Mixed Media Rocks // Part 2

And now the fun part, as promised in round one! When thinking about making the top, your goal is to keep your crochet work fairly flat and even to start – no ruffles and no puckers. This is the time to get out your doily pattern book for inspiration, if you so choose, because you can pluck some pretty stitches from it to use on your rock. To get an even base/multiple for the decorative stitches, I usually do a round or two of mesh stitch (most likely, your round 2 of single crochet will not be an even multiple).

So, round 3. As you crochet, pinch the excess fabric of your embroidery towards the back. This will give you a clean line and will also help stabilize your embroidery running stitch so it doesn’t inadvertently rip out.

I do chain 1, single crochet in same stitch as joining from round 2, chain 3, skip next stitch. Then (single crochet in next stitch, chain 3, skip next stitch) all the way around. If you want to do another round of mesh stitch, here’s how to join: after your last single crochet, chain one and double crochet in the first single crochet you made. This makes your hook and thread end up in the center of your last “chain 3″ space and you’re ready to start the next round (single crochet, chain 3, single crochet in next chain 3 space – all the way around).

Now is the time to really experiment and use your imagination (I told you this was very intuitive)! Just keep making rounds by either making it up as you go or by using a doily pattern as a guide. I just made some shells and loops. Do whatever you’d like, just be sure that your work stays fairly flat. Keep checking the size of your work against the size of your rock. Once it gets close to the point where the rock curves – the sides, if you will – you will have to start considering how you will curve your crochet work around it.

Look – only five rounds, and I’m already to the curve!

Because may rock has a weird notch in it, I want to make the next rounds of my work pretty open so that it can conform to this odd shape better.

So, I made some bobble stitches and big chain loops. Making your work open and lacy to work down the sides is a good idea because once you start getting toward the bottom, you can always tighten everything up some. Alternatively, you can start decreasing in your rounds to conform to the sides – kind of like if you were making a little stocking cap for your rock.

From time to time, put down your hook and stretch the work over your rock to see how it will look – pretty soon we’ll be making everything really tight, and this will affect how the crochet looks. So far, I think this will work for my curvy rock. The open work should conform nicely once everything’s tightened up . . . we’ll see when we get to part three: pulling it all together with the bottom!

PS: look at that big fat monster finger! Eesh.

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