Allison: Hi, and welcome to Uncommon Threads, I'm Allison Whitlock. Today is all
about the bedroom. We're making a crochet valance.
To crochet it, we're using 10 skeins of lion brand incredible ribbon yarn in city
lights. Or you can use any comparable ribbon yarn. And a size Q crochet hook.
This valance requires only basic crochet stitches, but the yarn can be a little tricky
to work with so we're rating this project intermediate.
Okay. How do we start?
Female: Okay, you know what I love this yarn too. They named it appropriately because it
is incredible. But for my valance, I started out just chaining 38 and working
across 36. So if you need to change the length of your curtain, you're working
across the number that is divisible by 3, then you just add 2, so you know what
your base chain needs to be.
Allison: So tell me what we're looking at here, we're working, this would be the width of
the window. We're working across, right? So imagine if your window is this long,
it’s going to be this long. So basically we're working from side to side.
Female: Yes. And we're starting, it’s just a basic double crochet. So work four rows of
double crochet, and then we turn and started doing this little lattice pattern.
Allison: Okay, show me how you do that, because it’s very cool. That’s what gives that
crazy look and to let the light come through.
Female: And it’s really hard for anything not to be incredibly beautiful with this ribbon,
it’s wonderful. You're going to go ahead and chain 5, and then I'm going to single
crochet and every third double.
Allison: Chain 5. So you're skipping 2 and going into the third?
Female: Yes.
Allison: Okay. Perfect. And with this yarn, you really want to be careful to really count out
those stitches that you're missing. Because sometimes it can be really hard to see
what you're doing. So feel your way through it.
Female: Yeah, because it moves. Even if your chain is perfect, it’s not uncommon for it to
shift. See like here, you have to really know what your stitches looks like. So I
can just pull this out so that I can, you can double crochet or do your single
crochet in the top of that chain. And then you just chain 5 and turn it again.
Allison: And turn around to start building the second part of the lattice.
Female: And you just turn it and single crochet in the third chain of the previous row. And
that’s how you get the pattern.
Allison: Okay. So once you're in that third chain, single crochet, and continue on.
Female: Yeah, that’s it.
Allison: Okay, so show me what that actually looks like once you’ve done quite a piece
there.
Female: And this is, once you’ve completed the width. Then you want to start working
your tapes.
Allison: I just want to point out this, this is that lattice that you were making. So there are
all the chain stitches looping around. Okay.
Female: And what I love, I mean this entire piece is worth one piece, no cutting and
sewing on. Because I'm patient enough to crochet, but way too impatient about
finishing. So I love this. So what you're going to do is once you work that last row
double, you're going to start single crocheting on the side to your foundation.
Allison: Okay, and what do we creating here, the tabs?
Female: This is going to be the foundation for the tab.
Allison: Okay.
Female: And so I work 9 and then you just chain 3 up and start with working double. You
just kind of anchor it.
Allison: So just to clarify, now you’ve actually turn the piece around and you're working
on the top part of the valance.
Female: On the side. And you do your single crochet just over the edge of the double
crochet rows and that is all. And then we chain 3, turn it and then start doing our
double.
Allison: Okay. Then you're going to work double crochet all the way up.
Female: And so now this piece I made without the lattice just so it would be little easier
for you to see how we attach the tab.
Allison: So, imagining that this is actually the curtain from bottom up to here.
Female: Up to there and this is foundation row. The single crochet foundation row. We've
worked 7 rows of double crochet and you can change that, but you want to make
sure it’s an odd number.
Now we chain 1, we're going to flip this back.
Allison: So this is where you're creating the tab. No sewing.
Female: No sewing. So then we're going to insert your hook in the first single crochet.
Reach through there, find the top of that stitch, and then we're going to slip stitch
to attach it. See that? Do it one more time?
Allison: Okay, show me one more time. Okay, you're going next to that.
Female: To the next one, see that hole, we're going to punch that in there. Turn it over.
Allison: So you're basically sewing with your crochet hook, which is really inventive. I
never actually tried that.
Female: I tell you I was proud of myself when I work this out. And so when you go
through and it’s perfect. So once we've finished, once you finish doing that, you're
going to end up over here and your tab will be attached to that first tab. So you're
going to work this way and then you're going to single crochet over the top of that
lattice and then you do your single crochet again on top. And you work your next
tab. And you continue.
Allison: Just keep repeating until you have a finish valance.
Female: But when you get to the end, I end up normally just with a little knot and that
works for yarn, but for this you really got to tie it off well or the whole thing will
come apart.
Allison: Okay, so you want to leave yourself with a really long end and weave it back in.
Female: Nice long end, you want to weave and you want to tie a knot. It’s just so it doesn’t
come apart, but it’s wonderful because you got a completed project.
Allison: And it looks absolutely beautiful. You can see on the finish valance that you have
that tabs at the top and they're just continuing that double crochet row that works
down. And that beautiful breezy part in the middle. And you can customize this
for any size window, any width, any length, just keep going.
Female: Anything. Yes.
Allison: Absolutely gorgeous. Thank you.
Female: I love it, it was fun to do.