How to Crochet a Faux Bullion Stitch Two Ways

I recently discovered the bullion stitch.  I love that I'm always finding new stitches and techniques to try but some of them are a real mess.  It looks amazing, but it's such a huge pain to make that I doubt I will be using them for anything extensive in the near future.  Mine were coming out looking like demented little tornadoes with all the loops popping off.

So here are two ways I've come up with to make a bullion-looking stitch without so much hassle:

1. The yarn over/horizontal puff stitch method

One row complete

Three rows complete

This looks pretty similar to the bullion stitch and you can adjust the height and how many loops you want wrapped around it.  You may have to poke the yarn on top a bit to get the loops into perfect position.  You can see on my little swatch that you have some half-looking loops, but that is fully correctable.  I didn't do anything fancy here, just worked three rows and worked each stitch in between the two below it, but you could work them right on top of each other and also include a single crochet or half double crochet row between the bullion stitches depending on how you want it to look.  I think it looks like a lot of little blue captain crunches.

This method is worked very similarly to how you would make a puff stitch, a lot of yarn overs and pulling loops up into the same space.  The difference here is that instead of working directly into a stitch from the row below, you'll make a chain and work around the chain as if you're doing a post stitch.  I have a lot of notes in the 'pattern' below because you can make a ton of variations for this depending on how you want to do it.

Directions: I started by chaining an odd number so that I would have a chain to skip between each stitch as these are bulky. (You could also make a single crochet foundation row that might be a little easier to work into.)  After the last chain, chain 3 more (or chain a lot more if you want a super tall stitch - it's totally up to you!) that will act as your first post.  Then yarn over, and reach the hook around the back of the chain as if you're working a post stitch and pull up a loop (3 loops on the hook).  Then you want to repeat this yarning over and pulling up a loop around the back of your chain a few more times (I did a total of three yarn over/loop pull ups around my 3 chains which will give you 7 loops on your hook, as 2 new loops are added for every repetition of yarn over/pull up loop.)  Then I yarned over one more time and pulled up a loop into the same beginning chain that I made my initial chain 3 into.  This is to secure the base of your stitch to the starting chain.  Then using the loop you just pulled up, continue pulling it through all of the loops you've created on your hook with the yarn over/pull ups.  (It may be easier to yarn over one more time and use that loop to pull through all the loops but I think it looks a little cleaner to do it the other way.)

To work more stitches, I chose to skip the next chain and insert my hook into the second chain away and chain 3 with the working yarn.  This way, you have nothing connecting your stitches in between them. You could make a really convenient crochet hook holder with these stitches because you can weave something big back and forth between the bullions very easily.  One additional variable you can throw in is that instead of chaining 3 for a post at the beginning of each stitch, you can work a double or triple crochet if you prefer that to chaining.  If you still want all your stitches to have spaces between, then be sure to wrap your hook fully around your double crochet including the yarn over bar.  This can be a little tricky because you're putting a lot of bulk into a small area and it's hard to see the bar.  The big difference is that the chain 3 will make the stitch a little flatter and the double crochet will make it a little fatter, so you decide if you want it flat or round.  One very last cool thing about this: if you weave your hook back and forth between these stitches after completing a row, it almost acts like a ribbing where half the stitches are pushed forward and half are pushed back and your hook will disappear in the middle.  Cool possibilities!

2. The double bullion/hairpin lace method

One row complete (into single crochet foundation row)

Two rows complete, you can see the right and wrong side

This method is similar to the other one, but you work your steps in a bit of a reverse order.  You start the same way by chaining/foundation chaining to set up, then either chain a few stitches or work a double crochet and work around it like a post.  The difference here is that instead of starting with a yarn over, you'll start by pulling up a loop around the back of your post, then yarning over and pulling through that loop and repeating, so you'll be working one half of the double bullion as you work around the post, and then at the end, you'll complete the second half by drawing through all the loops on your hook.  These have a 'double' look, or when scrunched together, look like double the amount of thinner stitches.  I say this is a hairpin lace method because the front and back do not look exactly alike, and there is a definite right side/wrong side when you use this one.  The back looks like a little hairpin lace or skeleton ribs to me.

