Crochet a Lacy Shell Stitch

There's lots of old standbys in crochet but sometimes it's fun to do a new variation on an old favorite. Hi, I'm Corrina Ferguson. And in this video, I'm gonna show you a new and interesting way to do the shell stitch. There are so many beautiful things you can do with crochet. So this is actually a fancy shell stitch pattern that has a combination of techniques. It looks very intricate and it definitely is what I would call an intermediate pattern or if you're an adventurous beginner I think you should try it too, but it's only four rows. So there is a chain and a foundation row. And then the rest of it is just four rows of work. We have mini shells, we have this kind of larger shell sunray thing and then we have little tiny pop corns involved. So we are gonna walk you step-by-step how did you this a fancy shell pattern. So this begins like most things in crochet which is with a chain and we have a chain of 22. The instructions for this are available for you on the website so that you can crochet along. And the first thing that we're going to do is we're going to do a mini shell or a small shell and the small cells that run up the edging of this one. So we're going to double crochet into the sixth chain from the hook. We're going to double crochet twice and then we're going to chain one and then we're gonna double crochet two more. So the little shell is double crochet to chain one, double crochet to all into the same stitch. And that's gonna be on the beginning and the end of each row. So we've done that. And then the next thing that we do to set up this row is we're gonna change three. One, two, three and this is all the foundation row. And then we're going to go into the fifth chain from here. So we're gonna skip four, one, two, three, four. We're gonna go into number five and I'm working into the bump on the back 'cause I like the way that looks. You can do it however you like. And we're going to single crochet into that fifth one. Then we're going to change five. two, three, four and five. Skip four chains, one, two, three, four, go into that fifth one and do another single crochet to anchor it. And then we're going to chain three again. One, two, three. I can get three. Here we go. And then we're going to skip four. We're going to do the shell again into the second to the last chain. So we're going to double crochet twice into the same spot. Chain one, double crochet twice again. So that's that little shell and you will, oops! Not in the right place, Am I? You will get very used to that little shell but it makes a really nice decorative and a stable edge that doesn't curl or anything, which is nice. So, go ahead and finish off our little mini shell here and then to end the row, we're just gonna end with a double crochet in the last chain. So, go into this very last spot here and do our very last double crochet. And that is going to end that foundation row for you. And you'll be ready to work the first row of the pattern. So the repeat for the pattern is four rows. And what we've done already is we've done the chain and then the foundation row or the setup row. And then the rest of the rows are the ones that repeat rows one through four and all of the rows begin the same. They start with a chain three, that's our turning chain. Kind of acts as the double crochet there. And then we do what I call a shell and shell. So we've done the first shell, the first mini shell on the foundation row. And there's gonna be that chain space. See right there, there's that chain space, kind of easier to see when I come that way. And that's where we're gonna do the next shell. So we're gonna double crochet into that space, twice. We're going to chain one and we're gonna double crochet into that same space again. And that's kind of our shell and shell maneuver that starts up the beginning of each row. So it's always chained three, shell and shell. And that'll get us started. And then we're getting ready to set up the center portion of this patterning. So we've got our shell done and we're going to chain two. We're going to do a single crochet into this chain three space that we created previously. So we're just gonna go into this space and work a single crochet. Now we're ready to do this center portion here. And the central portion is gonna be seven double crochets into this chain five space. So seven times we need to go into this space and oops! I did a half double there, got a little ahead of myself. We're gonna go seven times into this space and that's gonna set up kind of the sunray portion of the shell or the larger shell that's in the center of this pattern. And like I said, this is row one of the pattern technically, because you're gonna repeat rows one through four. So we're gonna get all of these and I lost count already. We're only at four, goodness! How can we only be at four? Give a little room on my yarn, so it doesn't get tangled up in here. And sometimes when you're doing this, you'll have to kind of move your things over so that you have room the last few because, obviously we just have a chain five space and we're putting seven stitches in there. So, I think this is seven always double count, especially if you're me. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Perfect. We're going to single crochet into the next chain three space. We're going to chain two and then we're going to do a shell and shell. So here's my space from my previous shell. So do that mini shell again two double crochet chain one and then two double crochet again, all into that same space. And then when you get to the end of the row, you're going to work a double crochet to finish the row. And you're going to be working in that double crochet into the top of the chain three. So you're kind of treating that chain three like a double crochet. So we're gonna go here and you can see kind of where the top of that would be. And I get my hook in there and this is always for some reason the trickiest part for me. And it might help if I'm ready to do a double crochet. Here we go. So we're in the right space at the top of our chain three. We work our final double crochet and row one is complete. So row two is pretty easy. I've already done my chain three and then my shell and shell. And what we're basically doing in row two is we're taking this set of seven and we're kind of expanding it. So we're going to, we've got our shell and then we're going to go into the first double crochet of that span of seven. So we're going to double crochet into the first one and then we're going to chain one. 