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IG Crochet 3: Stitch Galleries & Motifs

Idiot's Guides: Crochet by June Gilbank

This is Day 3 of my week of posts telling you all about my new book, Idiot’s Guides: Crochet, which will be released in 6 days, on 5th August.

For my main intro to the book, how to order your copy, and the other posts in this series, please see my main IG: Crochet info page.

I’ve included two stitch gallery chapters in IG: Crochet, plus a chapter on motifs.

Stitch Galleries

The beauty of crochet is that you can create a huge variety of stitch patterns from a few simple stitches. The Easy Stitch Gallery (Chapter 10) shows you how to create completely different effects using only the most basic stitches: chain, single crochet, half double crochet, and double crochet.

IG Crochet: Easy Stitch Gallery patterns
Easy Stitch Gallery patterns

The Intermediate Stitch Gallery (Chapter 15) demonstrates how you can combine all the crochet stitches you’ve learnt in the previous chapters to create a huge variety of decorative effects, from lacy, open stitch patterns, to densely textured patterns, and everything in between.

IG Crochet: Intermediate Stitch Gallery patterns
Intermediate Stitch Gallery patterns

All my stitch patterns in both chapters include a clear swatch photo, full written instructions, and a charted stitch diagram. If you follow my advice on swatching (see Gauge, p64-67) to make sure you select a hook size that will work with your yarn to produce a fabric you love, you can choose any of these stitch patterns to easily make any rectangular shaped object, such as a dishcloth, a scarf, or a blanket – just pick a stitch pattern and decide how big you want to make it, then start crocheting!

Motifs

And I’ve also included a chapter on Motifs (Chapter 13), with useful info and tips for making perfect motifs, and a selection of 5 patterns: the classic granny square, a solid variant on a granny square, a circle-in-square design, and a granny triangle and hexagon. You’d be amazed how many different formulae there are for making motifs like these, and I used a combination of maths and lots of prototyping to come up with what I consider to be the best patterns for each of these designs, that give the flattest and straightest-edged results, even before blocking.

IG Crochet: Motif patterns
My motif patterns

I alternated between two colours for the rounds in my motifs, to make the pattern as clear as possible for you to follow. All my motif patterns include full round-by-round text instructions (with photos of each round, for those new to motif-making), a charted stitch diagram, and a general pattern for extending the motif to be as large as you want.

And then you can choose any of the joins from the several options I demonstrate in Finishing Techniques (Chapter 9 – my favourite is the Flat Slip-Stitched Seam) to crochet or stitch your motifs together into a blanket, bag, scarf, or whatever else you want!


Check back tomorrow, when I’ll show you the first half of the Gallery of Patterns I designed exclusively for this book!

Note: all images reprinted with permission, Alpha Books, a member of DK.

7 Comments »

  1. Bg ross said

    What is the name of the stitch/pattern in your intermediate stitches, first image, second row? The sort of grey/purple one just before the green basket weave on this site?

    • June said

      I called that one Waffle Stitch – you can find it in Chapter 15 of my book, Idiot’s Guides: Crochet, which you can buy from amazon (here are the direct links – click your country: US, Canada, UK, Germany) or ask your local library if they have a copy you can borrow 🙂

  2. alicia said

    These are my 2 favorite items in your book.

    • June said

      Wow, really? That’s great to hear, Alicia! I wanted to include a bit (well, a lot!) of everything in this book, and I think there’s loads of potential in these chapters for more adventurous crocheters who are happy to figure out what they want to make and then choose a lovely stitch pattern to make it with.

      I’ll be listing all these as stitch patterns on Ravelry, so I hope we’ll be able to see all the projects people make from these patterns! The more projects there are, the more inspiration there’ll be for others considering using these patterns…

  3. Your book looks like it is going to be great. You’ve obviously put a lot of thought into it and planned it very well (just like everything you do). I got my ship notification today, so I will have it by the weekend. (Just in time to be packed into a box for the move. Ugh.)

    • June said

      I hope you can spare 5 mins to have a cup of tea and at least flip through it before you box it up! Good luck with the move…

  4. Jan Young said

    I have your new book on pre-order and can’t wait to get it. The posts giving little glimpses of what is inside are making me even more impatient! I love working from your patterns because they are so wonderfully thorough and everything turns out really well even though I am not yet an experienced crocheter. Thank you for all the trouble you take with your books and your patterns. Crochet is so addictive and it is lovely to know that there is someone like you to guide us newbies along.

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