Directions: Set up some chains or single crochet foundation row.  I worked into an odd number (but you can see in the photos that my side stitches bulge out a little, so maybe add a few?) and left one chain between each stitch.  To begin each stitch, either chain however many you want tall (I used 3) or double/triple crochet.  Now reach your hook around the back of the chain like a post stitch and pull up a loop.  Yarn over and pull through that one loop.  Then repeat pulling up a loop around the back and pulling a loop through it, each time adding one more loop to your hook.  When you have reached the bottom of your chain or double crochet, pull up a loop in the chain or stitch below your work to secure the stitch in place, then either pull that loop up and through all the loops or pull another loop through that one and then through all the others.

To work more stitches, skip one chain or stitch and work into every other stitch across your row.

You can see in the photo above that there is a right side/wrong side here, where you can see little bumps in the middle of your stitch in the wrong side.  You might want to work alternating rows of this stitch and single crochet or half double or something in order to keep your right sides facing out.

As far as I know, you can do everything with these two stitches that you could with a regular bullion stitch without the hassle.  Yay!

Cat Cross Stitch Pattern

Double Crochet Foundation Row

I learned about the single crochet foundation row as a means to bypass chaining and single crocheting at the beginning of a project but it recently occurred to me that any stitch could be done the same way.  I'm sure this isn't a new concept but it's new to me so it's pretty exciting.  I think the concept of a double crochet foundation row is actually more intuitive than single crochet and makes it easier to understand what you're doing in terms of building the stitches and the chain at the same time because it's a more involved stitch.  With single crochet I tend to get lost along the way about where I'm inserting the hook and have to look it up every time I do it.  Double crochet is much easier to complete in practice and you can easily see your mistakes if you forget to chain 1 because you'll see what looks like an increase instead of side by side stitches.  (You could do this on purpose to make it turn if you wanted a shape instead of a long straight row.)  I think it also makes it more clear how to progress after your foundation chain is complete because there's no question about which side is which because of the taller stitch.

Steps for double crochet foundation row:

1. Chain 3 (this will act as your first DC)
2. Yarn over and pull up a loop in the first chain (3 loops on the hook).  You can work this in any part of the chain you want.  Find what works best for you.
3. Chain 1 (still 3 loops on the hook)
4. Work a double crochet as normal (yarn over pull through 2, yarn over pull through 2 again)
5. Then repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 except you are working into the bottom 'V' created by your chain 1 from the previous stitch.  

This will give you a nice little row of double crochets with a pretty 'V' on the top and bottom without needing to chain to start with.

Some tips for starting out:

• Use a multi-colored yarn to practice.  I do this for most new stitches I'm trying out because it makes it very clear what you did as the colors change.
• Mark your chain 1's if you're unsure of where to insert the hook.  This will help you get off to a good start.
• Turn your work to the side as if you're crocheting upwards instead of from right to left (if you're right handed) and turn your work so that you can see the left side (the bottom) which will make the 'V's stand out so you know where to insert.

How to space increases and decreases evenly

For most of my own improvised patterns, I don't write out a complete set of pattern instructions.  They're mostly lists of stitch numbers for each round like "6, 12, 18...".  It can be a little troublesome to figure out how to evenly space my increases and decreases from just numbers so I developed a little way to help myself figure it out quickly and get on with the fun part of crochet.

For example, my 10 row sphere has some funny numbers that don't work out so evenly:

For increasing:

1. Subtract the number of stitches in the smaller row (5) from the larger row (9): 9-5=4
• So you will work 4 increases over the 5 stitches from the previous row.
2. Subtract the number of increases (4) from the previous round number (5): 5-4=1
• 4 stitches will be worked as increases and 1 will be worked even
3. Figure out where to place increases and even stitches:
• Divide the number of even stitches (1) by number of increases (4): 1/4=0.25 so in this example, you can see that there are not enough even stitches to put between all the increases.
• Sometimes, like in this example, you'll need to eyeball it and with only a few stitches, it shouldn't be a problem.  If you have 5 stitches to work in and 4 will be increases and 1 worked even, I would put the sc in the middle of the increases, so: Inc, Inc, Sc, Inc, Inc
• For larger numbers, for example, for working round 5, the previous round has 15 stitches and round 5 has 16.  You'll need to work 1 increase (16-15=1) and 14 even stitches (15-1=14).  In this case, you'd want to work 7 Sc, Inc, 7 Sc instead of 14 sc, inc.
• In cases where you have 2 increases to work, you'll want to space them evenly around the circle, keeping in mind where your join is.  For example, for round 4, you have 2 increases to work over 13 stitches (11 even and 2 increases).  You could just work 5 Sc, Inc, 6 Sc, Inc, but to keep it spaced evenly around the join, it would be better to work 3 Sc, Inc, 5 Sc, Inc, 3 Sc.  The number works out correctly in both methods, but the second gives you a more even shape, and working each round with that in mind will keep your whole shape more even.  It helps me a lot to visualize what I'm doing:

Increase with the join in mind, like on the right side.

