welcome back to the crochet crowd a source my friends over at your inspirations calm today we have a desk designer mid knits and this is doing the crochet throw pillow a Canadian design this video has sound alerts added when you hear this sound it will be your signal that the segment is finishing up press stop and crocheted the instructions and then press play again to continue along in your project so in today's pattern it's just a one-page pattern it's actually really quite simple because you're going to follow this graph that you see here I'm going to take you through the ins and outs on being able to follow this so you're going to be using split half double crochet with these particular ideas it actually makes the pillow look like that it's knit even though it's even it's crocheted so you're going to need it n as in Nancy size ten millimeter crochet hook today and it's suggested for the brunette maker home Dec yarn as well so without further ado if you're comfortable with this design good luck for that but what I'm going to do is that I'm going to take you to the inside notes or reading this chart so that you know what to do and then I'm going to get you started with how to do the stitch work and then I'm going to bring you up and show you how to change your yarn colors because this is using tapestry graph can work so let's say without further ado let's take a look at the chart carefully so here's a copy of the graph all blown up and what we have the letters a eh equals a as a Canadian slang we use it all the time I use it all the time because I'm Canadian so what we have here is that it looks like it's going to be a rectangular pillow but it's just the way that the chart look or the graph looks it's not going to be rectangular it's going to be squared you have to put some trust in me with that so what you'll notice here is that you'll have darker lines every ten boxes so you got ten here here's another group of ten here's another group of ten and then the height you also have that as well as a guide so what's going to happen is that it's going to ask you to chain a certain amount to begin and it's 37 so you're going to start underneath the graph so you're not part of doing this graph yet and you're going to chain 37 along and that's going to come out here and row number one right here starts here so when you start row number one you're going in this direction okay and so I put an arrow on the side here to show me that I'm going in this direction so then when I go to row number two I'm going to turn my work and do to going in the other direction across like this and then once I get that done is that I then go in another row and I turn my work and now going so when you go to read this you need to read it like a sneaking formation you don't read these charts from going doing a row number one and then coming back and doing row number two and then number three you have to snake it up and down like this in order to get these letters to work out properly so here's the thing how many rows of a solid color do you need to do in order before you get to the let R to the word a it's 17 so you see this here so from rows 1 through 17 is just going to be split half double crochet back and forth so the only exception is is that the first row there is you can't do a split in the first row so that's just going to be half double crochets as you working your way across just like you see but once you get beyond two row number 2 3 and the remaining of this whole thing it's going to be split half double crochets including when you do the letters so what happens in the letter section here let's talk a little bit about that so after you've done your snaking formation you would have done 17 rows and then you're going to end up hitting this a now this is called tapestry crochet and the reason for it it's called tapestry is that the other colors that you have so in this case it'll be white as the pillow would rag underneath the stitches of e not behind the e right underneath the stitches and I'll show you how to do that so what you have to do is that you have to count your boxes so you have 1 2 3 4 5 6 so you have six boxes and you might want to write these things down on your graph so that you know that there's always going to be six boxes in a row before you hit the letter E when you're on this side okay and then on this side let's count how many boxes are so one two three four five six and seven so that you know that there's going to be seven boxes here before you hit the exclamation mark so what you're going to do is that as you pick up here we're going to start the letter e now here's the thing it's tapestry crochet so this color will drag underneath the stitches while you're in the e then it'll pop up just once and then we'll put down again and get the the read up again for three and then pop it down and get the three up and it's just the colors just changing each other as you're going along and drag underneath the stitches the thing about that a is that the red strand never drags to the outside so whenever it stops at the very end you just leave it hanging here and then you just go with the at regular color and then come back and pick it up again so the red color does not go all the way across your pillow let's see if I can get another picture just to show you how that's working so here's another photo here and this is from the designer herself and you can see how the work is dragging up underneath so let me just tell you a little bit of about so the designer is kind of showing you how she's doing it here so as she's doing the red she's dragging the white underneath the stitches and then it will pop up for the white again and then we'll pop back down and do the red so the red here that you see never goes out to the final outsides it only stays right underneath the stitches just like you see so as we get into this project I'm going to show you how to change your colors back and forth by dragging the strings underneath the stitches itself and then you can create a pillow like this because it's a tapestry crochet you'll notice that this will go pretty quickly and I think the hardest part is just getting started so you can see where the stitches are but once you notice where the stitches are and you cross compared to the graph I think you'll have great success so without further ado I'm going to show you how to do the stitch work next and then we'll move forward and then I'll show you how to do the letters so let's show you how to do the basic stitch work to make this happen so you're going to chain 37 just create us look not leave an extra long tail for tutorial reason so I'm going to start you with the color green I've already got a partial sample on the go that is in gray so you'll notice that it will change color in today's