no clue how to drop and pick up stitch on batman afghan

[MamawNaNa]

I am crocheting or at least trying to crochet a batman afghan for my grandson. It is basically 2 colors, black and yellow, the yellow is the outer edge of the bat signal and I am supposed to drop it? so for instance row 15 says 18 black sc, then 3 yellowsc, then 48 bl sc, then 3 yellow sc, then 18 bl sc, I do not understand how to drop and p/u the black, how to p/u and drop the yellow? and what will the other side look like?

             thank you.

                             Jeannie

[passionfyre]

this is the best tutorial i know about changing colours http://www.planetjune.com/blog/amigurumi-help/changing-colour/

[marpan79]

Are you doing a graph ghan?  When I do them, I like to attach a new ball of yarn at each color change. 

 

Are you doing it in sc? 

 

So when you switch from black to yellow:  When you're doing your last (18th) black stitch, pull it through but don't finish off the stitch by pulling the black through the 2 loops on your hook, instead use the new yellow to finish off the last black stitch.  Then go with the yellow.  Many people will carry their yarn, ie working the yellow stitches around the black strand that you stopped using.  Since I prefer too attach new pieces at each color change location I bring that yarn to the front of my work so that when I turn it around to come back across, it's in the back of my work to pick up at that point.  Does that make sense?

 

I will carry the yarn however, when I get to a row where the yarn I've dropped off does not exactly line up with where I need to pick it up on the next row so I'll work over it accordingly. 

 

Also, because I have several balls attached to my work what I like to do to prevent them from getting a tangled mess is to put my skeins/balls into a small plastic bin and when I finish my row, I put my work on top of the bin, spin the bin around and pick up my work backwards so it's ready to go.  It works wonderfully

[wheat]

Adding to the excellent method offered by Marpan 79 - you can always "split" a skein for a color like the yellow and roll it onto a large No 4 Bob Eez.     I also use these and the smaller sizes when a color repeats in other areas or there are many "small" bits of color.

 

I do like to drop the Bobbin to the front, AND pull up the loop from the next color UNDER the hanging bobbin

   Move Bobbin to side of work away from you,

   Slip hook under the yarn,

   Draw up a loop from the next color to be worked

 

This gives me a cleaner "edge" - when done carefully, without a gap, and without a raised edge so hard to avoid when you "wrap" the yarns.

 

Hope This Help

 

Enjoy The Making

 

Wheat

[MamawNaNa]

I GAVE THE WONG ROWS...Ithe above was for something else...SO SORRY, you can smack me now or later.Ty all for the answers, We have had so much happening , husband having the blood clots, then with the death of Alicia, and a couple birthdays, dealing with my Moms sisters cancer diagnosis and helping Mom deal with everything happening at once, I haven't been getting to crochet much at all except on a ripple I know by heart...which I am greatful for to help relax a little. .Plzzzzz do not get upset with me, but I have tried and tried to visualize what you mean by starting a new ball with each change and  I can't for the life of me figure out what u mean...I am so sorry to seem so dumb.. I tried to find a tutorial online demonstrating and couldn't. I did find the tutorial above from planet june and the directions were very good so am going to try it . i will keep looking around for  a video that will show me the what you mean.Online videos are mostly how i have learned what little bit of crochet I know so far, 

And the worst is I gave you the wrong color chart completely!!!!

[Granny Square]

I'm so sorry you've had so much thrown at you recently

 

Not to confuse you, but there are several ways to deal with color changes.  Marpan described how the actual stitch is made in the transition from 1 color to another, which is the same for all.  The 'several ways' is how you deal with the color that you aren't using.

 

You can leave the unused color to float as a strand across the back of your work - this is only recommended for a very small number of stitches. 

 

You can work over the unused color - this works when you are using very few colors.  Same idea as when you work over a yarn end to hide it.  If you do this exclusively in your piece, it's called Tapestry technique.

 

You can snip the old color every time you change - lots of ends to weave in!

 

You can use bobbins - this works best when you have oodles of colors, and might be used with stranding behind and / or working over.

 

I think the Tapestry technique would be the best solution for you since you are only working with 2 colors.  I use this whenever I can because it's much easier, and as a bonus nicer looking on both sidesIMO. 

 

With tapestry, you are working with multiple (usually 2) skeins attached to your work at the same time, but you are only working with 1 color at the time.  The unused color (example, black) sort of rides over the top of the stitches, and you crochet right over them with yellow until time to change colors.  With the last 2 loops of a yellow section on your hook, pull up a loop with black and complete the stitch, then continue stitching with black, covering up the yellow yarn, until time to switch colors again.  It's a lot more complicated to type it out than to do it. 

 

http://www.knitonthenet.com/issue7/features/tapestrycrochet/   This link shows pics of what I just described; scroll down to the third picture, see how she's just finishing a white section, is pulling thru a blue loop to finish the last white stitch, and the white is now laying over the top of the stitches?  Also 2 photos down, which show working with beads, but you see working with the blue and stitching over the white.

 

Since this is an afghan, if you like fringe this would be a perfect technique and allow you to work always on the front side with ends to weave in. Instead of turning, you just finish off the last color worked and snip the yarn ends long enough to knot for fringe at the end of a row, don't turn, and start again at the beginning (also with fringe end allowance - at least 8" to allow for fringe knot and trimming.

 

ps, you should amend your last post to remove the pattern detail due to copyright rules; the  number of stitches between color changes really doesn't matter to explain how to change colors.

[MamawNaNa]

Ty very much. As soon as all gets quiet, I will be looking at the pages listed. There are so many witin that 1 page. At present, house is noisy, and my joints are noisier, screaming . Excited to get moving on this, ty again. I can remove the pattern but the lady that did it and gave it to me offered it to anyone..But will remove it, def dont want to upset anyone.

 

 

     Jeannie