Lattice Wedge Stitch and Mock Cable Lattice
While experimenting with my last stitch, I discovered another one. Surprise! But before I go much farther, I have to acknowledge that this is the most complicated stitch I have ever tried to quantify. It’s not that MAKING the stitch is extremely difficult (it’s intuitive enough, but only if you already know what you’re doing), it’s that explaining what I have done eludes the language we currently have to describe it. Imagine trying to tell someone to put their hand in their pocket without knowing the word for “pocket”. Right?? I have shown it to several tech editors, many designers, a myriad of hobbyists and they all come back to me with blank faces and shrugs. This stitch has given me so much grief, and even now, as I type this, I am questioning the description I have given for it because… well. You’ll see.
I don’t like to give stitches names until I can explain, in technical terms, exactly what it is, and why it works, and the only way I can do that in this case is a nearly mathematical formula of stitches. It’s a combination stitch of two combination stitches. The formula is ((dc2tog)+(dcetrtog)). That is double crochet two together and double crochet and extended triple crochet together… together. Or at least that’s what it is in American terms.
A triple crochet is traditionally worked by doing yo 2x, insert hook in indicated st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, pull through 2. An extended triple crochet is worked by doing yo 2x, insert hook, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 1, yo, pull through 2, yo, pull through 2, yo, pull through 2. What we are going to do here is a little different. We aren’t QUITE doing an etr, but it is a variation on that stitch. What we will essentially be doing is yo 2x, insert hook in indicated st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, pull through 1, yo pull through 2, yo pull through 2, but we are going to do that very gradually and by the time we’ve done it, you won’t even realize that’s what has happened. Here’s how it’s done:
This is my Holy Roman Empire.
Yo 2x, insert hook in indicated st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2. You now have 6 loops on your hook. Yo, pull through 2 five times. You should have something that looks like a wedge. This is the Lattice Wedge.
It resembles three double crochet stitches of increasing height and an extended triple crochet, but with stitch height you could never achieve by doing those stitches separately. Upon further examination, you’ll notice the top of the stitch looks like tunisian crochet, and the bars that you see are what we are going to use as the base of the rest of the stitch pattern. But let’s stop right here and really think about what we’ve just done. What is that? Is it double crochet? Is it a variation of triple crochet? Is it a variation on the spliced triple crochet? Is it tunisian? Am I overthinking is?? What is it??? Now you see what has kept me awake some nights.
Your hook should now be all the way back at the rightmost side of the stitch (leftmost if you’re lefthanded), so we need to work our way back to the opposite side. Looking at the three vertical bars in the center, beginning in the vertical bar closest to the hook, work sc. Work hdc in next, and dc in the third. You have completed the mock cable lattice. When worked in rows, this gives the appearance of a lightly textured cable.
Are you ready to give this new, never-before-documented stitch a try? Heck yeah you are. Grab your hook and any ol’ yarn and let’s get it.
Mock Cable Lattice
Chain 4 counts as first tr
Ch 21
Row 1: In 5th ch from hook [yo 2x, insert hook in st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next ch, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next ch, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next ch, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, (yo, pull through 2) five times. Sc in first vertical bar, hdc in next vertical bar, dc in next vertical bar] 4 times, tr in last dc, ch 4, turn.
Rows 2-8: [yo 2x, insert hook in next dc, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next hdc, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next sc, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, yo, insert hook in next etr, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, (yo, pull through 2) five times. Sc in first vertical bar, hdc in next vertical bar, dc in next vertical bar] 4 times, tr in last dc, ch 4, turn.
Over the coming months, I will be writing and releasing patterns that incorporate my new stitches, so be sure to keep an eye out for them! I encourage you to use the stitch in patterns that you write and, as always, I look forward to seeing what you do with them, but please do not claim this stitch as your own. Please share pictures or tag me on social media when you do! There is nothing I love more than seeing designs my work inspired out there in the wild. Let me know what you thought of this stitch pattern and how you plan to use it!