tutorial so you're just going to chain 37 I'm just going to do a small one so one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten so what I want you to do is go all the way to 37 and then meet me back here in just a moment so what we have now is that when we go back to the chart now we're going to start row number one this is the first set of boxes that you see in row number one it's only half double crochets across the chain and then in rows number two all the way to the right top of this particular project is that it'll all be split half double crochet right to the very end so let's begin Row number one so let's start row number one you want to go third chain from the hook so count it back so we've got one two and three and what I want you to do is that I want to make sure that you wrap the hook first and going into the chain make sure that there's two strands of yarn from the chain going on top of the hook and only one at the bottom use the I we show the back hump only in this case I want you to have two strands on top it's important so you just pull through and then you pull through all three just like you see there so now what you're going to do is that can all across your chain you're just going to have double crochet so go into the next chain make sure two strands of yarn stay on the top from this section here and pull through and pull and pull all the way through three so just half double crochet all the way across your chain and then maybe at the end of this chain and we'll start rule number two so in the chart we're now going to start row number two so we look at the chart from this side and go back like so so what I like to do is just grab a highlighter or just grab some kind of marking device and say that you've done row number one so I'm just going to circle row number one here and do a check mark knowing that I have done it so now we're going to do split half double crochet all the way across so let's begin row number two so let's start our very first one and what we need to do is a split half double crochet and we're going to look right down to the base of where you are and you'll see that there is two legs to a stitch so let me just get another pointing device so right here is normally where we would go right into this particular stitch as you're going across the top but it's a split so you have to look for the legs of it and see these two right here that's the legs you want to put your hook right between those two and so each one of the stitches has two legs and so can you see what those are so you see it's right in between there between there and there so what we want to do is we want to start our first set so coming right down in between the very first one is that just wrap the hook then just push the hook right between the legs of the stitch doing the first one is always more challenging than the bus and then pull it through and then half double crochet is normal okay so then we go to the next set of legs so normally we would go into the top of the stitch but we're looking between the legs and then just drive the hook right through it so what this is doing is causing the half double crochet to sit partially over top of the other group and it thickens up your material quite nicely so you're going to split half double crochet the in this road and all rows going forward even when you're doing the letters itself the whole thing is split and because you're doing it as a split it makes the whole project look like it's knitted so you just keep on going as a split half double crochet looking for the legs now once you get started with this it gets a lot easier to hold and a lot more how do you say it it's a lot smoother it's just a matter of getting used to doing this particular stitch in order to do it but the looks are amazing and I had this particular pillow in a live show and people love this pillow so don't give up on this particular stitch work really easily because honestly it's a really cool thing to to know about so we want to split double crochet ourselves all the way our split half double crochet all the way to the very end of your work okay so just keep on going so here it is so this last one here the turning chain you can't do anything with the turning chain so what you have to just do is that you just have to split and stop here so the turning chain is kind of like what we did here in the chain two in the beginning as we went down into the same stitch so let's turn to work and let's start row number three so in the chart let me bring you back there so in the chart we've now just done row number two so here's row number three and we're going to go in this direction so I'm going to circle the two and say that I did it and now we go in three in this direction so it's important that you know which directions you're going in on those charts so let's begin row number three all rows start off the same you're just going to champ two just like you see there and then we come down in and split the very first one is always the toughest because your attention is usually tighter than the rest and so you just split just like you had been before and you continue to go so where is the next split you can see that they're more open see those are the legs just drive it right through the legs of the stitch so you're just going to do these rows all of them just like this and what I'm going to do is that I'm just going to make sure that you get started and we're going to bring you up to doing the letters and in just a moment so you're going to continue to go and do these rows so the solid color is rows 1 through 17 you're going to want to make a note of that and just do that work and then we're going to get a little more complicated by introducing the letters in there and you'll see how easy it is actually did get done I guess the only complicated thing is that you got to read the graph which is really not a deal breaker so when you come to the very end remember there was a chain to that you're not worrying about you're just going into the last half double crochet and split it up and then that's good to go so you're going to notice it's going to kind of want to look like a semicircle that's just tension and then just open it up so turn your work start another row so chain two go to the legs of the first half double crochet right underneath it and then just keep on driving through the legs out of the stitch so please do that all the way until you get to row number 17 get finished row number 17 and then row number 18 we're going to start doing the letters so in the next part of this tutorial I'm going to assume that you've got rows number 1 through 17 completed now we're going to then do row number 18 but we're going to start doing the letter you know my particular sample is smaller than what