Crochet Basics: Catherine Wheel Stitch

Crocheting remains a great way to make clothes and other types of things that you may want to have around the house, like blankets and scarves or baby blankets. It’s a time-consuming process, but the results are always rewarding. Many crocheters think of crochet as an art form, a passion, a therapy, whatever you want to call it, to me it is the most fun you can have with yarn. This is a calming activity and the fact that you also get to have something to show off at the end with, is pretty awesome. So, let’s continue to create yarn magic, one stitch at a time! Today’s stitch is the Catherine Wheel Stitch.

Beautiful and elegant, the Catherine’s Wheel Crochet Stitch is a lovely “lace-like” stitch that creates a solid fabric with a beautiful texture that is great for blankets, bags, and purses. I really love this stitch, I think it resembles a shape of a delicate flower. Catherine wheel stitch is a brilliant stitch for creating both color and textural effects, and gets its name as it resembles a Catherine wheel firework.

You may think this stitch is complicated, or even for more “advanced crocheters”, but you will be surprised to see that this is not the case. Although it’s made from simple double and treble stitches worked in increases and decreases, it can prove a bit of a tricky one – but don’t worry, I’m here to help with our handy step-by-step guide!

Follow this tutorial, and you’ll see that it’s actually quite simple and repetitive.

This pattern consists of multiples of 10 stitches + 6 stitches + 1 stitch (for initial chain). This means that you make any multiple of 10 stitches, then add 6 +1 stitches.

Instructions

For this tutorial chain 37 stitches (10×3 + 6 +1).

ROW 1: 1sc in the second ch from hook, 1sc in next ch.

* Skip 3 ch’s, work 7 dc in next ch, skip 3 ch’s, 1sc in next 3 ch’s; Repeat from * to last 4 ch’s. Skip 3 ch’s, work 4 dc in last ch, turn.

ROW 2: ch1, 1sc in next 2 dc.

* ch3, 7dc together over next 7 sts, ch3, 1sc in next 3 sts; Repeat from * to last 4 ch’s. ch3, 4dc together over last 4 sts, turn.

ROW 3: ch3, 3dc in first st (top of 4dc cluster).

* Skip ch-3, 1sc in next 3 sts, skip ch-3, work 7 dc into the top of 7dc cluster; Repeat from * to last ch-3 space, skip ch-3, 1sc in next 2 sts, turn.

ROW 4: Ch3 (counts as first st), 3dc together over next 3 sts (skip first st).

* ch3, 1sc in next 3 sts, ch3, 7dc together over next 7 sts; Repeat from * to last 2 sts, ch3, 1 sc in next 2 sts, turn.

ROW 5: Ch1, 1sc in next 2 sts.

* skip ch-3, work 7 dc into the top of 7dc cluster, skip ch-3, 1sc in next 3 sts; Repeat from * to last ch-3 space, work 4dc in beginning ch-3 of the previous row.

Repeat rows 2-5.

Did you try this out? Let me know how it went! Leave a comment below!