'Cause we're making this a little bigger and then we're going to double crochet into the next one. And we're gonna do that all the way across. So there will be seven double crochets and it'll be separated by the chain one spaces. So, I'm gonna go ahead and do that all the way across. And then, we will have it kind of expanded the scallop or the sunray thing here in the center, made it prettier and lacier. And we got here two more to do. I think we're at two more. Yep. Two, three, four, five, six. So we chain one, go into that last one. Oops! Make sure we've got our yarn for our double crochet. That would be helpful, huh! And then we've got that last double crochet. So we've expanded that center motif. And then the end of the row is the same. We do a shell and shell and then we double crochet into the top of that chain three again and that will end row two of our patterning. So I'm gonna finish this as I go along here just so you can see exactly what we're looking like. Get my yard a little room. Here we go. And that's that and then we're just gonna work into the top of that final stitch there which is the chain three. And so we've double crochet into that and we've got our second row complete. We are ready for row three and I started it off chain three shell and shell. And now we're gonna do some small popcorns kind of a crossed here. So the way that we do that is there's these chain one spaces that are in between our seven, we'll call them our seven rays. So one, two, three, four, five, six of those spaces. We're gonna skip the first space and we're gonna go into the second space and we're gonna do a three double crochet popcorn stitch. So we're going to work three double crochets into that space. So one and two and three and then we're working just a simple popcorn stitch. So the way that we do that is we will elongate the stitch that we just finished and take our hook out of the loop. We don't want that loop to go anywhere. We will go into the first of those three double crochets. Let's see, we've got one, two, three. We're gonna go into the first. And it's nice here 'cause it's a little bit more open and easy to see. We're gonna grab that loop and snug it up on our hook. Bring that loop through to close off and then we'll do a chain one to close up the popcorn. and then we're going to chain three, two and three and we're gonna do the maneuver again. So three double crochet into that next chain one space. And then we're gonna do the popcorn action and close it up and make the cute little popcorn there. And these are just a three double crochet popcorns. So they're not super big or textured but they do. Oops! They do fit in nicely. I say, oops a lot. Don't I? Chain one to close. They do fit in nicely with this design and kind of give it a little more oomph. Chain three to space things out and then we're going to do two more popcorns here. We're gonna do another popcorn in the next chain one space. And I'm just gonna finish out this row and keep blabbing at you. So you can see the popcorn again and how this looks at the end of this row. And I feel like the shell in the center, like the scallop in the center really kind of looks like sunrays. I call it a shell sunray stitch. I think it would be really pretty in a very gated yarn, like a yellow, orange, red. I keep thinking I need to make this into a scarf, put some of those little shells along the bottom instead of the chain. Okay. And I'm gonna walk you through the last popcorn just so that is cemented in your head. One, two, three. Did I do three there? Yeah. And then we'll do three double crochets into the chain one's space and two and three. Elongate the loop, go into the first one here, snug that loop back on, pull it through, and then chain one to close. And then when you finish the fourth popcorn you're not gonna do anything else but go back to your shell action. So that we're gonna do our two double crochet chain one two double crochet all in the same space. And that is what is going to finish off our row when we do that final double crochet into, Oh, you know what? I went into the wrong space. I'm sitting there looking at that and thinking it's wonky. And that is the beautiful thing about crochet. I think crochet is easier than knitting in that way because when you realize that you've gone wonky, you usually have just one loop to deal with as opposed to all those loose stitches that you get in knitting. So let's get this in the right place that final shell chain one. And there we go, that final double crochet for the shell. And then just the last double crochet into the top of that chain three space. Oops! Make sure I get into the top of it. You can put it in the actual space. It just makes things a little more open. And I feel like if you go into the chain threes... At the top of the chain three space or the top of the chain three that you get something that looks a little bit more like the double crochet that it's supposed to mimic. So one of the things that I wanted to show you when I finished this row, I'm gonna elongate that so I can take my hook out of the way, is this is what the popcorn looks like on the right side. On the wrong side, it's kind of like inverted a little bit but it's still very pretty. If you want to because these are just three stitch popcorns. You can stretch them out a little bit so that they're not as poppy but you still get a really pretty effect. And that finishes off row three of our pattern. So we finished the row three that had our popcorns and we've turned our work over. We started with a chain three and then a shell and shell 'cause you know we're doing lots and lots of shell and shells. So what we're going to do is we're going to do the fourth row of the pattern which is really just a lot of chaining to very much resemble the foundation row that we did. So we're going to, after we finished our shell and shell, we're going to chain three and then we're going to single crochet in the next chain three space. So the popcorns were separated by threes. So we're gonna go into this one and we're gonna single crochet. So the first chain three space, we are going to chain five. One, two, three, four and five. And then we're going to skip this space and single crochet into the next one 'cause we're leaving that center open to make our next sunray kind of thing. We're going to chain three, two, and three and then it's shell and shell time, double crochet twice in that space. Do the chain one and then double crochet twice again, shell and shell and shell and shell and shell. I feel like all we're doing is shell and shells. But those get really easy. And like I said, they make the nice border. So when we finish our shell and shell, just like always. We are going to double crochet into the top of the chain from the beginning of the previous row. Hone on that through. And let's just turn over and take a look and we're ready to do another repeat of our fancy shell stitch. So we'll get our fanciness out. Now, you'll notice here that the shell stitch is not this fancy shell put together. Is not exactly reversible. The shell and shells are fine. The sunrays are fine, but the popcorn's kind of, you know, they invert on the wrong side. I think it's very pretty. I don't think anyone else would notice but us crocheters. But it's just good to know that depending on what you're doing, you might want to consider what's the right side and the wrong side of a fabric. Thank you for joining me to learn about this variation on the shell stitch . Check out our website for more great videos.