Crochet dilemma
Dec. 24th, 2005 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienI like to think of myself as a fairly experienced crocheter, but almost all my experience is in thread doilies, worked in the round with small steel hooks. This has given me a rather cavalier attitude to gauge, because really, who cares exactly how big a doily is, as long as it's pretty? For various reasons, however, I want to make an afghan -- something fairly straightforward and with no sewing up, preferably. Last night I thought I had it all lined up, and I embarked on a simple ripple pattern. The first problem I encountered was that, while I can cheerfully work on a doily in bedspread-weight cotton while watching TV, I can't do that while working single crochet into the back loop in dark green worsted-weight yarn. That rather chilled my enthusiasm for the whole project. Then, having completed four rows and got the thing to a point where it would lie straight enough to measure, I found that my rough estimate of the gauge was way off; the rows are nearly a foot too long. This surprised me; I usually have to use ridiculously big hooks to match the recommended gauge in thread.
So, back to the drawing board! Does anyone have any ideas? As far as I can see, possibilities are three:
Forge ahead and call it a double-bed-sized one. (Not ideal from the point of view of its eventual usefulness, and I'd have to add in an extra colour to make up the quantity of yarn.)
Rip it out and start again with fewer stitches. That's the obvious, grown-up thing to do, I suppose, but my heart sinks a little at the thought.
Rip it out and start knitting six-inch garter stitch (that's called something else in American, I think, but I can't remember what; it's the one where you just knit every row) squares instead. That leaves the problem of joining them together, but would be easier in the short run. Except that I can't remember the pattern, offhand. One increase/decrease per row, or two?
So, back to the drawing board! Does anyone have any ideas? As far as I can see, possibilities are three:
Forge ahead and call it a double-bed-sized one. (Not ideal from the point of view of its eventual usefulness, and I'd have to add in an extra colour to make up the quantity of yarn.)
Rip it out and start again with fewer stitches. That's the obvious, grown-up thing to do, I suppose, but my heart sinks a little at the thought.
Rip it out and start knitting six-inch garter stitch (that's called something else in American, I think, but I can't remember what; it's the one where you just knit every row) squares instead. That leaves the problem of joining them together, but would be easier in the short run. Except that I can't remember the pattern, offhand. One increase/decrease per row, or two?
