The inspiration for this placemat came from right outside my window. Behind the dark slate roofs and the tree canopies is the valley, flanked by the gentle rolling hills of Cornwall. This time of the year, the colours are vivid, with various shades of green interrupted here and there by patches of purple, pink and red, courtesy of the summer flowers.
Valley View is a great pattern for beginners. It is made in the woven crochet technique: first you make an open mesh and then you weave in lengths of yarn or chains, creating a beautiful lattice effect.
To make one placemat, you only need a small amount of each colour, so it is a great stash buster. The piece is worked flat, in rows of half double crochets separated by a chain. It is quick and fun to make and as an added bonus, you do not have to weave in loose ends, as they will just become part of the fringe.
Materials
4 Ply / Sport cotton yarn in four colours:
Off white 25gr
Light Mustard 15gr
Pistachio 15gr
Mauve 15gr
A 3mm hook, a wool needle and a sharp pair of scissors
Size
The placemat measures around 29cm x 25cm without the fringe. Gauge is not crucial, as you can just add stitches and rows as necessary, but approximately 13 half double crochets separated by a chain, and 12 rows = 10cm x 10cm.
Stiches
Half double crochet (hdc): Yarn over (YO), insert your hook, YO and pull up a loop, YO and pull through three loops on hook.
Chains (ch)
Pattern
The chain at the beginning of the row does not count as a stitch.
With off white, chain 68 (or any even number of chains to reach the desired width).
ROW 1: Starting in the 2nd ch from the hook, 1 hdc, *1 ch, skip the next chain, 1 hdc, repeat from * until the end of the row, turn. (34 hdc, 33 ch-1 spaces)
ROW 2: 1 ch, 1 hdc, *1 ch, skip next ch-1 space, 1 hdc in the enxt hdc, repeat from * until the end of the row, turn.
ROWS 3 to 8: Repeat row 2 six times. At the end of row 8 fasten off leaving a 10cm tail, turn.
ROWS 9 to 11: Attach pistachio to the beginning of the row. Repeat row 2 three times. At the end of row 11 fasten off leaving a 10cm tail, turn.
ROWS 12 to 14: Attach mauve to the beginning of the row. Repeat row 2 three times. At the end of row 14 fasten off leaving a 10cm tail, turn.
ROWS 15 to 17: Attach light mustard to the beginning of the row. Repeat row 2 three times. At the end of row 17 fasten off leaving a 10cm tail, turn.
ROWS 18 to 25: Attach off white to the beginning of the row. Repeat row 2 eight times. At the end of row 25 fasten off leaving a 10cm tail, turn.
Weaving
Cut lengths of yarn 100cm long as indicated below.
Off white: 16 pieces
Pistachio: 3 pieces
Mauve: 3 pieces
Light mustard: 3 pieces
Decide which will be the wrong side (WS) of your work and lay the piece flat on the table, facing the WS.
Fold one length of yarn in half and thread it in a wool needle. Starting at the bottom right, weave the length of yarn in each horizontal row matching the colour of the row.
You will weave the yarn lengths under and over the half double crochets in each row. On the next row, alternate unders and overs so that a lattice pattern begins to form.
At the start and end of each row, leave the same length of yarn sticking out. These will later become part of the fringe.
Fringe
Cut lengths of yarn 24cm long as indicated below.
Off white: 32 pieces
Pistachio: 6 pieces
Mauve: 6 pieces
Light mustard: 6 pieces
Still with WS facing, fold one length of yarn in half and thread it in a wool needle. Matching the colour of the row, insert the needle in the first space of the row, with a bottom up movement.
Remove the needle and open the loop in the length of yarn you have just inserted. Pass all the yarn tails coming out of that row into the loop.
Pull gently to close the loop. Repeat for the first and last space of each row. Finally, cut the fringe to the desired length.
To cut the fringe evenly, I placed the piece on the edge of the table allowing the yarn ends to hang out. Then, with the help of a sharp pair of scissors, I cut a few centimeters at a time on each side of the placemat until they looked nice.
You can also make matching coasters basically following the same pattern, but with fewer stitches and rows.
If you upload a photo of your Valley View Placemat to Instagram, please tag secret_crochet_corner on your public post, as I would love to see it and share it. I hope you have enjoyed the pattern and thank you for visiting my website.