Some Optional Decorations For Your Project

I decided to add a little bit of embellishment to a couple of my panels. I'm going to show you an easy one. Skip it if you're not comfortable with it yet. If you're feeling adventurous, though, I think you'll like this. I crocheted on some vertical stripes. This can look really cool on a scarf, or on a knit skirt. It's a bit stiff for a sweater, though.

First, get a crochet hook that's compatible with your needle size. Lion Brand has a handy chart here. I used a size 6 needle, which means a G hook.

Make a slip knot around your crochet hook, just like you do around your needle when casting on.

Hook with a slip knot.

Now, insert the hook into the bottom stitch of your purl ridge. The stitches will look like a little ladder, you want to go under the bottom rung of the ladder.

Hook into the purl ridge.

Wrap the yarn around the hook, and pull it up, through the purl stitch, and through the slip knot.

Yarn through the slip knot, leaving the knot behind, stuck in the purl ridge.

Next, slip the hook through the next rung of the ladder, wrap the yarn, and pull it up through the purl stitch, and the loop of yarn on the needle. This is a crochet chain stitch, and is the first thing you'll learn in crocheting, but we're making it attached to our knitting, turning a ribbed pattern into a striped pattern. Is that cool or what?

A stripe in progress.

When you get to the end, thread your working yarn onto your yarn needle, draw it up into the loop on your hook, and then use it to "tack" the loop down by threading it to the back of your work. You can weave in your ends by wrapping it around the contrast yarn loops on the back side of the work. This is pretty secure on its own, and won't require much to hold it together.