Chaining At the Start of a Row

[pinkgemjanet]

Just learning to crochet and the chaining at the beginning of a round is the thing I find the most confusing. Some of the tutorials I have seen on you tube say count as a stitch and some say don't count it which is a bit confusing as a newbie. I have been struggling at times and losing and gaining stitches. Today I discovered If I don't count it as a stitch and go into the same space and then start counting I keep the right amount of stitches

[MeerKat]

The chain at the beginning of the row just depends on how the author of that pattern wants it to be. But I have found, what ever works for you is the way to go. There is no hard and fast rule about crocheting, Go with what works for you.
There are probably a lot of people that will disagree with me.

[pinkgemjanet]

Thank you.....I have been doing a bit of my own thing today. I suppose it's like learning most things lots of practice and experience gets you there in the end

[billieconrad]

I agree with MeerKat. However, that is one reason that I like to do hats in spirals so you don't have to worry about that - you just keep track of rounds with a stitch marker.

[Poinciana]

I HATE foundation chains and the chains at the beginning of a row! Although a chain 1 and then an sc isn't too bad.

It seems like the ch 3's at the beginning always look messy to me. I think I chain them too big.

[pinkgemjanet]

Yes I have been making hats in spirals with a marker.....I love making them. Yesterday I decided to make one into an Owl hat so I was adding earflaps and it was here I was getting mixed up with the decreasing as I would decrease 2 on a row then end up with three less instead etc. Pull it back and made several attempts then decided I must stop counting the turning chain as a stitch and then it came right. Hat looking fab so far. The only thing with the spiral I changed colour for half of the hat so I have got a slight jog but as it is two different pinks which are not too different in shade it doesn't look too bad. This is something else I need to look into.....changing colour in a spiral.....all good fun lol

[Theresa L]

Sometimes a chain 1 is just so you can turn and not have your work be too taught. If its a chain 2 or 3, it's usually counted as a stitch, in my experience.

[andyj]

Poinciana--- we all do want we want to make it look best. Personally, I never chain 3 for a beginning DC or ch4 for a TR, etc. I prefer one less and have rational for it. We make up our own rules and you can too as long as you can still understand the pattern.
I've noticed a new trend out there too--for rnds and rows. I don't know if it has a name but they don't ch or treat it differently--they just pull the loop up to the average hgt of the st then yo and do a DC right away. It must be on utube by now. I've seen it on a few instructional videos on Pinterest. For some reason, I think I saw it on knittingdaily.com even though its crochet.
Another thing that works quite well are foundation chains or foundation rows as opposed to chaining your foundation first. You can do an sc foundation row (fsc) (and also called an sc foundation chain) but the most popular is the dc foundation row. I used to do them to add to a filet row by basically working a TR into the base of my previous st (the bottom two in front) and it creates an additional dc at the end of the row with its own base. Basically they are all done this way--just one extra loop than you would normally do. The first time I found it in a book it was called an Elmore chain but that name doesn't seem to be as popular for it. You can find instructions lots of places like utube, onestitchaday.com etc. The first dc would always be a ch3 and dc into the first chain. The sc one reminds me of the old sc cording chain.
I hope this helps

[SCNick Knack]

I agree with AndyJ. The only time I do more than 2 for DC or 3 for TRC is when the pattern says skip a stitch. The extra chain is then like doing a DC and achain one (or TRC chain one) in the middle of a pattern. Next time I'm working with rows with different colors, I'm going to try the new (to me) way show a week or so ago where you just DC in the beginning of the row. It sure sounded weird, but the video made it look so easy. Of course, I forgot what the thread was called.

[pinkgemjanet]

Thanks everyone for your input As for the colour change jog at the rear of the hat.....I followed a YouTube tutorial on how to crochet a heart and I have sewn it at an angle over the jog and it looks cool. I must watch some tutorials on changing colours in the spiral though for the next hat I make