How to work the second tier

Using your second yarn shade is the next stage.

Once you have a base row of diamonds, you can use your second colour to work the next set of diamonds in the other diagonal direction. This is done in a very similar way to the base row, but this time you’ll need to work stitches into the row ends of the previous set of diamonds. First, you need to turn your work, even if you’re working in the round – this is the only way you can work stitches in the opposite diagonal direction.

Step 1 Join the second colour to the top tip of the first diamond.

Step 2 Make the ch1 t- ch, then dc down the side of the diamond, working 1dc into each row end until you have one less than your intended stitch count for the diamond. In our example, there are 5 row ends, so we worked 1dc into the first 4 row ends to give us 4 dc.

Step 3 Work a dc2tog, working the first half into the final row end and the second half into the top of the first stitch on the side of the previous diamond – if it helps, use stitch markers to mark these stitches. This completes Row 1 of the diamond.

Step 4 Slip stitch to the next empty stitch (the second stitch) of the previous diamond.

Step 5 Turn and don’t make a t- ch. Dc into each dc to end – we had a total of 5 dc. This completes Row 2 of the diamond.

Step 6 Turn, ch1 and dc in each dc to last dc. Dc2tog over the last dc and the next empty stitch (the third stitch) of the previous diamond – this completes Row 3 of the diamond.

Step 7 Repeat Steps 4- 6 to complete one diamond. If you have larger diamonds, repeat Steps 4- 6 until you’ve used up all the stitches down the side of the adjacent diamond.

Step 8 To create more diamonds, just repeat Steps 2-7, working dc sts down the side of the next diamond in Step 2.

Step 9 In our example of flat fabric, we worked a total of two whole diamonds, then fastened off. If you were working in the round, you’d slip stitch to the first dc to join. Fasten off.