Spliced Double Crochet and Flax Stitch
Flax Stitch swatch, sport weight cotton (CYC 2), with beads.
Like all great inventions, this one was an accident. One day while working on a pattern, I made a mistake and when I started to pull it out, I realized that, while it wasn’t what I was working on, it was still really nice. I pulled it out but I carefully watched how I’d made the mistake, and then replicated it. It looked familiar, but unfamiliar at the same time. I looked through the books I had easily on hand and didn’t find it. It was time to call in the big guns.
I have this one friend that’s basically a research librarian. If it exists anywhere, in print or online, she can find it, no matter what it is. I took a picture of my new invention and sent it over to her. I said “I may have just invented a stitch?” Her response was “don’t you do this to me”. (This isn’t the first time this has happened. The last time resulted in 2 weeks of fruitless search.) I showed her what I’d done and asked if she had ever seen it. She had not, and her interest was piqued. She began looking for it right away. After a day or so with no results, I sent pictures to a former CGOA president, who also said she could not remember seeing anything like it before. I posted it to a private group of advanced crocheters, people who collect vintage patterns, experimentalists… and no one had ever seen it. It was a bit of a mystery to us. As fiber arts veterans, it’s not easy to show us something we’ve never seen before, so it was pretty exciting when every day would pass and we would all check in, empty handed. After over a week searching, hundreds of books looked through in person and online, and countless parameters searched online, the closest thing we found was in a book from 1915. It was being called Grandmother’s Stitch, and it was still fundamentally different from what I had done. That’s when I decided to give it a name, and that I would call it Spliced Double Crochet.
Flax Stitch
The part of this stitch pattern that’s so unusual and unique is the use of what I have named the spliced double crochet. The spliced double crochet (abbreviated sdc with the numeric indicator as demonstrated below) is made when the double crochet has a base that includes more than one stitch. Typically when stitches are combined to make, for example, dc3tog the process would be *yo, insert hook in indicated st, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 2, rep from * two more times leaving 4 loops on the hook, then yo, pull through all 4 loops. With the spliced double crochet, the process is a bit different.
To make a spliced double crochet over 3 stitches (abbreviated s3dc), yarn over, insert hook in indicated stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop. This leaves 7 loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through 6 loops, leaving 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through last 2 loops and your s3dc is complete. It is very similar to making hdc3tog, except there’s another yarn over at the end before the stitch is complete.
Flax stitch is a stitch pattern that is created when s3dc and 3dc are repeated in alternating rows with an adequate number of chains between each s3dc. To work your swatch and practice this elegant, vintage-inspired stitch, get yourself some yarn and an appropriate hook, and let’s get started!
Ch 26
Row 1: in 5th ch from hook, s3dc over next 3 ch, *ch 3, s3dc over next 3 st, rep from * to last 4 ch, work s3dc, ch 1, dc in last ch, ch 3, turn.
Row 2: dc 3 in each s3dc across, dc 1 in top of turning ch from prev row, ch 4, turn.
Row 3: s3dc over next 3 dc, *ch 3, s3dc, rep from * to last 4 dc, s3dc, ch 1, dc in last dc, ch 3, turn.
Rows 4-9: rep rows 2-3
My example above has beads to demonstrate the versatility of the stitch. If you would like to use beads as well, the best places to add them are when closing the stitch (as shown on the lower row of beadwork) and after the ch 3 (as shown on the top row of beadwork).
Grandmother’s Stitch, Sunlight Yarns leaflet, 1915, courtesy of Amber Paul.
Flax stitch has a number of practical applications. The stitch pattern has a vintage feel that would look great in garments, blankets, or accessories. It can be dressed up with beads or fringe and is still beautiful unadorned.
I am putting this stitch out in the world for anyone to use in any of your projects. Please do not reproduce these instructions or claim them as your own, but you may use the stitch in patterns that you write.