Advent CAL-endar 2020 - Day 2

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

Scroll to the bottom for more detailed photos

Alternating Spike st, changing to inset mosaic

Most of today's section will be Alternating Spike Stitch, which you can find a video tutorial for below. Once we've finished with that, we'll move on to set up for some inset mosaic colourwork, which we'll start with tomorrow's yarn!

Special abbreviation Spike dc (spike double crochet): insert hook in st 2 rows below, yrh, pul to height of working row, yrh, draw through both loops on hook.

Row 1 (WS): Join Just Peachy with a standing dc in first st, *1 spike dc, 1 dc; rep from * to end. Turn. 117 sts

Row 2 (RS): 1 ch, 1 dc, *1 dc, 1 spike dc; rep from * to last 2 sts, 2 dc. Turn.

Rows 3–5: 1 ch, dc across. Turn.

Row 6 (RS): 1 ch, 4 dc, *2 ch, miss 1 st, 3 dc; rep from * to last st, 1 dc. Turn. 89 sts

Row 7 (WS): 1 ch, 4 dc, *2 ch, miss 2ch-sp, 3 dc; rep from * to last st, 1 dc. Turn. Do not fasten off. Leave loop until tomorrow.

Need some help?

Standing Double Crochet The row starts with a standing double crochet. You can find photo step by steps for standing stitches on the CherryHeart blog. Don't worry if you can't get the hang of it though, it's not super important - you can join with sl st and just ch1 to begin instead if you prefer.

Alternating Spike stitch You can follow Sarah-Jayne's guide to alternating spike stitch for most of today's section.

Inset mosaic Our blanket designer Rosina is the queen of inset mosaic crochet! Once you get your head around it, it's an absolutely brilliant technique - the results look much more complicated than it is in reality. Pop over to Rosina's blog for a step by step guide to mosaic crochet.

Still stuck? Head over to our friendly facebook group - look for the post with this day's door as the main photo, where you'll be able to update with your progress and ask for help.

More photos! By popular demand, here are some close-ups of the finished blanket! Ignore the little grey scribbles - that's where tomorrow's section creeps in. I've blocked it out so that you don't get any spoilers.