I’ve enjoyed doing the Thermal Stitch for quite a few years now. Last month, Heather (on my YouTube channel) asked if I could make a video showing how to do a potholder in Thermal Stitch with 2 different colored sides. I thought about it and I’ve been playing around with it for a few weeks now. However, I took it to another level! I’m happy to introduce the marriage of Tapestry Crochet with the Thermal Stitch in my new YouTube video and my new Tapestry Thermal Stitch Potholders and Coasters patterns!
If you’ve ever done the Thermal Stitch, you know that you insert your hook in a completely different place than in regular crochet. And if you’ve ever done Tapestry Crochet, you know that you carry the unused yarn under the stitches you’re working and change colors across the row, as needed. So when I thought about doing color changes in Thermal Stitch, I immediately thought about using the Tapestry Crochet technique! And it works!!!
If you’d like to take your Thermal Stitch projects to the next level with designs on one or both sides, watch my YouTube video.
And if you’d like to give Tapestry Thermal Stitch a try, check out my new Tapestry Thermal Stitch Potholders and Coasters patterns on the crochet patterns page.
Do you love the look of Mosaic Crochet, but wish it was reversible? Well now it is, with no extra work!
I’ve been having fun with a hybrid style of Mosaic Crochet using Spike DC stitches (SPdc for short). With this style of Mosaic Crochet, you still work 1 row of each color and each row on the right side, like Overlay Mosaic Crochet. You work chain spaces, like in Inset Mosaic Crochet, but you only work 1 row of each color. Instead of working your dc, drop down dc, Anchored dc (or whatever you want to call them) in front of the other stitches, you work your Spike DC stitch “around” the other stitches, which makes your projects reversible!
Reversible Sashiko Mosaic Crochet Rug
I also have a brand new Mosaic Crochet pattern using the Spike DC Mosaic Crochet technique. This pattern is my Reversible Sashiko Mosaic Crochet Rug. It uses some Lion Brand Thick & Quick yarn, along with some Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn that I’ve had in my stash for several years.
When I saw this Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn in the Hudson Bay color at my local Walmart store, I knew I had to design something special with it. I used this yarn, along with 3 coordinating solid colors of Lion Brand Hometown USA to design and crochet my Reversible Sashiko Mosaic Crochet Rug pattern. This pattern shows the contrast between the solid, dark colors and the lighter, multi-colored yarn perfectly!
You may ask me why I used the word “Sashiko” in the name of this pattern. Well, I’ve been looking at and playing/designing with Japanese Sashiko embroidery patterns for several years now and I LOVE them!!! They’re mostly geometric, which I LOVE! I’ve got more Sashiko crochet patterns in the works, so stay tuned for those in the near future. I’ve even started learning to do Sashiko embroidery! What fun!!!
So back to my new rug pattern. It’s made with 5 skeins of yarn: 2 skeins of the LB Wool-Ease Thick & Quick and 3 skeins of the LB Hometown USA (1 skein in each of the 3 solid coordinating colors). I used a size “N” crochet hook, which is 10 mm. I started and ended each row, turning the tails into fringe after crocheting all the rows of the rug. I absolutely love this rug being reversible!
To learn this technique, watch my new YouTube video, where I demonstrate the Spike DC Mosaic Crochet technique.
I also created a FREE download for a Spike DC Mosaic Crochet swatch that I demonstrate in the YouTube video. You can download the free chart, along with instructions for working the swatch with either my COM technique (with very little tails) or with traditional Mosaic Crochet, starting and ending each row (with 2 tails for each row).
I hope you’ll give this Spike DC Mosaic Crochet technique a try very soon. It’s a fabulous technique for crocheting reversible Mosaic Crochet projects with no extra effort!
