The linen (moss) stitch pattern is one of my favorites. It is easy to make and lightweight, and it often becomes a perfect base for new techniques, including colorwork.
One way to add colorwork is presented in the book New Ways with Crochet:
Stitches and shawl design from the book New Ways with Crochet
Another technique was used for the Arca cowl, and I will definitely explore it more:
Arca cowl and its swatch
A lovely and very different option for colorwork with the linen stitch as a base is presented in the Make a Wish shawl:
Make a Wish shawl’s swatch and colorwork insert
And right now I explore with another technique for colorwork with the linen stitch in a new way. Very simple, very lovely!
Two first stitch patterns, the Linen Hearts and Linen Flowers are already available.
Also, I set myself a goal of coming up with at least 10 colorwork stitch patterns to complete this exploration. They will be good for mixing and matching, adding a touch of colorwork to your linen stitch projects, or simply replacing the colorwork in my already published patterns with whichever stitch pattern you prefer.
Linen Hearts
The heart-like colorwork is the first stitch in this series.
The pattern includes stitch instructions suitable for a scarf, blanket, or any rectangular project and two cowl patterns: one worked in the original stitch pattern and one in a modified version, showing one of the ways the stitch can be used differently.
This pattern lets you explore the technique both worked flat and in the round.
Linen Flowers
The flower-like colorwork is the second stitch in this series.
The pattern includes stitch instructions suitable for a scarf, blanket, or any rectangular projecs and features two shawl projects: a single triangular shawl and a wrap made of two smaller shawls joined together.
This pattern lets you explore the technique worked flat, both with and without increases, making it suitable for square motifs, shawls, and raglans.
For these shawl designs, I combined the linen stitch, this colorwork, and rows of back post single crochet to create the dashed-line effect. This has such an embroidery vibe!
The single shawl, the red one, is a three-skein project - to use both colors equally (and, of course, you can adjust the size on your liking by working fewer or more rows).
The wrap uses four skeins for the same reason: to keep leftovers to a minimum. Green and white shawls use equal amounts of both colors, and then they are joined together to create my current favorite shawl shape: a large trapezoid.
I’ve been posting a lot about the Linen Flowers project on Instagram, so here are some reels:
Joining both shawls into a wrap
Linen Flowers colorwork (close-up)
Green and white colorwork
How to: Linen Flowers colorwork (stitchwork)
How to: Switching colors in linen st based patterns
I’ve also posted a YouTube video showing how to join both shawls into a wrap:
Tutorial on joning both shawls as you go
Both patterns are a little introduction to this colorwork technique, but there are many more possibilities to discover. You can follow the patterns as written, or use the stitch instructions to create something of your own. I hope you'll enjoy experimenting with this colorwork technique as much as I did!
~ Lena
