"V" Stitch Border

This is a border I created to finish off a CAL I was doing last year.  The Designer, April Moreland, designed a different square pattern for each month of the year.  She called it a Calendar-ghan, the patterns can be found on her blog, The Left Side of Crochet.  It was great fun to follow her instructions each month.  Oh, did I say that this was a mystery CAL.  :-)  April would put out the instructions a little at a time, then about mid month she would add a picture.  I had found this CAL before I had any yarn in mind, so the first few squares I did have pictures, but the instructions were well written and easy to follow (with or without the pictures).  When I found this yarn in the Craft Group's stash I was in heaven and thought of this CAL right away, and there was enough of the yarn to do the whole thing! 

After completing December's square, I turned my mind to assembling it.  I personally love the Flat Braid Method by Priscilla Hewitt, for joining squares.  Her basic instructions for this method can be found on her web site, under Afghan Edgings & Joinings.  Since I was using a DK weight yarn, I wanted to make this afghan a little bigger, so I altered the basic instructions from a ch 3 to a ch 5.  The border pattern should work with the basic instructions too.  The ch 5 base just gives the afghan a lacier look.


Stitch Definitions:

•  V Stitch: (dc 1, ch 1, dc 1) in same stitch.
•  Ch 3 Picot: ch 3, sl st in back 2 loops of the 3rd chain from hook.

Row 1: Join with sc in the chain space to the right of a corner (left of corner if left handed), sc in same space, [ch 4, 2 sc in next chain space]; repeat [ ] to side corner chains, Side Corner Join: ch 4, sc through both side corner chains, sc in 2nd side corner chain only; *repeat [ ] to next side corner chains, make Side Corner Join as above*, repeat * to * across side ending with [ ]; Corner: ch 4, (sc, ch 1, sc) in corner space; repeat from * to Corner 3 more times, ch 4, sl st to beg sc.

Row 2: Sl st in next sc, ch 4 (makes 1st dc and ch 1 sp), dc in same st, [sc in next chain space, sk 1, V stitch in next sc]; repeat [ ] to side corner join, Side Shell: sc in chain space, sk 1, 5 dc in next sc; *repeat [ ] to next side corner join, make Side Shell as above*, repeat * to * across side ending with [ ]; Corner: sc in next chain space, sk 1 (4 tr, ch 2 4 tr) in next ch-1 space; repeat from * to Corner 3 more times, sc in next chain space, sl st to 3rd beg ch.

Row 3: Sl st in next ch-1 sp, ch 4 (makes 1st dc and ch 1 sp), dc in same sp, [V stitch in next V stitch]; repeat [ ] to side shell, Side Point: sk 2, tr 1, (2 tr, ch 3 picot, 2 tr) in next st, tr 1; *repeat [ ] to next side shell, make Side Point as above*, repeat * to * across side ending with [ ]; Corner: sk 2, V stitch, sk 1, dc 1, (3 tr, ch 3 picot, 3 tr) in ch-2 sp, dc 1, sk 1, V stitch; repeat from * to Corner 3 more times, sl st to 3rd beg ch.

Designed and written by Carrie Au
Copyright 2010



Here is a picture of the completed Calendar-ghan too.

I took this picture without the flash to show off the textures that were worked into the designs.  April did an awesome job!