The Lemon stitch is a large puff stitch that makes for a very bold statement look. It can be a bit tricky to make and is a yarn eater of a crochet stitch. In this stitch guide I will show you how to crochet the Lemon stitch with all the pictures that you need along with a video guide that you can follow along with too.

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The Lemon stitch is a big statement crochet stitch, in that it is very bold as the size of the puffs are huge and the fact that they lie completely horizontal and in their own little boxes makes it a very eye catching stitch. I would say that the Lemon crochet stitch is an intermediate level stitch as it does take practice to get your puffs looking nice and neat. To begin with your puffs are probably going to pinch your stitches together to look a bit squat, but I would encourage you to persevere and you will get the hang of it.

A tip for making this stitch, is to pull up the loops of your lemons as high as you possibly can. It won’t feel at all natural pulling up loops that long, but it is necessary in order to make a nice big Lemon that doesn’t pinch together the stitches it is made around.

For the sample piece in the picture below I used Rico Essentials Cotton DK (51) for this piece, a 100% cotton yarn that keeps appearing in my stash. I like this brand of yarn a lot as it’s lovely and silky, has a great colour range to choose from and is a good price compared to other brands of cotton.

This how to guide is part of Froggity Frog’s Stitch Vault collection. Have you seen all the other stitches in there? You can take a look here all the guides are free to access and maybe you will discover some new stitches to create for yourself.

The yarn I used in this stitch guide is Stylecraft Cotton Classique DK, a 100% cotton yarn. It’s a non mercerised cotton that is lovely and soft, but it can get a bit splitty if you frog it a couple of times. It does makes lovely cosy blankets though and is the yarn that got me hooked on cotton as my fibre of choice. I think I first got a ball of this yarn in a mystery bag I got off ebay, and it was a great yarn discovery for me and I’ve been loving using this yarn ever since.

I also used my trusty Clover Amour hooks which are perfect if you are looking for a good value ergonomic crochet hook that won’t cause your hand to ache if you are crocheting for long periods of time. I’ve tried many different crochet hooks over the years, but I always end up coming back to my trusty Clovers. They just sit so well in my hand and never let me down.

How To Crochet The Lemon Stitch

Click here for the left hand video

Abbreviations

• Ch = Chain
• Slst = Slip stitch
• Yo = Yarn over
• St = Stitch
• Sk = Skip
• Sp = Space
• Hdc = Half Double crochet
• Tr = Treble crochet

You will need to make a foundation chain in multiples of 5 plus 1 (plus 2 for your turning chain)

Row 1. In the 4th ch from your hook make a hdc (your turning ch counts as the first stitch of your row). Make a hdc in each ch across 

Row 2. Turn and ch 1. Make a tr turning ch in the 1st st. *Now make a lemon stitch* 

To make a Lemon stitch you need to start by making a tr in each of the next 3 st after your chain

Now you need to start making the puff. Go back to the space between the ch and the 1st tr, YO and pull up a loop – do this a total of 5 times. Make sure you pull up your loops really high – higher than you think they should be as we don’t want them to squeeze those tr stitches in the middle together. So the loops need to be long enough to stretch 4 stitches long at least.

Once you have pulled up all your loops, insert your hook into the next unused st as in the picture below,

then YO, pull up a loop and pull that loop through all of the loops on your hook. This makes your Lemon lie flat on it’s side to create that distinctive look.

To complete your Lemon stitch, insert your hook into the next st and pull up a loop. Now make a chain 3 by YO and only pulling through the 1st loop on your hook 3 times. Then slst through the 2nd loop. This completed your Lemon stitch

Repeat between *and* Your final Lemon stitch will have its chain 3 made in the final stitch of the row.

Row 3. Turn and ch1. Make a hdc turning ch in the first st. *Make a hdc in the next 4 st, then make a hdc in the sp between the lemon puff and the ch3* repeat between *and*

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have as many rows as you need.

I used the Lemon stitch in the FrankenScrap crochet along find out more about this free pattern here, and join in and access the entire pattern for free.

You can find more free crochet stitch guides here in Froggity Frog’s stitch vault. Come on over to our Facebook group – Froggity Frog’s Ribbit And Stitch and show us what you made with the Lemon stitch. I’d love to see what you created with this statement crochet stitch. 

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