Pushing through: Stitch Twenty-Six

So, I have tried using this stitch before and it didn't work out.  I couldn't figure out how to make the yarn not get all twisted and tangled in an unmanageable heap, so I pulled it out and did something else.  I tried it again, and had the same problem.  Then I talked to Nettie and she cleared it up for me, it is not long dc, but long sc, and that fixed everything.  I am not a fan of this stitch because even when I do it correctly, it is still tedious and is generally (in my opinion) poorly written.

This is the slowest growing fabric in the book: it takes longer to do a project in this stitch than one completely from single crochet!  It is slower and more tedious than just doing single crochet, because that at least is mindless.  The stitch itself is very tight and solid.  It actually feels thick to the touch and is bumpy.  I do not plan to use this stitch again as written.  It could be improved by replacing a sc with a chain in the places where the long stitches are supposed to go, as in stitch 21.

Recognizing the frustration that would ensue if I actually did a full baby blanket in this stitch, I decided to do a small square of it, enough to get a handle on the stitch, and then do a wide border.  This baby blanket does not lay flat, and I'm not entirely sure why.  I think that the height of one of the rows is less than that of a sc, so the initial round of the border had too many stitches.

The color pattern I used is 1 row of maroon, 2 rows of white, then (2 rows of maroon, 2 rows of white) repeated, ending with a single row of maroon.   Then I did the border in the colors as indicated.

Here's how to make it:
Chain 38, then work the stitch until it is square.  (This took me 10 iterations of the pattern.)  Then add this border:
Round 1: sc around, 3 sc in each corner (maroon)
Round 2: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (maroon)
Round 3: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (white)
Round 4: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (maroon)
Round 5: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (white)
Round 6: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (maroon)
Round 7: sc around, 3 sc in each corner (maroon)
Round 8: (dc, ch 1, sk 1) around, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in each corner (maroon)
Round 9: sc around, 3 sc in each corner (maroon)
Round 10: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (maroon)
Round 11: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (white)
Round 12: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (maroon)
Round 13: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (white)
Round 14: dc around, 5 dc in each corner (maroon)
Round 15: sc around, 3 sc in each corner (maroon)
Round 16: (sc, ch 3, sk 1) around, (sc, ch 3, sc in same stitch) at corner (maroon)

I used Bernat satin yarn in Bordeaux and Snow with a J hook to make this blanket.