Advent CAL-endar 2020 - Day 3

Welcome to the third instalment of your beautiful advent blanket, designed by Rosina Plane.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for more close-up photos

Day 3 – Inset mosaic + floret st

We've got a two-for-one for you today! The first half of today's section features the inset mosaic technique. It is completely magic - you can do complex-looking colourwork but you're just working one colour at a time and it's loads easier than it looks. There's only one new stitch to learn that unlocks this whole technique, which is: Tr3d (treble 3 down) – working in front of ch-sps from previous 2 rows, treble in missed st 3 rows below. If you can't quite visualise how that works, check out Rosina's fab photo tutorials for inset mosaic here.

Start crocheting...

Row 1 (RS): Remove marker and pull up a loop in Elderberry to join, 1 ch, 2 dc, *2 ch, miss 1 st, 1 dc, 1 tr3d, 1 dc; rep from * to last 3 sts, 2 ch, miss 1 st, 2 dc. Turn. 88 sts TIP: Your work is still the same width here even though your stitch count has reduced, as you've added in some chain spaces. Don't worry - your stitch count will right itself in a few rows' time.

Row 2 (WS): 1 ch, 2 dc, *2 ch, miss 2ch-sp, 3 dc; rep from * to last 2ch-sp, 2 ch, miss 2ch-sp, 2 dc. Turn.

Row 3 (RS): Drop Elderberry but do not cut it, pull up a loop in Just Peachy, 1 ch, 2 dc, 1 tr3d, 1 dc, *2 ch, miss 1 st, 1 dc, 1 tr3d, 1 dc; rep from * to last st, 1 dc. Turn. 89 sts

Row 4: 1 ch, 4 dc, *2 ch, miss 2ch-sp, 3 dc; rep from * to last st, 1 dc. Turn. Fasten off Just Peachy.

Row 5: Pull up a loop in Elderberry, 1 ch, 4 dc, *1 tr3d, 3 dc; rep from * to last st, 1 dc. Turn. 117 sts

That's the inset mosaic section finished! Now on to Floret stitch...

Rows 6–7: 1 ch, dc across. Turn.

Row 8 (WS): 1 ch, sl st in first st, 1 tr, *sl st in next st, 1 tr; rep from * to last st, 1 dc. Turn.

Row 9 (RS): 3 ch (counts as 1 tr), tr across. Turn.

Row 10: As Row 8.

Rows 11–12: 1 ch, dc across. Fasten off. Turn.

Need more help with Floret Stitch?

Check out the BellaCoco tutorial for the pretty Floret Stitch!

More photos!

Here are some more close up shots of the finished blanket. Ignore the little grey scribbles - we've blocked out the next day's part so that you're not getting any spoilers! You can click on any of these images to see them a little bigger. For right-handed crocheters - here's how your work should look from the right side: