How Loose is "Loosely?"

[Judi Gums]

I started out crocheting very tightly, only to realize how much trouble it is to go back into the stitches then next row. Now I use the barrel of the crochet hook to determine the tension of my stitches. Never use the tapered end of the hook, but push the hook in far enough so the yarn moves easily on the hook past the tapered area.

As far as when making a beginning chain, I normally use one size larger hook to make my chains so I won't get them to tight. If it is still a problem I would go up two sizes, but you have to remember to switch back to the right hook size.

On the turning chains I just have to keep reminding myself to loosen up a little and pull the stitches up slightly when I get it too tight.

A friend of mine and I work on the same patterns together, she is much tighter then I am and what a difference it makes in the outcome of our projects at times. Depending on the project sometimes the tighter looks better, other times the looser tension looks better.

Judi G

[trueblue2007]

Everyone has some great input on this question! I tend to crochet tighter myself, so most of the time I use the larger hook solution myself. As far as the starting chain goes, I have found that, if I can get away with doing a foundationless chain (where you do your chain at the same time you do your first row of either single or double crochet), I am much more consistent about the size of my stitches and they all tend to be looser. This has helped me to eliminate the problem I used to have of my starting chain and first row of my afghans (or any project, really) from being tighter than the remainder of the work. Once I learned that method, I have been much happier with my work.

[redhead]

I have pretty much stopped using the "chain 3 or 4"at the beginning of my work. Mostly this is when I am crocheting squares. I now use nothing but the chainless beginning where you make the magic circle with the yarn and then SC or DC or however many stitches it calls for in the chain 3 or 4 at the beginning.It is not so tight for you to start out with and then after you get past the number of stitches in the circle you can pull on the short end of the yarn and tighten up your work where there is no hole in the center of the square your are doing. Then you can crochet over the end of the yarn to hide it. I don't know if this helps with the rest of the tension or not . It might tho because it will get you past the beginning where my problem used to be. Also there is more for you to hold on to at this point. XOXOXOXOredhead/Patty

[trueblue2007]

Yes, the magic circle works well for anything you are doing that is in rounds. For afghans or garments though, they usually begin with a long chain. When you can use the foundationless method, it will help greatly in the consistency of your stitches. It's also much easier to crochet looser with that method.