Tapestry Crochet: how to start!

This is a tutorial on how to read a colourwork, if you are not familiar with this technique. All the stitches are sc. To explain how to read the colourwork scheme in this pattern, let’s consider the colour scheme here. As you can see, we have 10 sts, so:

Step 1: ch 10 + 1 turning chain 

We see  that for the first two rows is all in the main colour (white) so: 

Step 2: sc 10 + 1 tc [10 sts]

Repeat Step 2 another time, for a total of two rows in main colour.

Now we are at Row 3, and we see there  

are two stitches in lilac, in particular at st 7 and st 8.

Step 3: 6 sc in main colour. 2 sc in lilac. 2 sc in main colour. 1 tc  [10 sts]

Now again we have only main colours for 4 rows, so repeat Step 2 for another 3 rows (4 rows in total). Again, in the next row, we have a few stitches in blue at sts 3, 4 and 5, so: 

Step 4: 2 sc in main colour. 3 sc in blue. 5 sc in main colour. 

Now we have the last two rows in main colour, so repeat Step 2 for two rows. 

Colourwork Tips:

Tip 1: Clean colour change is key! At the stitch before the colour in the scheme changes, it is time to start changing colour. From the scheme here, for example, sts 7 in row 3 is in liliac. At the stitch before, so sts 6 in row 3, crochet the single crochet stitch as follows:

In current colour: 

Insert the hook and yarn under/over, pull up a loop,

In the new colour:

pull through two loops. 

There are even cleaner way to change yarn colour in tapestry. If you are familiar with those, and want to, you can use any of those for this pattern. This method is the one I followed - since it is very easy and the colourwork in this shirt is simple and doesn’t get too untidy following this method!

Tip 2: since you’ll be working with multiple colours and colours get repeated  in different rows, we want to carry the yarn along the work! To do so, we  decide a RIGHT SIDE and a WRONG SIDE of the colourwork, and the working  yarn you are carrying has to stay in the WRONG SIDE. So, for example, when  colour changing, make sure the working yarn is always on the WRONG SIDE.

Tip 3:  Use multiple balls of the same colour! In this colourwork, we have many sts with the background colour (so stripes or solid colour), and the sts dedicated to the white goose. Instead of using one ball for each of the background colours (or one ball for the only background), you can use two balls, so that you use one at the left of the goose and one on the right! This means you will carry your yarn only vertically and not horizontally, making the process easier!

Go and look around this nook, because many free patterns and tutorials are already up and many others are coming!

Check out the other patterns that are in my shop and follow me on instagram at @o_layarn to keep updated with my new patterns!