“French Braid” by Cypress Textiles

I always try to see written crochet patterns as a source of inspiration more than a recipe you have to follow step by step. It is one of my goals with pattern writing and in my daily job as a social worker to give people tools to manage different tasks in their own way.

Rachele Camorra of Cypress Textiles is not only one of my favorite crochet designers because she always adds a little twist to every pattern which makes every design very unique. Like the striped corner in her “Dutch Rose” pattern I crocheted a couple of years ago in Scheepjes Secret Garden.

Rachele has also the gift to explain new techniques she uses in an outstanding way. And that’s what she does with her “French Braid” square pattern.

In my opinion it is not just one more square pattern, it is the explanation of a new technique. It is a source of information how to use the moss stitch (a.k.a. linen stitch) to built your very own version.

If you read her instruction carefully you will find every detail how to create increasing (in 125 degrees), decreasing (in 45 degrees) and straight parts (90 degrees) plus how to join this sides. And that is basically everything you need to know to crochet “French Braids” in your very own way.

And that is basically what we call “EMPOWERMENT” 🙂

So what you need to do is read the instructions for the pattern carefully. Rachele has even made great video tutorials for every part. Especially the part how to turn your work to get neat edges and how to do the “braids” meaning where to place your stitches to get a neat connection between short sides and long sides are very helpful! I recommend to crochet at least one square (or a whole blanket) to nail the technique and understand how it is done.

I made this pattern with the high luxury Scheepjes Metropolis yarn. And as I did not keep track of yarn amount used, because I never meant to write down what I did, I only can give you the colors I used but not the detailed amount. Sorry for that. The order of colors will also give you an idea in which order the stripes are crocheted.

I used a 3,50 mm hook and the finish triangle is 193 cm on the long side and 130 cm on the short sides.

 

• 1. Krakow – 064
• 2. Delhi 039
• 3. Ulsan 015
• 4. Buenos Aires 067
• 5. Depok 026
• 6. Lyon 078
• 7. Philadelphia 007
• 8. Delhi 039
• 9. Krakow 064
• 10. Buenos Aires 067
• 11. Miami 069
• 12. Ulsan 015
• 13. Atlanta 033
• 14. Philadelphia 007
• 15. Depok 026
• 16.Seoul 035
• 17. Lyon 078
• 18. Miami 069
• 19. Krakow 064
• 20. Delhi 039
• 21. Ulsan 015
• 22. Liverpool 065
• 23. Bucharest 001
• 24. Lyon 078
• 25. Warsaw 072

Corner:

• 26. Cairo 070
• 27. Beirut 008
• 28. Seoul 035
• 29. Rabat 041
• 30. Atlanta 034
• 31. Krakow 064
• 32. Lyon 078
• 33. Depok 026

Border (4 rows of linen stitch around, add ch2 to the ch1 in every corner)

• 34. Krakow 064

 

My triangle is based on 15 rows per color instead of 11 and even the beginning triangle is based on 15 rows.

Otherwise I follow the original from section one to three. In the fourth I just continue increasing on the long side. Which is also what I do the following section. Pretty soon you will realize that you easily can built a triangle as big as you wish.

When crocheting over the short sides, in the original pattern 6 stitches are added per section of 11rows ( in every last stitch of an odd numbered row), which means that you (in the original version, add 12 stitches when crocheting over two short sides. In my version based on 15 rows, that means that you add 8 stitches (16 when crocheted over 2 parts).

I really wanted to pay tribute to Cypress Textiles amazing pattern and also add a little twist to my version. So I tried to add an asymmetrical corner.

To built the space for the corner part (starting with section 26) you just have to stop increasing on the long side. I did it as you can see when starting the 10th section in grey. And continued with it for 8 colors on the right side. I finished the main triangle and added the “tricky corner” in the end.

And this really is the only tricky part in this pattern. But you have in my opinion two options to master this challenge: as we said you add 16 stitches when crocheting over 2 short side color sections. Now you have to crochet over 8 short side color section in the first row of the corner part which means that you would start with a total amount of 64 stitches. But this means that you will have 3 stitches too much to match the following decreases of the corners

So the first option… that I chose is: live with it… three more decreasing rows with the last color of the corner. Problem solved.

Second option: 16 stitches in the first two colors, and 15 stitches in every following 2 color short side section. So you have the perfect amount of stitches (61). So the last color part also should have 15 rows and you end the pattern with 1 stitch. Disadvantage of this method is, that you have to find out on your own where to skip the 16th stitch and still have a neat joining. This is definitely the method you want to chose if you want to crochet over many short sides So that you will have the stitch count 100% right. Good luck and have fun!

You will find your local SCHEEPJES dealer or favorite online store HERE.

 

If you use Cypress Textiles patterns and post pictures in social medias it would be nice to link or refer to her webside  https://cypresstextiles.net/ and use #cypresstextiles !

I hope I managed to explain what I did with this pattern. If you have any questions please reach out and get in contact.

Stay tuned… more to come soon from Up North.