PIQF 2012 - part 3

Let me start out by saying that I am *not* a crocheter!  However, there are times when I do want to crochet an edging.  It's always amusing to see me look for my reference documents and fumble through those first few stitches so I can get to the part where I remember, 'Oh yeah .. this is how you do it!".  :-)

Lately, I've been wanting to crochet an edging around a fleece blanket.  Everything I've seen shows the yarn being poked through holes in the edge of the fleece.  How the heck did the HOLES get there?  Do you manually pierce the fleece hole by hole?  If so, how would you keep a regular distance between the holes so the edging looked nice?

Well, a solution presented itself.

One of the vendors had these interesting rotary cutter blades that produced skipped stitches.  Sadly, I don't remember which vendor it was and their name isn't on the register receipt.  The rotary blade is from Skip-Stitch (perforating rotary blade).  It's a standard rotary blade with notches punched along the edge.  These notches leave a regularly spaced cutting edge that makes the holes/slits.

*This* is the tool that makes life easier. :-)


The vendor had 3 different versions of the blade, each one producing holes/slits at a different distance apart.  I had absolutely NO idea which blade was appropriate for what application, so I chose the middle blade, a #2.  This blade produces a hole/slit about 1/4" apart; that seemed a reasonable spacing for fleece.  (I really didn't have any idea and the vendor wasn't able to give any advice.)

Back on the home front, I pulled out a scrap of fleece, ran the blade along the edge, about 1/4" away.  As no directions came with the blade, I had no idea how far away to place the holes/slits.  It did seem to me that the 1/4" distance from the cut edge might not be enough to hold the stitch from eventually pulling through .. but ... remember, I didn't have a clue.

Pulling out my reference pages, I happily put in a row of foundation stitches and then some picots on top of that.  Oh my!  Aren't we getting fancy??!  :-)

Sure enough, that 1/4" from the edge wasn't right.  I eventually found out that the correct distance is 3/4", which allows a fold-over amount that you crochet over.
 
THEN it  occurred to me ... hey ... maybe the labeling from the blade has a website URL!  By golly it did!  Capt Obvious, at your service.  :-)

www.skipstitch.com is the place! Thankfully, they have instructions on how to use the blade effectively  AND they have explanations for what each blade was designed for.  Turns out that my #2 blade is meant for lighter fabrics such as flannel and to accommodate lighter yarns and  smaller hooks.  Well, who knew?  (The #2 seems to work nicely on my fleece sample but I suppose the original blade makes the holes/slits a little further apart, which might be desirable for fleece.. but then, what do I know?  I'll be using what I have. :-)  )

 I also found a wonderful beginner's video using the skip-stitch blade to create the holes/slits in fleece and then to crochet an edging.  This video is done by the North & Central Chicagoland Chapter of Project Linus ... so thank you, ladies, for producing a video aimed at us beginners!

If you can't find a source for these blades locally, they can be ordered from the Skip-Stitch website.

Now I have another Forever Project lined up, once I finish the current one.  :-)