you have here so I'm just going to show you the technique of changing colors in and out in order to make sense of this particular idea and as again you're going to follow across you're going to start the e on this side and then you're going to come back and then do the next row going in the next direction and then so on so you want to snake it back and forth so what I'm going to do is that I'm just going to show you some techniques on being of the follow so the first six stitches will be the regular color you've been working with and then we're going to switch off to red and the technique is that switch what happens with one yarn and when should you switch and that's what we're going to cover next so let's assume I got rows number 1 through 17 done I turn my work and now I'm going to do the next row so we know that the e is going to start on the seventh stitch in but I'm not going to bring my rhythm so as I mentioned at the start of this is that the first section up here there's going to be six before the e starts and then there's seven after the exclamation mark I'm just going to show you just a rough example so as a word of caution in this particular car project you will notice that the front face pillow has a really good solid red when it's red and cream when it's cream now I have to tell you this is not the back of it so therefore it looks clean let me show you what the back looks like because that's where the key trick is so you can see that the back does not look as clean in all of the yarn strands that are dragged through or always dragged through the favoring the back side of the project so for example let me show you a mistake that I have already done in today's tutorial I want to show you it so if this was the back of the project the grey dragon through was fine but the problem is is that in my last one that I just did is that you can see that the gray is draggin through on this side so therefore no matter how I turn this thing and especially if it's spelling a letter that needs to be one-sided is that I have to favor the side that has it so what I need to do is that I need to backtrack out and I have to switch the side that I'm favoring so let's begin to do that so let's just keep the red going and what I want to do is that I want to drag this so it's favoring to stay on this side of the work so when I go in I want to go in and I want to split it but I want to make sure that this stays clearly on this side of the project okay so you just want to adjust it a little bit and work your way across therefore all of the the yarn strands will then stay out of the view of the other side okay so it requires you to pay attention when you're going to do this so you need to do this with all the colors of paying attention what is your good side and what is your back side and once you get a hold of this idea you'll notice that you'll get faster because you're automatically doing it so this is going to switch back to the gray so let's pull the gray up and I want to keep that red so it's still favoring the same side so it stays on the back side of the project so again pulling it so that it stays on this side and therefore this would be good so you want to pull it on to the side that has the is the back side of it so that you get a nice clean look on the other side so if this was for example say this was a good side and I wanted the yarn to stay in favor on the backside so instead of pulling it forward like I am now I will push it back and then I will go around it so that favors on the back side okay so you have to pay attention to what is your good side and once your bad side with these kind of ideas okay so if I push that to the back see what happens is that it will pull it so that the red is really truly bleeding through just like so so it's something that you're going to need to pay attention with this and paying attention to what is your good side and back side so this is the back side here so we're going to turn it around it'll be nice solid red just like you see so we're going to start up our next row so let's begin to do that and then we are going to then start so let's just say that this is the actual project and I'm going to do the the first six boxes of just this but here's the trick you really can't finish six boxes because of the way that the colors are working out so let's just say that I get five in here and then I'll show you how to play with the colors after that okay so I'm just doing my split as I normally have been doing so I have one two three four and this is the fifth and the six is still this color but we have to prepare for the next color so what I want you to do is that I want you just to start the six and do a split so just going into the sixth one and pull through and here's the thing you can't use this color to finish this you have to use your next color so leave an extra long tail of a new color and use that to pull through and what this is is that it's allowing you to have the stitch colors proper see what you have here with these loops is the next top of the next loop so think about this as a house whenever you finish the stitch it's the roof of the next house to it so in this case what we have I'm just going to do it just a rough idea and what I want to do is that I want to drop this color okay I want to drop it and I want to carry it with me and I want to push this other straggler in behind so it's out of the way and we'll fasten that out later so what we're going to do is that we're going to grab this straggler okay this is the other color and what we want to do is drag it with us so we're going to start the next stitch and going in and splitting it split the next one and what I want to do is leave this drag lured down on top so it gets stuck underneath the stitches okay and I want to finish it with red so this gray is actually being hidden underneath the stitch work of the red do you see that so now let's begin and do another one so we just split the next one and we just have to drag the yarn that is not in use underneath the stitches so not behind so when you turn around it will not be showing it behind it is just dragging right up underneath the stitches so keep the tension and just keep on going so you're going to look at the chart and count the number of boxes that you need to do so let's just say for example the E is now finishing up and I'm going to finish this stitch and the the gray is going to start up in the second box over so in order to do that the next one is going to be red pull through and you're going to drop the red and you're going to bring up the gray and you're going to finish it so the net and then you're going to lay down the red on top and then just carry it across like you had done with the gray you see that so your work is just being carried up underneath