A new way to practise filet crochet

In the last few months, I’ve spent quite a lot of time here sorting through and rearranging the blog. I looked through old posts and updated and revised them to make sure they are still understandable today.

Last week, I also revised my tutorial on filet crochet. It had become quite long and, in my opinion, a bit of a challenge to read.

Unlike most traditional explanations, however, my tutorial takes a different approach to translating a filet crochet pattern into actual crochet stitches. The main difference lies in the way the stitches within a filet grid are counted. To distinguish my approach from the more commonly used terms 4-dc mesh and 3-dc mesh, I refer to them as Type I and Type II filet crochet.

To explain all this, the tutorial contains not only quite a lot of words, but also charts. I thought for a long time about what a helpful way of dividing it up might look like.

And somewhere in the middle of all this, a new idea came to me: what about finishing the tutorial with some small patterns to practise all this? Something simple enough to try straight away, but useful enough to keep afterwards…

An idea that kept me busy for a few more days – but in the end, I got there!

I’ve split the tutorial into five parts to make it easier to follow. Each part covers a different step in understanding and practising filet crochet. The individual parts are linked to each other, so navigation is easy. And I’ve added two simple motifs to practise filet crochet!

Both squares have a 15 × 15 grid. You can work them either in Type I or Type II filet crochet.

I used a fine cotton yarn with 530 m per 100 g and a 1.75 mm crochet hook — my squares are worked in Type ll filet crochet.

Filet patterns for practising – 15 x 15 grid

Motif 1 – 15 x 15

Motif 2 – 15 x 15 grid

Stitch counts and sizes – 15 x 15 grid

The sizes given are based on the yarn quality and crochet hook size mentioned above. Please note that the finished size may vary if a different yarn is used.

Filet patterns for practising – 27 x 27 grid

Prefer something bigger?

I’ve arranged both motifs four times in a larger grid, creating a square with a 27 × 27 grid.

Motif 1 – 27 x 27 grid

Motif 2 – 27 x 27 grid

Stitch counts and sizes – 27 x 27 grid

I haven’t actually reworked these two larger versions myself yet. The measurements are therefore estimated on the basis of the yarn and hook size mentioned above.

My border

I finished my squares with a small border. It now measures 11.5 cm and makes a lovely little coaster.

Of course, you can add any other border you like – or leave your square completely without one.

In case you’d like to copy my border, it is worked as follows:

Round 1: Start in any corner and work 31 single crochet along the side, chain 1 to skip the corner, and continue like this on all sides. Slip stitch to the first single crochet.

Round 2: *Chain 3, skip one stitch, slip stitch in the next stitch. Repeat from * around, fasten off and weave in all ends.

But before you start, a little note about the border: My border is worked for Type II filet crochet and the stitch count is based on the small square (15 x 15 grid). If you like to add this border to the lager square (27 x 27 grid) the stitch count in round 1 will change to 55 stitches per side.

If you make the square in Type I filet crochet, you’ll need to adapt the border slightly, as the stitch count along the edge needs to be odd for this particular border.

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I hope these little squares give you a chance to try out the different ways of working filet crochet – and perhaps become useful little coasters at the same time!

Happy crocheting!

Resources

• Filet Crochet Basics — Reading charts and understanding the grid
• Filet Crochet Basics 2 — Different ways of looking at the grid
• Filet Crochet Basics 3 — Practising filet crochet Type I
• Filet Crochet Basics 4 — Practising filet crochet Type II
• Filet Crochet Basics 5 — Tips, tricks, finishing