However, Brenda K. B. Anderson teaches us her foolproof trick for getting the cleanest, most defined colourwork ever!

Try to imagine how you build a brick wall row on row - you'll find a definite parallel to how crochet is worked. The stitches sit slightly to the left (or right if you're left-handed!) of the stitch on the previous row as you work into the top of it.

The only time this proves a problem is when it comes to crochet colourwork. Even in the best conditions, working in the round so that you're always on the right side, you'll find you have a directional slant to your design, and don't even start us on working in rows.  

So the question is, how can we tidy this technique up to make for perfectly crisp colourwork? While sometimes working in BLO for colourwork sections is enough, this new-to-us technique used by Brenda in her design this issue is an even more ingenious solution. She does it using a stitch called a split extended double crochet, and we promise, it's not as complicated as it sounds.

First up, let's tackle an extended double crochet, as you'll need a row of this as a base to be able to work a split row for your colourwork.

Extended double crochet (edc)

Insert hook into next st, yrh and pull up loop, standard for starting a dc st...

Now yrh and pull through just one loop, this extra loop gives the space you'll work into with the split st, so identifying it now is key!

Yrh and pull through two loops finishing off a dc as normal.

Split extended double crochet (edc)

Now onto the colourwork section. An sedc is exactly like a regular edc stitch, except that you are inserting your hook into a different part of the stitch (the loop you identified earlier which is a little further down within the post of the stitch).  

When you make an extended double crochet stitch, there are three separate parts of the stitch: there are two vertically oriented chains that together make up the post of the stitch, and then one horizontal chain across the top (you may call this the 'hat'). Usually we work under that horizontal top of the stitch (the 'hat'), however, in order to make a split stitch, we need to insert the hook into the middle of the second vertical chain.

In other words: As you make an edc stitch you will insert your hook...

...yrh and pull up a loop...

...you then yrh a second time and pull through just one loop (this loop creates the bottom of the 2 vertical chains)...

...then we yrh again and pull through both remaining loops on hook - the first of these remaining 2 loops creates another vertical chain (This is where we need to insert the hook when we make a split edc st) and the second of these remaining 2 loops creates the hat on top of the stitch (where we normally work into). Make sure that your hook goes into the middle of the specified loop, and not just next to it (which is very easy to do).  

When working with two colours, remember you can carry the unused colour along the back of the yarn. Do this by wrapping the unused colour to the front of the work before the final yrh and pulling through the rem loops on the hook.

When changing colour, use the next colour as the final yrh and pull through of the sedc [9] and continue to work the next st as set.

Author - Brenda K.B Anderson. Find her on Ravelry