We thought we’d start a new, regular feature post to show off some of the Valley Yarns Patterns that we love. First up is my personal favorite from our e-Book Soft Landing, the Hen Plaid Wrap.

This cozy shawl takes advantage of the next-to-the-skin softness of Valley Yarns Goshen and combines a neutral and jewel tone palette for versatile wearability. The construction of this simple plaid couldn’t be easier! Knit in mostly stockinette with an occasional stacked purl, horizontal stripes are added as you knit and the vertical stripes are added afterwards with surface crochet in the purl ditches. And don’t worry about having ends to weave in from the color changes, those become part of the fringe.

Check out our video tutorial for this technique!

This week we’re focusing on Surface Crochet. This is a great technique to use with both knit and crochet fabrics.  In its simplest form it’s a chain of slip stitches that appears on the surface of your fabric. It can be used for simple stripes or for more complex and free-form shapes.

This tutorial video shows you how to add vertical stripes to your knitting, and when combined with horizontal stripes it forms a simple plaid, the technique is used in two projects from our Soft Landing e-Book, the Hen Plaid Wrap and the Viola Plaid Pillow

This video shows you how the technique can also be used to create unique shapes, allowing you to draw on the surface of your project and it’s easy to accomplish. The Sprig Mittens are adorned with whimsical flowers but with surface crochet you could add almost any image.

The Nordic Tiles scarf features floating squares that are joined by simple lines of surface crochet along 2 edges and through the center.

Have you ever tried surface crochet?