Spike Stitch Edging

Want a neat and tidy way to finish off the edge of your crochet project or blanket? Hi, I'm Corrina Ferguson and in this video, I'm gonna show you how to work the spike stitch edging or blanket stitch. So I'm gonna show you how to do the spike stitch. It's also sometimes called the blanket edging stitch and all it is, is single crochet. And when we do the single crochets for the spikes, we're just going into a different place then the actual stitch. You can see here, I've worked down a couple of rows into the actual work, over here I've worked down over a couple of stitches into the actual work to make the single crochet, but it's all single crochet and it's really fun to do. So let's learn how to do the spike stitch. So I've already started some spike stitching here and I'm gonna continue it. I have mine in a contrasting color which I think is really pretty and kind of mimics the blanket stitch that you would see when you're finishing blankets but you can also do it in the same color that you started with. The thing that you kind of need to decide on your spike stitch is how deep you want the spike to go. You can make it as deep as you want, just keeping in mind that those strands are long and can get caught. So what I'm doing for this version, is I am doing a spike stitch every third stitch. So I'm gonna single crochet, single crochet spike, single crochet, single crochet spike. So I've already turned the corner here and I've done two single crochets so I'm ready to work the spike stitch. So instead of inserting my hook into the next stitch, I'm gonna go to the same point that I did here. So what I've done here is I've kinda gotten to this point in between the stitches. So I wanna do the same thing over here. So I'm gonna insert my hook into that point and I'm gonna pull through a loop and then you wanna make sure that you have enough room to stretch that stitch out. You don't want that stitch super tight there because then it'll distort the fabric. So I kind of even that stitch out a little bit then I yarn over and I pull through both stitches, just like if I were doing a single crochet and that's my spike. So let's do a couple more single crochets so I can show you the spike again. Again, I just wanna make sure that my spikes are a consistent link. You can make them different links if you wanna do it for a decorative reason but I wanna make them all the same. So I'm gonna take my hook, insert into that same space which I've chosen, which is this hole here, yarn over and pull through, stretch it out a little bit so that it's the right height of strand for how long the spike is, yarn over and pull through both just like a single crochet. So we're gonna go ahead and I'm gonna work this spike stitch all the way the edge of this work again, going into the same spot, pulling through the loop, stretching it out a little bit, don't want it to be too tight, pulling through just like a single crochet. And basically, the spike stitch itself is just an elongated single crochet because you're doing all the same movements. You're just going into a different place then the top of the stitch. So one more here. And when we get to turn the corner on this one, what I like to do is I like to go ahead and turn the corner in single crochet. And to do that, sometimes they'll tell you to do three single crochets in the corner. I usually only do two because I find three just seems to be too much, but you can kind of play it by ear. So I'm just gonna add two single crochets in the corner here and then I'm gonna do one more single crochet into the edge before... Actually, I'm gonna do two. I'm gonna do two more single crochets into the edge before I do my next spike. And I'm gonna choose how long my spike is, kind of base it on what I did over here. So I'm gonna go into this space and I grab my spike, work the single crochet, go two more, and then we're gonna work the spike all the way along the edge and we're gonna keep it consistent, make it look nice, make sure we stretch it out a little bit. On the sides, it can tend to be a little easier to pull it tight than it is on the actual, the regular top and bottom edges of your crochet piece. This is all worked in single crochet but you can work this spike edging on anything. You just have to kinda be consistent with making sure that your spikes are not too long or too short. We're gonna do one more spike on this side and then we're gonna finish off the corner. So going into this same spot and making sure the yarn is stretched out, pulling through just like a single crochet. And then I'm just gonna single crochet here to the corner and do a couple here in the corner. Oops, I can go under the same spot that I went into before. Do a couple here and then I'm just gonna slip stitch to the beginning of this to finish off going all the way around and working my spike stitch all the way around to my crochet piece. Thank you so much for joining me to learn how to work spike stitch. Check out our website for more great videos.