the work are underneath the stitches the trick is is to keep your tension so give it us a pull don't be over pulling just pull it snug and then when you're ready to switch colors again so let's say we're going to switch it so then this last one is going to be gray and then we drop the gray and then we kind of ship with the red to bring back red we leave the gray down on top again and we just carry on just like that you see that so you're just having to manipulate your yarns in order to carry across so now say for example this is the letter the end of the exclamation mark that we were getting to so what we're going to do is I'm going to change the color in the next one so just continue to split it and to finish that box then you have to change the color and finish it and then what you want to do because this is the end of the exclamation mark you want to pull this yarn in front and leave it in front and finish off the rest of this stitch work so what we what I'm saying to you is that you don't drag that yarn all the way to the edge of your material you leave it to where it is right now okay that's the only time that's kind of like bobbin work for doing graph gans just like that okay so whenever we need this read back we're going to bring back the red right where you see it so let's turn our work and let's just go up so in right now then if this was the exclamation mark it's going to be over here and this will be the letter e just like you see so let's begin and we're going to do the next one so we're going to chain up two and then we just split the first one like we had been before and this letter is pretty boxy so really it's just right where you stopped it is right where you're going to pick it back up and so the next stitch our bread is going to be right over top of it so I'm just kind of looking for it once you get that first one established it's easy so you can see the next one is great and then the next one is red so I'm going to finish this gray one here okay but I want to be prepared for the red so I've got to drop this one and then grab that red one that is sitting in behind just like that and I want to finish it with the red and I want to pull my tension a little snug on the gray so now the red is ready I laid down the gray and I just split then the red section here and keep that gray underneath the stitch work and I keep on going so let's just say I'm going to match these colors together so I'm really just looking for the stitch color that is underneath in order to keep me in balance like so and you're going to be following your boxes of color anyway and you're going to go and you'll notice that the next box is gray or the next stitch is going to be gray so in order to have that ready for gray you have to drop the red and bring the gray through as the final so we're now switched and ready to go for the gray so we just continued the Greig keep the red down on top of the bar on top of the stitch and then just keep on going so you can use the idea of these of these boxes as your your markers for color right so you just compare and once you get it started just pull your attention if you need to it's really quite easy to be able to just change out so you'll notice that the next one is going to be red here so we're going to drop the gray get the red right back into our hands and finish that stitch with red so that you can start our first one using red and then drop that gray one down and that's why you have to do for this you just have to follow the chart and just watch the colors go in the snaking formation and you can get the letters A to B our worked out perfectly and because it's tapestry crochet it actually goes pretty quickly the letters are pretty boxy so there's not a lot to think about for shaping and etc is just really quite simple I think that's why people like it the simplicity so don't ever underestimate that so you're just going to come with this one but you notice that the next stitch is gray so drop that red down and you're going and you're going to bring it in front because it's the last time the red will up here before the edge and then just use your grade then to finish it up so leave that red down and just do your stitch work across so the goal is is that whenever you finish off using the color you don't drag it all the way through you just leave it where it's supposed to be and then you pick it up next time as you're going all the way across so let me show you another technique just in case that you have to drag colors longer so you're just coming to the end and then you just have to look at your chart see where you are in it and then just turn your work and then just begin the next section so the next section we're gonna start off with gray as we normally have been on the outside and then we worry about the red as we hit that particular spot okay so because we had pulled the red in front last time it's ready for you to go in the back as you pull it forward so you can either look at the end count the number of stitches or you can just look at your shape and see if you're getting it pretty close this is a really quite an easy pattern to be able to follow so the next one here is great and then it will transition to red in the next one so we want to drop that gray we want to bring back that red that is sitting in behind so we pull it forward okay and then we just start using the red and splitting and then we leave down the gray once again so this is how you just a change in and out your colors when you're going to work just watch your tension make sure you're pulling things nice and snug as you go and you should be good to go so let's quickly review what's left for this pattern to be able to do so you're going to be able to do this whole pillow once you get past the letters then you'll go back to solid then just to finish it you'll want to do this front face twice so that you have a front and the back of your project so what you can do - if you don't want to do letters for the back you can just do a solid split half double crochet in the back and then put that together as well and then all you just need to do is take a darning needle and then put the two halves together and then just sew it shut on here before you sew it shut though make sure you put in a pillow frame form that's in there they're a 20 inch square pillow for I would recommend a form versus just stuffing it will keep it nice and solid and lasting a very long time because of the yarn so this is how you do this tapestry crocheted with dragging your yarns through it and just being able to follow on the chart so until next time I'm Mikey on behalf of the crochet crowd and special thanks to Midna for allowing me to be able to do this design here with you on camera have a great day we'll see you again we'll soon bye-bye you