What Stitch Should I Choose?
My patterns are a bit…non-traditional? They are generally images from various fandoms, rather than repeated motifs that are usually used in colorwork. As I have converted my knitting patterns to charts that can be used with crochet, I did quite a bit of research on crochet colorwork techniques. All five of the following stitches are potential candidates for your projects, depending on your level of experience and whether you are working on a scarf or blanket.
Double Knitting
This is my absolute favorite stitch for scarves. I also use it for blankets on occasion. All of my scarf patterns are designed for double knitting first. I can highly recommend learning this stitch!
Pros
- Fully reversible. The back is the same as the front, just with reversed colors. The color changes are totally hidden in between the fabric layers- there are no visible floats. For a scarf, this is particularly important.
- No bobbins required!
- Lies totally flat. I never have to block my double knitting.
- With some slight tweaks, letters can be read the right way around on both sides of the scarf. This is not possible with any crochet stitch that I have found.
- Using the same technique, you can actually have a completely different pattern on each side (see my Weeping Angel pattern as an example).
Cons
- Since you are literally knitting two layers at the same time, and each chart square is actually two stitches, some people (even knitters) find double knitting very time consuming and tedious.
- While this technique would be totally fine for a blanket, I would probably use a non-reversible stitch and make only one layer, then line the back with fleece. It would be faster and use less yarn.
- While possible, this technique is very difficult to pull off when using more than two colors.
Tapestry Crochet
This first crochet option will be the most straightforward out of all of the stitches. In tapestry crochet, you make single crochet stitches over the unused color. In the example swatch, I literally carried the unused strand throughout the entire project. You could use bobbins to clean up the background a bit, but it isn’t necessary.
Pros
- Fully reversible!
- Only uses sc stitches, so even beginner crocheters could tackle it.
- Easy color changes. Although bobbins will prevent the unused color from peeking through, they aren’t necessary.
- Doesn’t require a lot of blocking.
Cons
- Out of all of my sample swatches, this one was the most pixelated. The image just looks a bit jagged. That being said, if you don’t line it up with the other samples, it still looks okay!
- It is hard to tell from the images, but the unused color peeks through the stitches- especially in the places where the white was worked over the orange.
Specs
Swatch made with Cascade Heritage (fingering weight).
41 stitches x 55 rows= 5.75″ x 7.5″ using a 3.25 mm hook.
Tutorials:
Tapestry Crochet- BLO
This crochet option is a tapestry crochet variant. Instead of working through both loops, you only work into the back loop of each stitch. This helps to straighten the stitches out so that they are less jagged. You also only work with the front side of the project facing you, and cut the yarn after every row instead of turning the work. This results in a lot of ends- you can either leave them as a fringe, or work them into a border. This is my preferred crochet technique for charts, as the color changes are still easy, but the image is quite clear.
Pros
- Mostly reversible. There is an obvious back, but there are no floats and you can still tell what the image is (the carried color only shows on the backside, not on the front).
- Uses only sc stitches, so even beginners can tackle it.
- Color changes are very easy- no bobbins required!
- Drapes really nicely
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Cons
- The fringe. Cutting and reattaching the yarn every row is not super efficient, and I really don’t love fringe. There is a way to work it into an edge, but that is an extra step.
- If you are making a scarf, you can work the scarf lengthwise so that you contain the fringe to just the short ends (I worked the example swatch lengthwise for this reason). However, if you are making blanket squares or a multicolored scarf, you will have to figure out a way to deal with the fringe before you can attach the squares together.
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Specs
Swatch made with Cascade Heritage (fingering weight).
41 stitches x 55 rows= 6.5″ x 7.5″ using a 3.25 mm hook.
(You can search for “mosaic crochet border tutorial” to find more techniques. It is another type of crochet stitch that results in fringe.)
(easier way to chain several hundred stitches in case you are working a scarf the long way)
Tapestry Crochet- Wide
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Pros
- Fully reversible!
- Only uses sc stitches, so even beginner crocheters could tackle it.
- Easy color changes. Although bobbins will prevent the unused color from peeking through, they aren’t necessary.
- Doesn’t require a lot of blocking.
