My oldest son’s great grandmother crocheted a blanket for him while I was pregnant. The entire thing is just one stitch and the border is a simple 5 rows of single crochet. It’s gloriously simple and oh so beautiful. When I finally learned to crochet, I knew I’d want to make a blanket just like it. I didn’t have the pattern and great Grandma said she crocheted it from memory–it was her go to stitch pattern and she would make several a year for any new babies who entered her life.
I STILL wanted to make it, though. So, I just sat with it for a few minutes and counted and came up with the stitch pattern. I crocheted a giant baby blanket for my cousin’s first born back in 2007 using it (you can see it stuffed in a basket of handmade baby goodies, here), but for some reason or another, I didn’t write up the pattern to share.
Yesterday, I got an email asking about it (you can see it in the background of my one-hour neckwarmer pattern) and so I decided to pull out the baby blanket and write up a proper stitch pattern. If you’re familiar with a more traditional name for it, please do let me know. It’s like a shell stitch pattern, but it’s not quite the same, hence the “offset.” Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
Ch any multiple of 4
Row 1: [2 DC, ch 1, DC] in 4th Ch from hook, *skip 3 Ch, [3 DC, ch 1, DC] in next Ch; Rep from * across chain. Ch 3, turn.
Row 2: [2 DC, ch 1, DC] in the first ch-1 space, [3 DC, ch 1, DC] in all ch-1 spaces, except the last. 3 DC in last ch-1 space, Ch 1, DC into top of beginning ch-3 of previous row. Ch 3, turn.
Repeat Row 2 until scarf if as long as you would like it to be.
Using some worsted (aran) weight yarn and a 5.5mm hook, make a scarf or neckwarmer by chaining 28 or 32. Make a baby blanket by chaining something substantially larger, like 160. It’s surprisingly fast, once you get going.
Like I said above, if you know what this stitch is called or have any other reference for it, let me know!
Love it!!
We just moved to Irish seaside and this is just the inspiration I needed for a new blanket.
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I like this stitch :) thanks for sharing!
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how do you finish the blanket? Do you do some sort of border?
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My Aunt has a blanket like this that a coworker made, she calls it an angel wing blanket. She says she thinks the pattern looks like an angel’s wing out stretched.
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my aunt just made little miss a blanket super similar! i didn’t have time to go over and learn the stitch on our last visit and have been wanting to make a big one for my bed…. i’m SO HAPPY to have seen it here! thanks so much, i’ve read through your whole progress and it looks great! i think it’ll be my gift to myself and i’ll crochet it during our christmas road trip. love.
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Beautiful stitch. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing. I’m going to start one tomorrow.
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Hi there,
I’m just wondering how you would increase and decrease using this stitch?
Thanks :)
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Lisa
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August 25th, 2012 at 10:57 am
Hi!
I have no idea! I have only used it for blankets.
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I am using it for a scarf with pockets and a collar I am making….no pattern just using pieces of others…..
This pattern is in groups of 4 so you would add 4Chains and then do the pattern to the last one….
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Hi Lisa,
I printed this pattern in October 2012 to make a very special blanket… while keeping an eye out for the ‘stitch’. This past week, I bought 3 crochet books and found the ‘stitch’ in one of them. It is named MARIELLE. Multiple of 4 sts but instead of using DC, the pattern is using trebles, and ch 2 (instead of ch 1), then dc for the foundation row. Row 1 goes Ch 3, *(2tr, ch 2, 1 dc) in the nxt ch-2 sp, rep from * across, 1 tr in top of turning ch, turn. Repeat row 1 for pattern. It makes a very airy lacy (see-through) fabric. I prefer your pattern for a blanket. Thank you for sharing your pattern with us.
The crochet book is : The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet, Margaret Hubert, page 98. CREATIVE PUBLISHING INTERNATIONAL (Minneapolis, Minessota = http://WWW.creativepub.com
Also, I have seen the same stitch but it is 3 dc, ch 1 or ch 2, 1 dc in a pattern by Red Heart yarns that FaveCrafts is distributing on the web for free.
I hope this information is helpful.
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In Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet, at page 146, the stitch is named ”Asymmetrical Shell”, with chain a multiple of 7 stitches + 1. Part of the pattern reads like this : 4 dcs, ch 2, dc. It is the exact same stitch, except that there are 4 dcs instead of 3.
The Red Heart Yarns pattern that I saw on the web is using the ”Asymmetrical Shell”, i.e. : 4 dcs, ch 1 or ch 2, dc.
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