Week 18 of the Ray Of Hope crochet along is the Floating Shells stitch, a lace shell stitch that would be perfect as a shawl. This stitch is created in a very similar way to the Floating Boxes stitch.

The free pattern is below, but if you’d like the ad free printable version, it is available either as part of my Lifetime Pattern Pass, or you can purchase it on its own for £5 from Ravelry

If you would like to follow my colour scheme, you can find the list of colours in both Scheepjes Softfun and Stylecraft Special DK in this document here

The pattern is written in US terms, but the UK translation is below in brackets along with the abbreviations we will be using

• Single crochet (double crochet) = sc
• Double crochet (treble crochet) = dc

The Pattern

You will need a 3.5mm hook for this piece.

With colour I make a chain of 81

Row 1. In the 4th chain from your hook make a dc (the turning chain counts as your first dc) 

skip 2 stitches then in the next stitch make 5dc *skip 4 stitches and make 5dc* repeat between *and* until you have 4 stitches left. 

Skip 2 stitches and dc in each of the last 2 stitches – 15 shells / 79 stitches

Row 2. Turn, chain 1 and sc in the 1st 2 stitches. Make a sc between the sc and the shell. *Chain 5 and make a sc between the 2 shells* repeat between *and* sc in the last 2 stitches – 95 stitches

Row 3. Turn, chain 1 and make the alternate turning chain in the 1st stitch. Dc in the next stitch. *In the 3rd chain of the chain5 make 5dc, skip the rest of the chain* repeat between *and* dc in the last 2 stitches – 79 stitches

Rows 4-9. Repeat rows 2 and 3

The Border

With a 4mm hook, join with Colour E (your joining colour) and make a slst into the side of each sc row and 2 slst into the side of every dc row down the short end. Along the long side, make 1 slst in every sc.

You will have 14 slst across the short ends and 79 slst across each long side.

Weave in your ends, and join the piece to week 17

To see how to join the pieces together click here

If you have any questions, or just want to join in the chatter, come on over to our super friendly and helpful Facebook group – The Ray Of Hope CAL group