Help please

[spoula]

Hello MeToo,
I was going to attach a picture of the sweater I made that turned out so stiff. I don't know if the baby got to wear it or not his mother never said. He is very hot natured and he may not have worn it. Anyway it was a challenge for me to try something new other then baby blankets plus I have never knitted before. My mother had passed and left me her knitting needles. I didn't know she could knit. I wanted to try and so the baby sweater. I will post the pattern on the picture forum so you can see that I should have tried a blanket first not a cable sweater. (how hard can that be) ha well I found out. By the way I don't have a little dog (ha ha) Keep up the humor I love your replies. Go look at the pattern when you get a chance.
Spoula

[MeToo!]

My mother had passed and left me her knitting needles. I didn't know she could knit.

I only recently found out (after her death) that my mother was actually a teacher of knitting. I wonder what else we will find out about our parents!

Thanks for the compliment, Spoula. No point in being serious all the time, huh!

[spoula]

My mother had passed and left me her knitting needles. I didn't know she could knit.

I only recently found out (after her death) that my mother was actually a teacher of knitting. I wonder what else we will find out about our parents!

Thanks for the compliment, Spoula. No point in being serious all the time, huh!

Hi MeeToo,
I am sorry to hear you lost you mother too,but what a wonderful thing to find out that she was a teacher of an art so many people would love to know how to do.
I agree life is to short to always be serious.
Spoula

[LoriWooster]

I'm to the point of only looking for patterns with stitch diagrams. I have spend/wasted too much money and time. I have diagramed a pattern myself to just clarify I'm understanding what the pattern is telling me to do. Require diagrams that's my answer.

[Amillegan08]

Hi! I am having trouble! I just started crocheting and am trying to make a simple baby blanket in all one color yarn. But, every time I try, I get 5 or 6 rows in and the blanket is a semicircle and not a rectangle like it should be. Help!

[spoula]

Hi! I am having trouble! I just started crocheting and am trying to make a simple baby blanket in all one color yarn. But, every time I try, I get 5 or 6 rows in and the blanket is a semicircle and not a rectangle like it should be. Help!

Hello Amillegan08,
I had the same problem a long time ago and here is a tip for you to help with your problem. When you start your blanket (first row)put a safety pin at each end of your row the last stitch you make and the first stitch of the next row ( these are the end stitches that get lost and make the blanket turn. Move the safety pin up each time you move up a row. Try to maintain your tension as this will also make the blanket too tight.

Those end stitches get lost and it is difficult to see them in crochet. Sometimes it looks like you are trying to use the row below to make the ends even and this works to on some patterns. Try the safety pin first you are going to be surprised.
Spoula

[Amillegan08]

Thank you for your quick reply!
So you're saying that as I am going from one end to the other, I am pulling too tight, so it is shortening as I go?

[spoula]

Hi, I am saying you are not catching the last stitch in the row or the first stitch in the next row. Count you stitches and you will see that when you are at the end and you think that it is the end recount you stitches you will find the last stitch if you pull the yarn or thread out a little. Also some folks crochet too tight and that can also be a problem if you made your starting chain loose then started to crochet tight you are pulling up the ends. I hope this makes sense.
Spoula

[CrochetSuzieQ]

I agree about patterns not being clear or even right, but I also just learned that it might be good to check with the recipient of your gift before making it. For Christmas last year I had spent looooong hours on a sweater for my grandson made with an alpaca mix yarn and probably even longer on the "cars" appliqué I sewed on the front. When I was visiting recently he told me he didn't like to wear things with hair in it!

[aleciaf]

Im attempting a Shell Stitch cardigan for my grand daughter and am having a little trouble understanding the pattern. I'm ok with the actual pattern but I've never shaped a neckline using the instructions provided this is how the pattern reads
SHAPE NECK: bind off 4 sts at neck edge once, 3sts once, 2sts 1 time, 1st 3 times, - 34 sts.
Pattern states TO BIND OFF: at beg of row sl st loosely across specified number of stitches. AT END OF ROW: leave specified number of stitches unworked

Cardigan is separated at lower armholes to work L and R front and back.
Hoping someone can help me out with this

These are definitely crochet instructions, and you are supposed to decrease each side of the neck. By using the slip stitch on the 'forward' edge, you are not increasing the length of the item you are crocheting, so you slip stitch the 4 stitches on the 1st dec row, crochet to the end, then you are supposed to just stop crocheting 4 stitches from the end on this same row, when you turn for the 3 st decrease, you slip stitch the 1st 3 stitches, crochet until leaving the last 3 stitches unworked, turn and slip stitch the first 2 stitches, work to 2 stitches from the end, turn and slip stitch 1stitch, etc. I've done this before and it works just fine.