Shell Stitch 00000

Let's begin!  This is the most open of the shell stitches, (00000), meaning that all five of the dc have been replaced with a chain.  I expected not to like this very much, because I generally don't like really open, stretchy stitches, but I actually like it.  It makes a diagonal grid.  It doesn't use a lot of yarn because it's mostly chains and it's really easy to do.  One thing to be aware of is that the tightness or looseness of your chains matter with this stitch.  If you have areas with very tight chains and areas with very loose chains, your project might warp a little.  It is actually fairly forgiving because there is so much open space it can accommodate some inconsistencies.  For instance, if you only chain 4 instead of 5, it won't be really noticeable. 

As I was working on this, it occurred to me that this would work well in a curly scarf, or in a modified shrug.  The last one that I made didn't work well because the stitch I used wasn't stretchy.  This one is, so that problem would be avoided.   

Well, here's the pattern, all nice and written out:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 5, sk 5, sc) across, ch 2, dc in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 5, sc in ch 5 sp) across, ch 2, dc in last sc

Repeat row 2 until work reaches desired length.