In my last post about granny square water bottle holders, I mentioned that I made other designs with different mesh stitches. I didn’t take process pictures of them but I guess I can work with what I have.
The mesh stitches are so much fun to do because they take up less time than the granny square ones. I usually begin with the bottom unlike with the granny square water bottle holders. So I make a circle of either 3 rounds or 4 rounds with double crochets. I begin with a magic ring of 12 double crochets. Next round I do an increase in each stitch by putting 2 double crochets in each stitch. Round 3 is a double crochet and a double crochet increase in the next stitch. If I only do 3 rounds, the next round will be single crochets and then double crochets in the next one before I begin the mesh stitch. If I do 4 rounds (1 double crochet, 1 double crochet in the next, and 1 double crochet increase in the next), in the next round I’ll do a reduction with single crochets, about 12 decreases, before I do the round of double crochets and then begin the mesh stitch.
The first mesh stitch water bottle holder I did was made up of double crochets on top of each other. I began by chaining 3 to serve as the first double crochet, chained 2 more, skipped 2 stitches, then did a double crochet in the next stitch. I continued by chaining 2, skipping 2, and doing a double crochet in the next stitch till I reached the end of the round. At the end, after doing a double crochet and chaining 2, I joined it to the first mesh stitch by doing a slip stitch to the 3rd chain.
For the next round, I began with the same chain 3 and another 2 chains like the previous round and then skip the 2 chains and put the double crochet in the double crochet stitch below. That way the double crochets are stacked on top of one another. Then, I repeated the process for the other rounds, starting each round with a chain 3, another 2 chains and putting a double crochet in the double crochet stitch below. I did 10 rounds. After the tenth round, I did 1 round of single crochets to end it. After that, I made the straps like I did for the granny square water bottle holders, just double crochets and long enough to be able to hang across my body. This one was mine, but a friend helped model for me. Look at how it turned out.
The second mesh stitch I made did not have the double crochets stacked on top of each other. What I did was to yarn over underneath the chain 2 stitches and then do a double crochet so the double crochets are in the middle of the chain 2 stitches. I used sky blue yarn and navy blue for the top of the straps. Check it out.
The third mesh stitch I did was similar to the first one but instead of chaining 2 and skipping 2, I chained 3 and skipped 3 instead. Also, my stitches were tighter than before so the rounds came out looking shorter. I did 14 rounds before ending with 1 round of double crochets. Check out how this design looked.
The fourth mesh stitch design I did was a totally different type of mesh stitch. I chained 5 to begin, skipped 2 chains, then did a double crochet in the next stitch. In the next round, I yarned over underneath the 5 chains then put the double crochets in the middle of the 5 chains. After the thirteenth round, I did 1 round of single crochets to end it. That’s how I arrived with this.
The fifth mesh stitch I did was similar to the first three. I still chained 2, skipped 2 chains and did a double crochet in the next stitch. The difference is that I did 1 double crochet each in the next 2 stitches before I chained 2 and skipped 2 chains. I ended with a round of double crochets. That’s how I arrived with this beauty. I used a light blue yarn (cloud). I didn’t even get to take this to the conference to sell because my neighbour bought it while I was taking pictures of it. I guess it was just too gorgeous.
The sixth mesh stitch design was similar to the first three as well. What I did different was that I chained 1 and skipped 1 chain instead. Also, the stitches were tighter like the third one. This way, the holes were smaller. It looked so even and neat. I did it in black first but used the brand of yarn that I don’t use for clothes — it has a different texture. I crocheted the bottom a bit different so it turned out a little bigger in size than the others.
My roommate at the conference was the one who bought it. He took pictures with it the day he bought it.
Weeks later when he wrote me a sugar mail (an AIESEC tradition where we write sweet notes for people we meet at the conference and send it to their mail. If we write it at the conference and put it in the person’s pouch, it’s called sugar cubes), he told me that the pictures have been his most used ones since the conference.
I went ahead to do another one in bright pink.
About two weeks ago, I made another one in bright red when someone ordered it. This design is my favourite of all the mesh stitch designs I’ve done.
The seventh mesh stitch design I did was the granny stitch. I did 3 double crochets in each chain 2 space. It was a bigger size than the other ones and had a shorter strap. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures.
It's wonderful how these water bottle holders not only come in handy by rescuing parched throats, but also serve as a fashion statement. Th thing is to get a design that suits your aesthetics or outfit and you're good to go.
That's it for now, guys. I'll be seeing you soon. Till then, ciao!
All images used in this post are mine.