B in the first stitch in the row below (which is the place where you just picked up your new colour).

Make your row with colour B and stop just before making the last stitch in the row. Put your hook through the loops in this last stitch as usual, but before you pick up your yarn to complete your stitch, put the hook also through the loop on the safety pin. Yarn over, pull through – and the loop of colour A you left on the safety pin is now secured. You can take out your safety pin, tighten the loop and finish your stitch. You change colours as you usually do, turn your work and continue as above.

This way of working might feel a little awkward in the beginning, but it is very easy to get used to it. When you have worked the first two rows in Crumpled Griddle Stitch in the way described above, you will really think I'm mad to suggest this technique, because the result looks like – nothing. Keep on stitching. After a few more completed rows will emerge…

… a dogstooth pattern!

Granite Stitch

This is another combination of two simple stitches: single crochet (UK double crochet) and chains. Over any number of stitches you make: 1 single crochet, 1 chain, skip one stitch, 1 single crochet, 1 chain, skip one stitch, and so on. The only thing you have to think about is to always start and end the rows with a single crochet, even if the stitch before was a single crochet too.

When you work back, you work single crochets in the chain spaces (which means you put your hook under the chain from the row before) and chains "over" the single crochets, which you skip.

I've also seen this called an "off-set mesh pattern", and it can, of course be worked with any stitch plus chains (half double crochet, double crochet and so on). I like it a lot with single crochet though, since it makes a solid fabric which is still soft and drapey, because of the "built-in" spaces.

In a single colour, it can look like this:

If you like playing with stripes, I suggest you try it using this stitch. It produces jagged stripes, which can add a little subtlety to the stripe fun. Here is a sample where I tried stripes as a means of gradually switching from one colour to the other:

(When working a single row in another colour, you will of course use the safety-pin technique described above).

When worked in three rather close shades, this stitch looks like some kind of subtle tweed, like in this jacket I made for my son (size 3 months).

(Yes, the button band is knitted)

And here's another jacket for my son, same size, where I used all the variations described above!

OK, OK, I digress, these are finished garments and not samples in my box. But here is a brand new addition to my own stitch dictionary, where I've tried something I had been thinking about for a while - diagonal stripes in granite stitch:

This is, of course, only the latest variation I've tried of this simple stitch – certainly not the last. One new addition to the simple box I gradually transform into a treasure chest while building my very own stitch dictionary.