Attack the Craft! : I Love Textures! Braided Cable Crochet Stitch Tutorial- By Brazen Jester

Well, hey there! Thanks for checking out my very first post on Attack the Craft!. I’m kind of a dork, so I’m very, very excited to be here, and very excited to be talking about crochet!

I’ve really fallen in love with this craft since I picked it up last summer. It’s relatively simple to pick up, affordable to get into, and most importantly, you can create some remarkable texture with just a few basic stitches! How cool is that?

Today we’re going to be talking about one of my absolute favorite textures: the Braided Crochet Stitch. It’s very similar to a cable crochet, but with an extra step. I personally love using really chunky yarn with this stitch. Even people several feet away can see how awesome and crafty you are! In my experience, this looks best with a lighter yarn (but still looks great with something darker!), so that you can really see the shadows created by all that depth.

Seriously, just look at all that gorgeous texture!

You will need to possess some basic knowledge in order to do this with relative ease:

l Double Crochet Stitch

l Triple Crochet Stitch

l Front- and Back- post Stitching.

There are many wonderful resources available to learn these stitches, both online and in books; however, I would be more than happy to write a post or two on the basic how-to’s if someone requests it.

You will need some basic materials to get started:

l Yarn of your choosing

l A crochet hook of the appropriate size. (You’ll find a hook size suggestion on the packaging of your yarn, most likely)

l Scissors

l A large embroidery or darning needle. (The eye should be large enough to thread your yarn through)

Step 1: Make your chain. It should be a multiple of 8+4. For the practice pictures, I started with a chain of 20.

Step 2: Turn, and double crochet across. The last two stitches in your chain count as your first double stitch.

Step 3: Turn, Chain 2. This counts as your first double crochet.

Step 4: Back-post double crochet (bpdc) the next stitch. This will add some lovely depth to your work, so that everyone can really see all that texture we’re going for.

[Sorry, I know this one is a little blurry. I’m a newbie at this.]

Step 5: Skip the next two stitches, and front-post triple crochet (fptc) the third stitch from your bpdc.

Step 6: Fptc the next stitch.

Step 7: Remember those two stitches you skipped? Go back to them. Fptc them in order, over top of the two fptc you completed in steps 5 and 6.

Step 8: Skip to the next two stitches that have not been crocheted in this row. Front Post double crochet (fpdc) both.

Step 9: Bpdc the next two stitches. Again, this is to give depth to the cables you are working so hard to create!

Step 10: Repeat steps 5-9 to finish the row. Turn and chain 2. This counts as your first dc.

Step 11: Working on the back is exactly the same as working on the front, except that all of your front posts become back posts, and vice versa. Fpdc the next stitch.