• So for each round, you'll want to divide the stitches worked even by the number of increases and then take one section and break it in half for either side of the join.  They won't always work out evenly, so it's ok to put 3 on one side and 4 on the other, for example.  One more example: for an 11 row sphere, row 5 is 18 stitches worked over 16 stitches from round 4.  18-16= 2 increases, and 16-2 = 14 even stitches over 16 from the previous row.  Even stitches (14) divided by increases (2): 14/2=7.  So you'll have two sections of 7 sc and 2 increases.  Divide one of the sections of 7 in half (3 sc and 4sc) and put them on either side of the join.  So you could wind up with either 3 sc, inc, 7 sc, inc, 4 sc or 4 sc, inc, 7 sc, inc, 3 sc.  If you are making a sphere, when you come to the sister decrease round, do the opposite way.  You could also make it so every round is a mirror by slightly changing the totals.  For example instead of splitting 3 and 4 around the join, you could do 3 on both side and 8 in the middle or 4 on both sides and 6 in the middle.  If you're using the seam side of the ball as a head for example, this might give you the best result so that the side with the seam is the back.

For decreasing, it's worked much the same way.  Keep in mind that if you are making a ball, you only have to figure out the increase rounds and then just copy them to the appropriate decrease round because the number will be the same, you'll just be decreasing in stead of increasing.

1. Subtract the current smaller round's stitches from the larger previous round's stitches to find the number of decreases.  
• For row 8 with 13 stitches: 15-13 = 2 decreases
2. Multiply the number of decreases by 2 and subtract that from the number of stitches from the previous round to find the number of stitches worked even.
• 2*2=4, 15-4= 11 stitches worked even
3. Then divide the even stitches by the decreases and split one section around the join.
• 11/2=5.5 (5 and 6, split the even one)  So Sc 3, dec, Sc 5, dec, Sc 3

Once you have the method down, you can do rows with large numbers without much of a problem.

Example: in a 40 row ball, row # 13 will have 56 stitches worked in the previous round's 53 stitches.  There will be 3 increases and 50 stitches worked even.  50/3 is 16.67 so you'll have the join, about half of 16, inc, about 16, inc, about 16, inc and about half of 16 again.  When you put in actual numbers and adjust it a little, it works out to: Sc 8, inc, sc 17, inc, sc 17, inc, sc 8.

A little calculator to help out: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y_eqsUS7KwJDe2CrijShjhv7yRAdE193_PmSBDBHYtk/edit?usp=sharing

Slip Stitch in Back Loop Only Crochet Rib (Resembles 1x1 Knit Rib)

One of the wonderful things about crochet is that no matter how long you've been hooking, there is always something new to learn.  I was really excited to learn this new stitch because it closely mimics a knit one purl one rib in knitting.  Here's a close up shot.  Ignore the horrendous photography.

Crochet slip stitch ribbing

The stitch itself is very simple and is worked exactly like a single crochet back loop only ribbing but uses slip stitches instead of single crochets.  

Pattern:

Chain the number you want for your width + 1 for the turning chain (for my sample I used 11 chains, 10 stitches wide plus a turning chain) and then slip stitch into each chain across.  You can use any part of the chain you like to work this first row.  Once you've worked across, chain 1 and turn, and then slip stitch into every back loop across.  (The 'back loop' is always the one farther away from you after you've turned your work.)  Then just repeat slip stitching into the back loop on every row until you reach your desired length.  It's important to work these stitches loosely and gently tug the fabric into shape every few rows.  It will look like it's shrinking a little because the stitches will pull toward each other a bit.

The fabric created from this stitch is dense, thick, and squishy with lots of stretch between rows.  It is also completely reversible.  It would be perfect for the bottom of a sweater or ribbing for a glove or mitten.  I would also use this technique for amigurumi for tank treads.

I joined my example into a little bracelet.  It's stretchy enough to easily get on and off and bounces back into a shape to stay right where you want it.

Perfectly for a bracelet or cuff

Cuff laying flat

And a view of the stretch:

The stretch is about 1.5 to 2 times the width of the unstretched material

And one more with altered colors to define the stitches:

Cotton would be much better to show stitch definition than this acrylic