This is my first crochet project and I learned the stitches from the videos at www.nexstitch.com. I'm practicing swatches using the Soft Waves pattern, but my swatches keep coming out curved. At first I thought it was cause I was using too small of a hook. The top two were done with worsted weight yarn and 4.0mm hook. I then switched to a H8/5.0mm hook for the third swatch, and then to a I9/5.5mm for the bottom swatch. Now, I'm thinking the curve must not just be my gauge, but something else. Is this normal- will it straighten out as I go along? Have any of you had this?
7 comments:
Hi Kim - Your photo is too small for me to see what's up, but it looks like you're only decreasing, and not increasing. The ripple is formed due to a balanced number of increases and decreases: the decreases form the valleys by pulling the row into a "V", and the increases form the peaks by pushing the row into... an upside down "V", or a ^. My hunch is that you're decreasing where you're supposed to, but you're not increasing. So the row keeps getting pulled up into itself, but since the decreases are spread out, this results in a U-shape. I'm not sure how the Soft Waves pattern is written, but check out your swatch. You should have a pair of decreases, then several plain stitches, then a pair of increases. Does this make sense?
The swatch you made I am assuming is only using one multiple of 12 (or whatever the pattern calls for), correct? If this is the case, it will curve because that is how a ripple works. You have only made one part of the ripple as your swatch, so it will not straighten out. In order to make the ripple effect, you have to use a longer chain. Try making your swatch using 24, 36, or 48 chains (or whatever the pattern calls for) so that you can get the full ripple effect. I hope this helps!
Also, the size of hook shouldn't make a difference to the outcome other than size. The problem you described comes from working the pattern wrong, not the size of hook.
The pattern is basically to do a few dcs, then two dc2tog for the decreases, a few regular dcs and then (dc 2 into next stitch) twice for the increases-- does that sound right?
Also, the pattern calls for multiples of 12+3, so on the first two swatches, I did 36+3 and for the other swatches, I did 24+3.
For what it's worth, my first row or two of my ripple did that as well. I kept at it because I knew I was following the pattern more or less correctly, and after three or four rows it started looking ripply instead of curvy.
If all of the swatches you've tried are small like that, you might try one that's a little longer and see if you have better luck. :)
Howdy Kim! I also suspect that your foundation chain may be too tight, pulling the later rows into a curve. Try using a size or two bigger hook for the chain only. Take a closeup of the swatches so we can see what's going on with the stitches better and hopefully we can clear things up further.
Thanks everyone for the responses! I will try to get some good close-ups tonight. I really do think I'm following the pattern correctly, but I am new to this whole crochet thing so I could be wrong.
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