Mmmmm…cherry pie with a lattice-top crust! It’s a wonderful, no-calorie treat to make for March 14, 2016, 3.14 16, Pi Day! The pattern for “Homemade Pie” is in Cute Crochet World: A Little Dictionary of Critters, Folks, Food & More, pages 48-50.
Notice how nicely the crust goes around the circumference It’s a very tidy pi-d. Ba hahaha. I always laugh at my own jokes, just in case no other geometry geeks with a good sense of humor are around. Around!? Ba hahahahaaaa!
Okay, I’m done with jokes now. Here are some hints to help you crochet “Homemade Pie.”
The pie filling is crocheted in round, using the yarn flavor of your choice. In contrast, the lattice top is worked back and forth. The woven-looking texture is created by alternating Back Post and Front Post double crochet sts (BPdc and FPdc).
Here’s my system for remembering how to make back/front post crochet stitches:
To start a BACK Post dc: the hook starts at the BACK of your work (as you are looking at it right now) and comes around the post of the stitch below, and you yarn over in BACK.
By the same token, for a FRONT Post dc, the hook starts in FRONT, goes around the post of the stitch below, and you yarn over in FRONT.
The photo above shows the finished lattice top. Count around the edge to find 14 spaces, which you’ll work into to join the top to the filling.
Place the finished lattice top on top of the finished pie filling, both with right sides up. The pattern says to insert the hook in the first space, and also into a stitch of the filling, draw up a loop, finish a sc, and ch 2. Work two more stitches into the same space, but place each into the next stitch of the filling.
In this photo, the first space of the lattice is joined to the filling, and you can see how the stitches are evenly spaced, because they’re placed into three successive stitches of the filling. Leave a long end for sewing when you finish the crust.
To sew the finished pie tin to the crust, skim your needle under the “v” shape created by the single crochet sts on the wrong side of the crust, and sew into the next st of the pie tin, moving one stitch over with each stitch.
When you’re finished sewing and stuffing the pie, thread the long end of the pie crust into a tapestry needle. As described in the instructions, bring the needle out at the top middle of the pie, then take the needle through the pie and out the bottom. As discretely as you can, catch the bottom of the pie with a stitch, as you bring the needle back up to the top (as in the photo above), tack, and weave in the end. This preserves the flat shape.
My piecrust looked a little underdone, so I brushed it with a little brown eyebrow shaping powder. I thought I still had some golden brown eye shadow, but no.