Cons
- Out of all of my sample swatches, this one was the most pixelated. The image just looks a bit jagged. That being said, if you don’t line it up with the other samples, it still looks okay!
- It is hard to tell from the images, but the unused color peeks through the stitches- especially in the places where the white was worked over the orange.
Specs
Swatch made with Cascade Heritage (fingering weight).
41 stitches x 55 rows= 5.75″ x 7.5″ using a 3.25 mm hook.
Tutorials:
Tunisian Crochet
Tunisian crochet is an interesting case. While it IS a crochet stitch, for most people, their tunisian stitches are taller than they are wide, so it doesn’t work with a crochet chart that has square stitches. So…if your tunisian stitches happen to be rectangular, you actually need to buy the KNIT version of each pattern, and turn them sideways (knitting stitches are longer than they are tall). For a scarf, this means that you have to have a circular tunisian hook, since you will have to work several hundred stitches at a time. If your tunisian stitches actually are square, go ahead and use the crochet version of the pattern widthwise in the normal fashion.
Pros
- Front side faces you throughout the project. Your yarn strands don’t get twisted as badly since you don’t have to flip the project back and forth.
- Better option when using more than two colors.
- Super clean image on the right side. If you are making a pillow or lined blanket, this would be a decent choice.
- If you can’t manage to get square tunisian stitches, you can flip a knitting pattern sideways and still make a great image!
Cons
- Not reversible. The back is covered in floats. You could technically get rid of the floats, but depending on which pattern you are making, it may require a decent number of bobbins.
- Tunisian colorwork is not a stitch that I would recommend for beginners. It is super easy to get all tangled up.
- Requires extensive blocking- even after steam blocking, you can see the corners are still trying to curl.
Specs
Swatch made with Cascade Heritage (fingering weight).
41 stitches x 64 rows= 6.5″ x 7.5″ using a 3.5 mm hook.
For this sample, I used three bobbins- one for each border, and one for the actual image. I also used the knitting pattern flipped on it’s side, since this combo of yarn and hook made rectangular stitches. If you have square tunisian stitches, use the crochet pattern in the normal direction 🙂
Tunisian Crochet + Cross Stitch
Turns out that tunisian crochet naturally creates tiny holes that are perfect for cross stitching (if you find a gauge that results in a square grid, of course). There are some old school afghan patterns that use this technique. So for my final test, I made a rectangle of tunisian, then literally used the chart for cross stitching. Great option for those who don’t want to crochet with two strands of yarn.
Pros
- You only have to handle one color at a time.
- Cross stitching? I’m listing this as a pro because I like cross stitching, but if you hate it, then this should go in the cons column.
- Great for multiple colors and complex patterns, since you hand stitch all of the colorwork.Â
Cons
- Not reversible.
- Needs lots of blocking.
- Takes a decent amount of time to hand stitch the entire pattern. It was fun for this one square, but I don’t think I would want to do an entire blanket.
Specs
Swatch made with Cascade Heritage (fingering weight).
41 stitches x 55 rows= 7″ x 9.5″ using a 4.5 mm hook.
**When doing a gauge swatch for this one, the stitch shape doesn’t matter as much as the holes for the cross stitches forming perfect squares.
Tutorials:
C2C
The final option is a C2C project, which stands for “corner to corner”. There are different sized stitches that can be used with the C2C technique depending on how big you want the finished project to be. Depending on the chart, this is a fantastic option for reversible blankets. The stitches are too big for smaller projects like scarves. I personally have never attempted C2C, so I don’t have any example Eevee photos. But I know that some crocheters love it!
Pros
- Fully reversible!
- Great option for making blanket sized projects.
Cons
- The stitches required are fairly straightforward. But the color changing and bobbins can get quite complex depending on the pattern. This may be a bit challenging for brand new crocheters.
- Depending on the size of your pixels, this stitch will probably be too large for scarves.
- Bobbin management! My designs are on the more complex size, sorry….there are a LOT of ends to deal with.
Specs
The video link below is for regular C2C. There is also a mini C2C stitch that is essentially the same, you just use hdc and shorter chains instead of dc. This makes the squares smaller, so you can manipulate the size of your finished project.
Tutorials: